[P] it's you, it's always been you

[Salome]

salome de la rosa

enough with the lies tell me one
more time my blood your line is this you inside

W

hy, he said. Salome's expression did not waver. Pain radiated from the man - that was her doing. She did this. Caused all this... because she had been weak. She had been too weak to do anything right. If she could manage to cry, she know she'd weep tears of blood. That wasn't what he needed though. He required more than this, more than what she had previously given him.

"Because" she tries to sum it up, but does not excuse herself. She knows she had done wrong. She knows she owes him something. "I was afraid" Salome keeps her distance, her eyes staying on Gareth and Gareth alone. There is regret there, pain and untold suffering - but it is a mere reflection of his own suffering. Yes, the pain is real. The regret too. But she cannot be vain; the woman knows he suffered much more than she had. "I was a coward."

In a way, she still was. "So I ran" Salome adds, her gaze slipping from his and to the earth between them. Holding it there. "I thought it would be easier. To spare you, so you didn't have to lose the image of who I once had been. Of what I had been" but the woman takes in a ragged, sarcastic breath "but that was not my choice to make. Not alone. It was unfair to you, Gareth. I am sorry. For that. For everything. I should have said something. I was afraid..." she repeats, raising her eyes.

This time, true pain. Her lids flicker briefly, blinking away tears. Refusing to let the man see just how weak she felt. If this was to be their parting, she wanted it to be as painless as possible. With no guilt. No suffering - even if that was unavoidable. "I shouldn't have run from you. I should have trusted you with the truth."