Pyxis had her notepad in front of her, pen in hand as she stared at the various textbooks open to different pages that she needed to write this essay on Uses of Dragon Scales. She stared at the pictures of dragon scales, detailed diagrams, words scribbled across the page, and it all made her head ache. She couldn't concentrate, and her grades were slipping because of it. Everything she did made her think of him, which then led to her heart aching and her head spinning as she tried to wrap it around the confusing events of the last few weeks. She shook her head, as if that would wipe away thoughts of him, and pressed her pen to the page, beginning to write down a couple of uses before her thoughts wondered again and before she knew it, she was drawing loops and swirls on the page. In her frustration, she threw her pen across the room and watched as it hit the wall, breaking and falling to the floor.

None of it made sense to her, why he couldn't just be normal. She couldn't understand, nor begin to understand, why everything had changed so suddenly. One moment, they were having the best year of their life and she was beginning to hope that he could like her back, the next he was avoiding her at all costs, not responding when she called to him, and being scarcely seen. She hated it, when she called out to him with a happy smile on her face and he'd continued walking as if she wasn't there. As if she didn't exist. Pyxis ran her hands through her hair and buried her face in her pillow with an annoyed huff.

She got up, grabbed her notepad along with a new pen and stormed out into the common room. She walked straight over to her favourite chair by the always roaring fireplace, where the warmth washed over her skin and calmed her down a bit. She sat her notepad on her lap after resting in the chair and making herself comfortable. Her pen was on the page once more, her thoughts scribbled down as she felt her eyes fill with tears once more. She missed him so much, for everything had been perfect last year and this year, everything was crumbling. Why?

Parker was sat up in his bed leaning his side and his face against the wall. He had pushed his bed against the wall of his dorm a few days back so that he could stare at the wall while he slept and didn't get bothered by Damien. He was staring blankly ahead, perhaps out the window if he really tried. His book was open in front of him, and his parchment blank. He couldn't recall when he'd snapped his quill in half. He just knew he'd not had the will to even start his essay. What was the point of it anyway? Anyone else could write it better anyway. What would his be among dozens and dozens of other students? The professor would probably not even notice if he didn't turn it in. He groaned and shut his eyes, feeling his eyes sting with forming tears. He felt like this great ball of tension had formed in his chest and he needed to release it. Skin was still scrapped on the knuckles of one of his hands from when he had hit the stone wall. He'd been so angry lately.

What was the point of any of this? He'd never get high scores in his classes, even if he wanted to try. He'd never get his position as healer, and even if he did he'd never reach a high position. He had no where to go, and had no clue who he felt like he was. He was just this mass of wasted, frustrated space. He opened his eyes and lifted his head off the wall and with other groan, threw his book across the room. It wasn't even his own book, but a rented one. He'd not been able to afford any of his books this year, nor his robes, nor anything. Breathing heavily he was on his knees on his bed, looking in the direction the book went. A few seconds of silence and he was in a fury, throwing the things off his bed and pushing off the things on his night stand. He hated this. He hated his life so much. Why did he have to be put in Slytherin when he so obviously didn't fit? Why did he have to be so poor? Why did his dad have to split, and his mother have lost it? Why did they have to loath who he was?

All these emotions he felt he didn't know how to cope with. He'd fly into fits of rage when he was alone and become completely blocked off from everyone when he was out. He didn't know who this person was that inhabited his body. He didn't know who it was that got to angry and that ignored his friends and that didn't do any work. This 'fake' Parker fell to his knees beside his bed, resting his head in his arms, sobbing, muttering little words of prayer because it apparently seemed to help his mother. Good lord, he hoped he wasn't like her. He didn't want to be. He hated who she had turned into also. And while the time he had spent with Pyxis seemed so perfect barely two months back, the short time he had gone home before the school year had turned him off like a light. He just wished he could run off from everything and forget it all. Lifting his head he rubbed his face then tugged his hands through his hair. He staggered, grabbing his blanket off the floor throwing it back onto the bed.

He needed air. Yeah, fresh air not in these damned dank, cold dungeon under the lake. He tripped over, then kicked the pillow on the ground as he staggered to the door of the dorm, taking two steps at a time as he went down the dorm stars to the common room. His breathing was still ragged and he didn't care if he looked like he was still crying. Simply put he was a wreck. And he hardly knew a definite reason for it. Every thing had been so great just a few months earlier.... His put his hands over his face, rubbing at his eyes again, and he groaned quietly as he tried to calm his breath, making his way to the door to exit the common room.

Pyxis stabbed at her paper with her pen, watching as the ink seeped into the pages and spread as if it were poison twisting its way through ones veins, slowly shutting down the system and destroying the persons body and mind. She pulled her pen out of the paper and let her tears fall onto the page, splotches of wetness mixing with the black poison, ruining the page completely. She ripped out the several pages that were ruined and threw each one individually into the fire. She watched as the flames that had been hungrily devouring the log move onto the paper. The flames caused the paper to curl in on itself and darken until it black ash amongst the log. She sniffed and wiped at her cheeks, the wetness of her tears staining them.

Her head snapped up so quickly that she wouldn't've been surprised if she got whiplash as she heard the door to the boys dormitory open - and there he was. The cause of all of her heart-ache over the last few weeks, her anger, her slipping grades. The nightmares of him saying that he hated her, the lost hours of sleep, the confusion that gave her constant headaches. He was the cause of all of her pain, and she didn't understand why everything'd changed. And yet, it hadn't, for when she looked at him she still felt her heart beat that little bit faster, and she couldn't help but admire him. She didn't understand why girls weren't falling at his feet, but she realised that he was a different kind of handsome, and she'd rather he didn't have all the attention of girls.

Pyxis stood up abruptly, letting her anger consume her as she stormed over to him with a wild look in her eyes. He looked so weak, like he'd always looked as of late. She didn't expect him to greet her when she spoke to him, nor did she expect him to even acknowledge her. But she'd let her anger out, because she was going mad keeping it bottled up all the time. "Oi!" She cried when she had almost reached him, glad that the common room was empty save for one or two students. "Don't you dare walk away from me Parker Emery! I've just about had it with you, what is up? You don't talk to me anymore, you avoid me at all costs and you ignore me!" She yelled, plating herself firmly in front of him as she crossed her arms and frowned.

As he stormed down the stairs, everything was in a blur. Not only in his vision, but his mind. Everything ached so much more knowing just how far he'd fallen, it was as if his mental health took a nose dive from just a few months ago. Coming back from his grandmother's and seeing his mothers in the state she was was shocking and devastating to say the least. She was thin and looked so shaken, she would yell and blame him for leaving her when she needed him. It didn't take too many day until he really believed it was his fault for her seemingly crazed state. He tried to get in contact with his father for help, as there was no money coming in, but he was always ignored. His mother then started to blame him for why his father was ignoring them and why he left in the first place, she blamed the school he went to, and his magic.

She would go into fits and come after him, striking him in hopes she could knock it out of him and things would go back to normal. As she had help from neighbors in the time he was gone, his mother had reached out to their church and forced him to go in hopes it would bring the evil out of him. He was made to feel like an abomination, as if he shouldn't be alive, and he felt so, so isolate from everything around him. Those few weeks had stretched out so long and made him feel as if he was in a nightmarish reality. He felt ashamed when he realized he was starting to believe those around him. He couldn't bring himself to tell Pyxis. He didn't want to ruin the good time she was probably still having, looking through all the pictures he's given her. He didn't want to push it upon her, it wasn't fair. He would just wait until he was feeling better before he would talk to her....but it didn't feel as if it was going to just go away.

Turning into the common room Parker barely saw Pyxis stand up from the corner of his eye. He continued his way out, and as she started to storm over he found himself wishing she'd realize how not worth it he was to bother with. He thought that by just leaving her be and ignoring her it would be better then the anger and arguing. He hated himself so much more when he allowed whatever force seemed to be controlling him to argue with her.He closed his eyes as she called out to him and he could hear the anger and hurt in her voice. She was probably just as confused as he was about his behavior. He drew his eyes down and stopped as she blocked him. His clothes and hair were messy, his face and eyes red. "Leave me alone." he murmered quietly, his chest aching at his words. He just needed some air, he needed to calm down... he felt like he was suffocating from the internal pressure. Running a hand through his hair again, he took a step to try to walk around her.

Pyxis didn't know what emotion took second place to her anger, was it her confusion or hurt? Was it her sadness, her sense of loss? She couldn't understand this, how everything changed so quickly. It seemed like just yesterday they were having the time of their lives at his grandmother's place, taking pictures together, apart, whenever. She had the pictures in a scrapbook, and they were the best memories of her lives. Somehow, everything'd changed so quickly. She had no clue why all of this had happened. And it didn't seem as if Parker was going to enlighten her on any details any time soon.

She waited for him to speak as she stood in front of him in a feeble attempt to block him from the door. She gulped as he looked down, taking in the redness of his eyes and his face, how messy his hair was and how messy his hair and clothes were. She recoiled, her eyes widening as she stared at him. She hadn't expected anything less, and as usual she stood frozen when he took a step around her. This time, however, she managed to bring herself back to life and she stood right about against the portrait, her arms remaining crossed as she felt more tears slide silently down her cheeks. "I can't believe this!" The few people in the room had now vacated, not wanting to witness a fight.

"I can't believe how quickly you changed!" She continued, her body shaking as her face went red with anger. "It wasn't that long ago you were Parker my best friend, and now look at this pathetic excuse for a human! You ignore me, you tell me to leave you alone, you won't sit next to me in class, I when I call out to you in the hall you pretend I don't exist! What the hell is wrong with you? Why all of a sudden do you hate me?!"

Parker groaned, turning away slightly when she rushed right in front of the portrait exit, blocking him. He kept turned away, not able to bring himself to look her in the face. He knew she was crying. She was always crying. Because of him. He always seemed to upset people. Her and his mother were nearly never happy with him. And there was never anything he could do to help it. He only ever made things worse and he couldn't help it He certainly lacked all control now... if he had any to begin with. Things were always just happening around him and no one ever seemed to mind it. This was just how he felt, it didn't matter that he didn't understand why. And he couldn't ever hope to try to hide so strong as this. These feelings were all consuming and there'd be no part to hide behind.

He took in a breath and closed his eyes, taking a small step back. He'd just go back to his room because the yelling just always got worse. If he stayed in there long enough maybe everyone would just forget about him like they should. He was a wasted space in their lives anyway. He barely opened his eyes to spared a glanced at her, his eyes looking tired, his shoulders slumping, and he saw how mad she looked. He wished she didn't care so much. It made him feel terrible that he did this for whatever reason he thought was best. His eyes slowly went down again, icy coldness filling them, and he recoiled slightly at words he'd heard many times before about his worth. Or lack of. He knew it. And the way she had worded it only made it more solid to him. It was the reality he had been living in that damned house for the weeks before school.

An immediate wall had seemed to be put up, blocking him off from her just as it had been every time she seemed to talk to him. And he just stared down at the ground, completely silent. Silence was better then saying something he knew he didn't mean. Hate her? Oh, no...he did this to protect her...from himself. She didn't deserve to be caught up with all his feelings and problems. Especially since he didn't understand them himself. He should be the only one having to deal with this anyways, it was his problem and others shouldn't be hurting because of him. He just wanted for what he felt to go away. Maybe it was just him though....maybe he should go away.

Pyxis huffed as he step back, as if he was going to retreat and walk away from her again. She was sick of him just walking away from his problems, she could help him. If he'd let her, she could help him, make his problems go away. Then, they could be happy again and not have to worry about the world and all of its worries. They could study together, and maybe her grades could go back to their normal high standards. She was very close to getting a howler from her mother for her average grades, as they were un-acceptable in her parents mind. She'd even get a howler from her father, and that was not a very exciting thought. Her father was a cruel man whom she was quite scared of, and she couldn't believe that when she was little he'd been the light of her life, her protector, her best friend.

Much like Parker's own thoughts, Pyxis wished she didn't care so much. If she didn't care about him, then it would be only to easy to allow him to fall into his black hole that he'd created for himself, and she wouldn't even miss him that much. But that didn't change how she felt, she'd fallen in love with her best friend and even if that wasn't the case, he would still've been her best friend and she wouldn't want him to fall. She wanted to stomp her foot, cry, scream, throw a tantrum like a child because thats what she really was. A child, when it came to all of these problems, she had no solutions. He wouldn't even tell her what was wrong. Or maybe, it was her, she'd thought. Maybe, it would just her he didn't like and if she left him alone he'd be okay. But she didn't want to leave him alone.

Pyxis could feel her frustration, her anger, building up in her as he remained silent. The stillness of the air around them was beginning to suffocate her, and his silence only infuriated her further. He could just speak to her, respond, get angry at her, yell at her, say that he hated her, she wished he would. She didn't care if he just said a couple of words like 'I hate you' or 'I never want to talk to you again', she wanted him to talk to her, say something other than 'Leave me alone' or 'Go away'. "Talk to me! Don't just stand there, Parker, stop doing this to me! I've been your best friend for the past 6 years, you can't just leave me in the dark like this! I don't care what you say, talk to me, get mad, yell at me, do something Parker! I don't deserve this shit, if you've got a problem with me come out and say it!"

Parker was so frustrated with himself. He'd have thought that the past few weeks back at school would have returned him back to normal. Getting away from that horrid environment, he hoped things would just go back to normal and he could move on. But his mother and the community, was still stuck in his head. His mother had been the more stable of supports with him. Not at work as often, trying to eat with him when she could. Sometimes she at least seemed to cared. There never felt to be such love from his father. To him or to his mother. He had stopped caring what his father thought of him halfway through school, he could almost say he resented him for never being there. But his mother felt so much more dear to him. And the things she said and believed hit him so much harder. Each time she struck him it would resound in him for days after. She had just cracked and reduced him down to an empty shell of a person. If she even thought that much of him. He didn't even know quite what made such a change in her...

Those echos stayed with him. And that was probably why he hadn't felt any better... The shame he felt for thinking so lowly of himself carried. And his loneliness there carried as well. He constantly worried about the judgement of others and felt further away then ever to anyone else. He wasn't a slytherin. There was a mistake there had to be. He was a pathetic excuse as a regular person, not to mention a sly and cunning one. He didn't have the blood statis or the money or the attitude or any of it. He didn't seem to fit in anywhere. He hardly knew any guys, he didn't understand most the girls he hung out with, even then he always felt like an extra or in the way...he couldn't do well enough on his work, he wasn't good at quidditch, he wasn't in clubs or anything of the sort. And even with the summer they had in some ways he felt so far away from Pyxis. She was mystery to him since as long as he could remember. There must have been something with him. He was just always...there. And nothing he did seemed to have purpose...

He took another small step back, that pit in his gut feeling like it was sinking. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth a bit. But no words came. How could he explain it to her if he couldn't even explain it in his head. Everything was just a jumbled mess that only got worse then he was upset and slightly calmed any time else. Fuck this, why did this have to be so hard? Why couldn't he just get over himself, why couldn't he just speak? Why couldn't he just stop feeling and hurting? There was nothing she had done and he didn't know how to express that to her. Even if he tried to talk, there was nothing that came but a soft, "No." No, she didn't deserve it, she shouldn't have to deal with it. No, he didn't want to be angry at her. He didn't want her to see him so fragile. He tried to turn around again, to either to back to his dorm or have Pyxis take a few steps so he could rush around her.

Pyxis thoughts swam around in her head, making it throb painfully. Why wouldn't he speak to her? No? No? She stared at him blankly, her mouth hanging ajar as she just gaped at him. Her thoughts went to first, a million thoughts a second running through her head. Why wouldn't he speak to her? She thought that once more. She focused on it, making her knees wobble as tears pricked her eyes. Like her previous thought, she questioned once more why she had to care. She knew though, that she didn't want to not care. She wanted him to open up to her, tell her why he was so sad about all of this. She wanted to know why he'd spiralled down into this abyss of depression, of being closed off to everyone. It was like the other night, when the rest of the Slytherin's had sat a little bit away from him, as if there was an invisible forcefield surrounding him that hadn't allowed them to sit closer than half-a-metre to him. She'd not even sat next to him, opting to sit at the Hufflepuff table with Haley, Jaycie and Alcyone instead. They'd all welcomed her graciously, Haley probably having informed them over her trauma over Parker.

A thought hit Pyxis so suddenly that she almost fell backwards and crashed to the floor in response to it. Was he believing those ridiculous things he'd told her in their 5th year once? That he had no purpose? That he just... hung around? She'd managed to convince and sway him from those thoughts back then, but now he was not so easily swayed by her own opinions and with her parting from him over the holidays, had he begun to sink back into those previous thoughts and believe that he was worthless? She didn't believe it, how could she? She always felt as if he was the most important person in her life. Not even her mother who she sort-of loved was as close to her as he was. He was always in her thoughts, always on the edge of her mind no matter what or when. He was the centre of her world, but maybe he didn't realise that and felt himself purposeless. She shook her head and the thought drifted away from her.

The world which had slowed to allow her time to think now sped back up to normal time and she looked back up at him as she sniffled and the tears vanished. She hardened herself up and frowned at him, an eyebrow raised in questioning. "No?" She questioned angrily, her face still flushed red. He stepped around her and she watched him for a moment, her body frozen in place. He'd just walk away from her? She'd always been there, always tried to take care of him, and now he'd decided that he was just going to run away from her? He couldn't run forever, that wasn't how life worked at all. He'd have to face her eventually, and so she whipped around and stepped close to him. Her hand reached out and she grabbed his collar, yanking him back with as much strength as she had.

Before turning around he saw her mouth gap open, looking at him shocked. Why didn't she get that he didn't want to hurt her any more then he did. He thought that if he spoke or yelled at her it would be worse. He'd rather a lot of things so unsaid then have huge arguments all the time. He thought that his silence was the better thing to do for her. Even if he had tried to talk to her he didn't know what he would say. Sometimes all he wanted to do was just scream. No words. Just a scream to let out all his frustrations and emotions he couldn't find words for and all the things he didn't understand. He just didn't want to take that out on her, he didn't want to burden her with his frustrations and how sometimes none of this seemed worth it to deal with.

He didn't have anything. Nothing of worth to him. All he had was Pyxis, and he could hardly even bring himself to be around her because of how everything else had fallen apart around him. He had felt idiotically dependent on her, on her words of encoragment, reminding him of all the things that weren't true. He felt so stupid for allowing all that stuff to get through to him just because she wasn't there. When all he was was surrounded by her most the summer, it was a drastic drop to being around his mother all the time, who pounded all the things Pyxis was trying to work out of him.

He drew his eyes down as she questioned his one-worded reply. When he want to walk around her was was simmering with self-loathing and an undirected anger began to bubble up. Maybe at the whole stupid situation? Maybe because he realized he blamed it on his mother? Maybe a whole bunch of other stuff? He didn't know. He felt Pyxis move closer to him and he was about to turn around, but then he felt a hard yank on the collar of his shirt. It pulled hard on his throat in a familiar feeling and he spun around, his hand up to push her arm away instinctively. But as her hand was gripped onto his shirt she was pulled forward as he turned and he struck her on the face. It took him a few moment to really take in what happened as he was released and took a few steps back. His eyes were wide in horror, his mouth open trying to form works. He reached his hand out to her arm. "P-pyxis- shit- are you okay???"

Pyxis felt her lip quiver as he continued to walk away from her, as if that would solve anything. A series of negative emotions coursed through her, depression, annoyance, sadness, anger, rage, loneliness and such emotions along those lines. She steeled herself and gathered what little courage she had to grab him - as he'd grown quite a bit and was rather muscled now - and tugged on him. It was probably a light tug to him, but it used up most of her energy and she hoped he'd stop. She just wanted to know what was wrong, hold his hand and assure him everything would be alright. Her eyes full shut and she gritted her teeth as she remembered the feeling of his hand wrapped around hers, offering warmth and comfort that she couldn't receive from anyone else. Now, she had no one to turn to - as she was still wary of her mother - and she felt lost.

The next few seconds of her life happened so fast it took her a moment to register what had even happened. She felt her body jerk forward as he began to spin around, bringing her close to his body. The proximity made her want to scream and demand that he let her in, so she could hug him again. Her eyes widened as suddenly, his hand hit the side of her face with a resounding sound, and the force made her head jerk sideways. She stumbled backwards several paces and her body froze up for a second as she registered everything. Then, she felt a wave of emotions crash on herself. Tears stung her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she lifted a hand to touch her rapidly reddening cheek. Her mouth fell open and she gaped at him with sadness etched onto her features. His words were far off, as if something was muffling them.

She heard them though, and she honestly thought he'd be smart enough to know the answer. She took another step back as if she suddenly feared him - and she did. He hit her? Why would he hit her? She just wanted to be there for him, to comfort and understand him. She'd just wanted to help, and he responded by hitting her? Her heart felt as if it'd been ripped out of her chest and crushed into tiny little pieces. She remembered her mother telling her when she was little, 'Guard your heart sweety, for it is like a diamond - beautiful beyond belief, but fragile and shatters easily if not cared for'. She wished she'd listened to her mother now and not entrusted him with her heart, for he'd broken it. She took 3 or 4 steps back and shook her head as tears streamed like an endless river down her face, her hand now cupping her cheek as it stung. "W-Why... I just- I just w-wanted to help." She choked brokenly, before she turned and made a move to run from the common room. If he thought he could run, then she would too!

Parker stared on, his eyes wide with shock. His hand was still up, red and stinging. He felt like he couldn't breath and the built up pressure was just too much. He had no clue how hard he had hit her, but- but it was an accident! He never would have ever wanted to hit any girl, especially not her. She had stumbled a few steps back and he tries to close the gap again. He winced when she stepped back again. He opened his mouth again to try to talk, only a choked sound escaping in attempt of apology that he knew she'd not listen to. He felt sick, sick of himself, sick to his stomach. He hadn't meant to, no, never. He would never want to- As the tears streamed down her face he felt his eyes well, with the terrible realization that she...may have feared him now? His face and eyes were red and he tried to step towards her again. His voice was weak, and cracked when he spoke. "Pyxis, it was an accident, please- I didn't mean-" he breathed out, feeling like he was choking on his words.

As she turned around to leave, he nearly reached out to grab her arm. But he knew that would just make him more threatening and violent. He knew for sure it would dement him further in her mind. So he just stood there, looking after her as she went. A look of utter defeat and disgust in himself in his face as he lowered his head. He was shaking slightly. Why did he have to fuck up so badly all the time? He had wanted her to go so he wouldn't hurt her anymore. But things were now as bad as they could be. He....physically hurt her. And he knew neither of them could let that go, neither of them were able to let go of anything. He could not forgive himself... But he couldn't just let her go...he needed to tell her that it was an accident. He needed to apologize and have her listen. It was too late now though. He knew he'd still not be able to bring himself to do anything about any of this. He felt so helpless in all of this. He just didn't want her to be a part of this...but now she was.

Pyxis felt her body tremble at the force of her pain. She felt as if she'd been stabbed with a million knives and was slowly bleeding to death in complete agony. At that moment, she would've taken the torture curse a million times over than experience this intense pain. Was this what it was like to love? It sucked, it really did. She didn't love her mother, she was fond of her but after the years where she'd been un-loved by her parents she'd become distrustful of them. And now, her life support, the one person that had always been there for her, always made her feel happy, always made her feel as if she was safe and loved had cruelly pushed her away and then hit her as if to rub it in her face that she was alone. Her head throbbed and it was for that reason she only heard her name and saw his lips move, but his voice was too far away to comprehend. He stepped towards her, as if to close the space and a squeak of terror escaped her as she leapt back - like she'd been electrocuted.

Her head shook violently as she continued to sniffle and cry, her body shaking worse than before. This wasn't right, how did everything go so wrong? How did he all of a sudden hate her? What had she done to make him hate her? She thought back to the first few weeks of this year but she'd barely said more than 'Hey, how are you?' and smile at him, to which he'd not responded. She wiped at her tears before her hands fell to her side as her cheek continued to sting, but the worst pain was in her chest. Alone, always alone. She'd been a fool to think that everything would start getting better for her - that she would come to love her mother, that Parker might ever love her back the way she loved him. Those holidays had been the most fun they'd ever had - and now this? "You're not Parker." She said in a surprisingly stable voice, though her body shook, tears poured out of her eyes and hands clenched and un-clenched. She tried hard not to set fire to something, that white-hot feeling running through her once more. "Not my Parker." She continued, but her voice was strained this time before she turned and fled.

Parker flinched, his hand recoiling as she squeaked and practically away from him. He felt a lump form in his throat and his stomach drop. She really was frightened that he would do that again, and on purpose in the first place and he was honestly very hurt by the idea that she thought that. God damn it, why couldn't he do anything right??

He saw the pain an hurt coming off of her in waves as she shook, and he had no clue how to dig himself out of the silent rut he had dug himself in order to try to apologize or...say anything. He drew his eyes down, feeling that stab of pain as well with her words she said so surely and sharply.

He opened his mouth when she repeated that he wasn't 'her' Parker, though she said it with far more difficulty. The words wouldn't come out though as she turned. And he could hardly bring his hand up to try to reach out for her as she ran off...