~ đź–¤
---
The gym was quiet.
Too quiet.
The echo of Maya's footsteps bounced off the polished floors and empty bleachers. A single flickering light buzzed above the weight racks. Shadows loomed like ghosts, stretching long and uneasy.
She spotted him near the back — Jax, leaning against a locker, arms crossed.
He looked… different. Not angry. Not smug.
Just tired.
"Where is it?" she asked.
No greeting. No smile.
Just tension.
He stared at her for a second. "You came alone."
"I didn't tell Elias."
"Good."
Silence. Then:
"I didn't think you'd show," he added.
"Then why text me?"
"Because," he said, pulling something from his jacket.
A worn, leather-bound journal.
Her heart stopped.
It was small. Black. Fraying at the corners.
The name on the front:
Mira Lane.
Maya's throat closed.
He held it out. She didn't take it yet.
Instead, she asked, "Why now?"
Jax looked away.
"You deserve to know what she left behind."
"I thought you hated me."
"I don't," he said quietly. "I never did."
She blinked.
He stepped closer, the journal still between them.
"I liked you, Maya. For a long time. Before Elias. Before Mira."
"I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't." He scoffed softly. "You were always looking at everyone except the one who actually gave a damn."
"That's not fair."
"No?" His eyes flashed. "You think she didn't know I liked you? She did. And she used it. Flirted with me. Got close. Just enough to keep me distracted."
"She wouldn't—"
"She did."
Maya fell silent.
"She was jealous," he continued, voice low. "Of you. Of how Elias looked at you. Of how I couldn't stop circling you like gravity. She hated it."
Maya's hands shook.
"Why give me the diary now?"
"Because," he said, shoving it into her hands, "you need to stop grieving someone who was playing you like the rest of us."
She stared at it.
Swallowed.
Then—
"Did Elias… ever love her?"
Jax's silence was an answer.
Then he muttered, "Yeah. I think he did."
Maya's gut twisted.
---
Back in her room, Maya opened the diary with trembling fingers.
The first page: blank.
The second:
> "If you're reading this, I lost control."
She flipped forward.
---
> Entry – Sept 23
"Jax is so easy to manipulate. I smiled at him and he forgot Maya even existed. I wonder how far he'd go if I let him believe I cared."
---
> Entry – Sept 27
"Elias kissed me again. This time, it wasn't soft. It was rough, desperate. Like he was trying to forget someone. I asked if he thought of Maya. He didn't deny it."
> "But later… he stayed. He touched my hair. Said I was different than I seemed."
> "He meant it. He really saw me."
---
Maya's heart cracked.
He did care for Mira.
Maybe even loved her.
And Mira?
She wanted to steal everything Maya had.
---
> Entry – Oct 3
"Maya doesn't suspect a thing. I flirt with her best friend. I sleep with the boy she likes. And she still calls me her other half. Her mirror."
> "If only she knew what the reflection really looks like."
---
The pages blurred.
Maya turned them faster — tearing through confession after confession:
Mira blackmailing Jax with secrets.
Toying with Elias's emotions.
Bragging about making Maya feel "small."
Then, the final entry.
---
> Entry – Oct 19
"I told Elias the truth. That I wasn't going to stop. That if he didn't want me, I'd make sure Maya wouldn't want him either. I was cruel. I saw it in his face."
> "I thought I could control this story. But I think I broke something I can't fix."
> "If I disappear, let them wonder if it was guilt…
or vengeance."
---
A knock shook her from the page.
The door creaked open.
Elias.
Rain soaked his clothes. His jaw was tense. His eyes — shattered.
"You read it," he said.
She nodded slowly.
"Did you love her?" she asked.
He didn't answer at first.
Then, softly:
> "She wanted me to. And for a while, I thought I could. But when she looked at me… I saw you."
---