han deeply before she goes. He promises

vanishes, and the morgue is on

s no longer looking at the pieces of my body, but

t of the evidence collected from my re

this. It was tang

r chain. A small, handcrafted star

ver in his hand. He squints at th

t. He wasn' t ther

y, leaving me alone at the restaurant table he' d booked weeks in advance.

e window. I bought it for myself. A little star to remind me to keep shinin

single day. He

His gaze drifts past it and lands on another item. A folded piece of

test. The one that

hundred different scenarios. Maybe he would finally look at me, really look at me.

olds it carefully. He sta

er. His jaw tightens. He crumples the pape

? Is he just annoyed a

tell. I n

hing. Fewer late-night talks. More unexplained absences.

verywhere. At the hospital fundraisers, i

me it wa

ospital donor, Chloe. I have to be

like a drowning woman to a piece of driftwood. I told

ween us grew until i

turns, holding a

results are back. From the skin

eport, his eyes s

match in the database."

That' s not the one. That' s the..

. He reads it again, more slowly thi

is this?" he sa

ers. "But... the lab ran it twice. The DNA from

ienting ripple through

body. These are my hands,

back to the report. A strange look passes between him and his assistant.

on his ID badge is Alex Chen, give

a careful neutral expression. H

been a mistake at the lab. Get them to run

Alex says, tur

It wasn' t confusion.

hing. Or, at le

der. It's something e

who let me die, is rig