28. Absolutely Nothing

[VECTOR]

After Lizzy falls asleep, I roll over on my back and stare up at the ceiling. I don’t know what it is—but it’s obvious that something is eating her from the inside. Is it only the guilt of lying to a kid about the death of his parents, or is it something entirely else?

Something tells me there is more to the story than what’s in front of my eyes.

I turn on my side and look at Lizzy’s sleeping form. She is curled up facing me, her eyes gently shut, the leftover tears glistening on her lashes. I move some curls that had fallen on her face and put them behind her shoulder.

I still remember the day I saw her for the first time after she ran away from Venice. It was years later, when she was crossing the road, holding a kid close to her chest. She had a bag on her back, her dark-as-night hair floating behind her as the wind blew in the opposite direction to where she was heading. Even with so many changes she had made to herself, it didn’t take me a fraction of a second to know it