The house was quiet and she was alone. It groaned in its normal way as it settled in for the night. The lamp she sat near had a lightbulb humming with life that she couldn’t relate to. Well, she wouldn’t be alone for long, she laughed to herself.

As if in cue, her phone buzzed and lit up showing a one word declaration.

Here.

Amelia sighed, “Let’s get this over with.” She walked to her door and opened it. There stood the one person she treasured most in the world. The one she’d burn the world down for. The one she’d been lying to for the last decade.

“You wanted five minutes,” Henry said as he started a timer on his watch, “better get started.” He closed the door and walked toward her tiny kitchen, going behind the counter. Message recieved, she thought.

Amelia forced herself to take a breath and then forcefully breathed it out.

“I love you,” she said simply. Henry rolled his eyes in response. He looked at the door, his intentions as clear as the hurt and anger etched on his face.

“Four minutes,” he said as he dragged his eyes from the door and repositioned them on his watch.

“No pressure.” Amelia laughed to herself, staring at her feet as if the answers to all of this could be found there. She waited.

“Three minutes.”

“I don’t know how to give you what you need.” The words left her mouth with the pain and sadness she’d felt for the last week. She stared at him, hoping he’d look at her. She held her breath thinking he’d fill in the silence.

“Two minutes.” Henry refused to look at her and he talked. He wouldn’t stay strong if he looked into her emotional eyes. “You know exactly what I need.”

“I can’t,” Amelia whispered.

“The truth.”

“I can’t.” Her voice was pleading as she said it.

“No, you can and won’t,” he said through gritted teeth. “One minute.”

“Henry. I love you, please don’t do this.”

He started to move towards the door. “Thirty seconds.”

She moved towards him instinctively. His hand was on the door.

“Ten seconds.” He twisted the handle.

“I…I am…” the words refused to leave. The door was open now and he was walking through it. He looked at her then. Sadness is all she could see in his features now. He was walking through the door.

“I’m Luminaria.” Her hands flew up to her mouth, clasping over it with an audible smack, as if that would make it as if she’d never said those words.

Henry turned around with a quickness she’d never seen from him. His eyes wide with shock.

“What did you just say?”