Elena heads home

I watch as Elena pulls out her phone, tapping through the app with a quick efficiency, her free hand still loosely clasped in mine. The park's edge buzzes with late-afternoon energy, cyclists whirring past, a vendor calling out about roasted nuts, but here, it's just us, the space between our bodies shrinking against the cooling breeze. "Uber's three minutes out," she says, slipping the phone back into her pocket. Her green eyes meet mine again, softer now, the earlier tension melted into something tentative but hopeful.

I nod, thumb tracing a gentle circle on the back of her hand. "Today was a start. Text me when you're home?"

"I will." She steps closer, rising on her toes to press her lips to my cheek once more, the touch lingering warm and fleeting, like sunlight through clouds. "Go easy on yourself tonight. We'll talk soon."

The Uber pulls up smoothly, a silver sedan easing to the curb. She gives my hand a final squeeze before sliding into the back seat, the door clicking shut with a soft finality. I stand there until the car merges into traffic, taillights fading around the bend, a quiet ache settling in my chest, not regret exactly, but the weight of what we're piecing together.

The walk home stretches longer than it should, my feet carrying me through the familiar streets, leaves skittering across sidewalks like scattered thoughts. The apartment building looms ahead sooner than expected, its brick facade unchanged, a silent guardian to the secrets I've hoarded inside. I climb the stairs slowly, key turning in the lock with a familiar whisper, and step into the quiet space that suddenly feels too empty, too charged with echoes.

The couch sags under me as I drop onto it, phone heavy in my pocket like an unspoken accusation. Elena's face lingers in my mind, her laugh in the cafe, the way her hand fit into mine, real, unforced, the kind of connection that pulls without chains. She's worth it, I tell myself, worth ditching the haze of control that the app wraps around everything. Sarah's devotion, Tessa's hunger, those were easy wins, power humming under my skin like a ****. But they steal something too, autonomy I can't un-take, guilt that coils tighter each time I command them.

I pull out the phone, the Mindweave icon glowing faintly on the screen, tempting as a siren's call. Delete it? Smash the damn thing? The thought twists inside me, sharp and addictive. Why shouldn't I keep it? It's power, after all, mine to wield, sharpening my edges in a world that chews up the ordinary. Elena doesn't see the full me, the version that bends reality just a little, makes the nights blaze. I could weave around her doubts, smooth the fractures until they vanish. But no, that's the lie, the ring whispering promises while it corrupts. I want her choice, not my strings. The others... maybe I let them fade, find their own paths. Or try to.

The screen blurs as I stare, thumb hovering over the app, heart pounding against the cage of my ribs. One more day. One more breath before I decide for real.