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Chapter 5 - Salt in My Mouth, Fire in Yours

[Your Voice]

I came to drown,

not knowing what I asked for.

Your voice was salt

carving hymns into my ribs.

You looked at me

and I forgot my name

only yours remained,

etched in water,

in want.

[Her Voice]

You were already sinking

when you found me.

Don't pretend it was my song

you were chasing ruin

long before I sang it.

I only gave your darkness

a rhythm to follow.

And you danced,

barefoot, bleeding,

begging me to make it hurt deeper.

[Your Voice]

Yes.

I begged.

And you answered

with the slow violence of your tongue,

your hands that wrote scripture

on my skin.

I let you hollow me out,

and still I whispered,

"More."

[Her Voice]

You say let,

but you never had a choice.

You saw the ocean in my eyes

green, infinite, merciless

and stepped in

like a fool with open wrists.

What did you think I was?

Softness? Redemption?

[Your Voice]

I thought you were the cure

to a hunger I couldn't name.

I thought your ruin

would complete mine.

I didn't know love could feel

like drowning in fire,

or that pain could be holy

when it came from your lips.

[Her Voice]

I never lied.

I told you I would break you.

You heard "belong."

I said "burn."

You heard "forever."

You wanted a lover

but I was a storm

dressed in skin.

You wanted to be touched

I wanted to devour.

[Together]

And we did.

In moonless rooms

and violent silences,

in whispers so sharp

they left bruises.

We devoured each other

not with grace,

but with gravity.

You pulled me in

like I was breath.

I pulled you down

like I was truth.

And we drowned

not for love

but for the ache

of being seen

by something just as broken

and just as hungry.

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