"Roman!" Violet was screaming now as she stumbled out of the treehouse. "Roman, please, just talk to me!"
But there was no sign of him, only the trees and the distant call of the birds, oblivious to her heartbreak.
Hot tears streamed down Violet's cheeks, blurring her vision. She could feel it. Roman was slipping through her fingers, vanishing into the wilderness of his own pain.
In her desperation to get down and find him, her tear-blurred eyes missed a step on the precarious wooden staircase.
It happened in a flash. One moment she was rushing down, and the next, she was falling.
Panic crashed over her like a wave and her arms flailed uselessly, grasping at nothing. The fall wouldn't kill her, but the impact would be brutal. She was stupid. what had she been thinking? Climbing a rickety staircase in the middle of an emotional breakdown?
Violet closed her eyes, bracing for pain. But it never came.
