Falling In Reverse

Tove stands on the edge, both literally and figuratively, as she remains focused on the water below. It is too painful to keep going, too much for her broken heart to turn and lay eyes on the man that has kept betraying her. Yet… he isn’t the only one. No, since the moment she had stepped paw in this cursed place, wolves have walked in and out of the woman’s life like she was a doormat. While the ultimate betrayal feels like it his burden to bare alone, in truth, it is the whole band’s fault.

Sure, he had found her bleeding to death near the body of her brother, dragged her back to camp and given her over to the healers but, in the end, they had all abandoned her. No one knew what to do with her when she awoke screaming in the middle of the night and, when she had finally walked away, they did not try to find her. Maybe she is a lost cause, doomed to this endless cycle of purpose and treachery as long as her heart beats within her hollow chest. She can feel the shadow’s trembling without even looking at him, knowing how this must look from the outside but she cannot bring herself to care.

Víðarr’s cracked words of not leaving her almost cause a bitter laugh to fall from her own quivering lips but in the end, all that escapes is a heavy sigh. He speaks of the battle and her gravely, broken voice whispers back, “Yes. I was there. I saw you win. You have everything you ever wanted. So please… go.” His words tremble and she turns her head away from the man as he offers her a home, begging her to come to him. Tove feels her heart squeeze painfully in her chest and a sob breaks out of his maw, her own legs quaking as the absurdity of all this comes crashing down around her ears.

Finally, her body sags backward and she pushes herself away from the edge, reeling back and away from the sweet embrace of death that awaited her below. Her body gives out, depositing her into a crumpled heap on the ground where she curls tightly around herself as her eyes snap firmly shut. She wills Víðarr away and wishes that she could make this whole stupid day go away. Right now, she cannot believe him when he says he wouldn’t leave her; she can’t when history has already shown her twice that he cannot keep his word.

Slight body quakes as she quietly sobs to herself, willing the man to run away and leave her sorry excuses for a life. Hell, she had released him the last time they met, told him to go and have a happy life but he had pulled her back with promises of love and a home. Tove curses her naïve heart for wanting to believe the only man she has ever loved again and vows silently to not make that same mistake now. Brokenly, voice shaking with raw emotion, the woman says, “Go away, Víðarr. There is nothing left for you here.”

It is true, because all that is left of the wolf that had once loved him, is an empty shell doomed to die alone.


"Tove Baade"