"Why?"

The question floats in the air like a balloon about to pop. I can feel my heart contract beneath my rib cage. _Thump. Thump. Thump. _

_ _ "I'm sorry." Those are the only two words I can bring myself to say.

"Oh, shut up." The girl standing before me waves a hand in my face. "Your apology means nothing to me. I want an explanation. Tell me why you did this to me." Her voice carries deep emotion . . . pure hatred . . . of _me._

"I had no choice." I know I sound pathetic before the words leave my mouth. "I had to change you."

"Really?" Thick sarcasm drips from her voice. "You had to change me into everything I despise? You had to do the worst possible thing you could have done to me? You _wrecked_ me."

A sick feeling roots itself deep in my stomach. I feel like I could throw up. _What have I done? _

"You made me into what I hated most and watched carelessly as I destroyed the one person I truly cared about."

_She's not real. She's not real. She's not real. _

_ _I_ _repeat this phrase to myself again and again and again, desperately trying to convince myself it's true.

"I can read your thoughts in the same way you write mine."

Panic sets in.

"I am real. _You_ made me real. Don't you understand? I exist because of _you_."

The hatred in her voice is more evident than before. She wants to wreck me the way I wrecked her.

_ I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. _

_ _"You aren't sorry. You wanted an A on your assignment. _That's_ why you did this to me. You wanted your teacher to be impressed with your writing." The tension in her voice escalates on every word. "Did you ever wonder what happened to me when you finished your story? When you reached your word count? When you'd edited every page to perfection? I'll tell you what happened. I kept living. I'm _still_ alive. I'll always be alive, because of _you_. I keep living in this nightmare. I am what I hate and I am completely powerless to change a single detail. This is the story you have written. The story I'll continue to live in forever."

What she doesn't know is that breaking her broke me. I knew she deserved better, but I couldn't have given it to her. I couldn't have saved her.

I _can't_ save her.