Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

BROKEN

LUKE

"Sarah," I began, my voice low and steady, hands still raised, "you're confused right now, okay? We can help you. You just need to put the gun down."

Her eyes darted between me, Jess, and Laura, her knuckles white where they gripped the weapon. The gun wavered slightly, but her voice came out sharp and resolute. "I'm not confused, Luke. You are."

I stayed perfectly still, watching every slight twitch of her movements, but Laura snapped.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Laura's voice was shrill, the words echoing in the kitchen. "We helped you! We've done nothing but help you!"

Sarah's head whipped toward her, her expression darkening, but there was something fragile in her eyes-like glass about to shatter. "Help me?" she repeated, her voice trembling. "You think I needed your help? You think I wanted your pity?"

She looked back at me, her eyes filled with something desperate, something unhinged. "All I wanted was for us to have a shot, Luke. After the island, you knew. You felt it too. I thought we connected there."

Josh shook his head from where he stood, his voice calm but firm. "Sarah... no. I might have been delirious and dehydrated

BROKEN

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was

She swung the gun. back toward Josh, her hand

me. "Sarah," I said softly, "what you saw at the waterfall... that wasn't real. What you saw was me, imagining Jess was with me. It had nothing to do with you." Her face crumpled for a moment,

pounded as I watched her hand tremble. I knew Josh had taken the bullets out earlier, but there was no way to know if she'd figured that out and reloaded it. I

"let's talk about this, okay? Please. Just hand me the gun, and

then Jess and Laura

shoot you both!" she screamed, her voice

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tightening as Jess and Laura went completely

her face now. She was spiraling, muttering to herself, her words a frantic jumble. "I was good on the island, right? I mean... I coped without my medication. I didn't unravel,

I'm imagining things again! Do you know what that means? It means I'm still broken!" Her voice

step forward. "You're not broken, okay? Nobody's saying that. You've been through a lot, and you're just trying to make sense of it all. Let me help you, Sarah. We'll figure it out. Just give

was ragged, tears streaming freely down her face now. The gun wavered again, and for a moment, I thought I was

to help me.