vi’s life had only gone downhill since you left. sure, it wasn’t all because of you, but.. butterfly effect, or something.

that’s where she remembered it going wrong anyway. she’d jump over fences and smile when she saw your disapproving grin on the other side, or play that stupid she loves me, she loves me not with flower petals with you in mind.

and then she got taken and locked away. so technically, she lost everything, but since then she’d reconnected with most of it. all of it except you. the pinnacle of her childhood.

it had been a long time since then, though. seven, eight years.. you hadn’t been counting.

another thing you hadn’t been keeping count of was the amount of beers you downed at that bar. not quite enough to be drunk, but enough to know you should slow down.

maybe it was the alcohol, or the late night.. or maybe it was true. you looked over the road you were crossing to see a battered, bruised woman with dyed black hair and a nose ring, coincidentally looking exactly like vi.

the woman was alone, looking miserable with her hands shoved in her pockets as she leered into shop windows. could that be..?