I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet.
I couldn't feel the air.
I couldn't feel anything.
For a few seconds, I thought I'd died.
Then I heard Axel.
"Athena."
Their voice sounded impossibly far away.
I opened my eyes.
I was standing in the woods.
But not the woods I knew.
The trees were taller.
The sky was black.
There was no moon.
No stars.
No wind.
Nothing moved.
Except me.
"Axel?"
No answer.
I turned around.
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They were gone.
My heart dropped.
"Axel!"
Something whispered behind me.
"He's not here."
I spun around.
Seraphine stood between the trees.
Except she wasn't really Seraphine.
Her face kept changing.
Seraphine.
Elara.
Axel.
Me.
Then someone I didn't recognize.
"What are you?"
The figure smiled.
"You've been asking the wrong question."
"What should I ask?"
"What are you willing to forget?"
The trees shifted.
Suddenly I was somewhere else.
The crash.
Rain.
Glass.
Axel beside me.
I watched myself turn toward them.
Then the memory changed.
Axel wasn't there.
I blinked.
No.
That wasn't right.
I knew Axel had been there.
I could remember their hand gripping the dashboard.
Their voice telling me to turn back.
Their eyes.
Their fear.
But the memory was disappearing.
"No."
I reached for it.
The Hollow pulled harder.
The crash vanished.
Then the hospital.
Then the necklace.
Then the woods.
Every memory involving Axel began disappearing one by one.
"No!"
I dropped to my knees.
I tried to hold onto anything.
Their voice.
Their smile.
Their stupid jokes.
The way they looked at me when they thought I wasn't paying attention.
The way they held my hand.
The way they had kissed me.
I froze.
That memory was still there.
Barely.
I closed my eyes.
I could feel their lips against mine.
Warm.
Real.
Their hand against my face.
The way they had looked at me afterward.
Like they'd been waiting their entire life for that moment.
The Hollow whispered,
"You don't need them."
I opened my eyes.
"Yes."
The darkness shifted.
"You can forget the pain."
"No."
"You can forget the fear."
"No."
"You can forget the blood."
"No."
"You can forget losing them."
I stood.
"No."
The Hollow's voice became louder.
"You can forget loving them."
My chest tightened.
I whispered,
"That's the one thing I won't forget."
The darkness went completely silent.
Then I heard footsteps behind me.
I turned.
Axel stood at the edge of the trees.
Blood covered their shirt.
Their eyes were terrified.
But they were smiling.
"Athena."
I ran toward them.
The Hollow screamed.