Locked by Parker Witter

to.
    â€œNoah,” I say. I slide closer to him and take his face in my hands. “I want you to be here. I want you to be the Healer. They need you, you said it yourself. Tell them you’ll do it.” I don’t let my eyes leave his. “This is where you belong.”
    He snorts. “Belong,” he says. He stops, looks at me. “And you?”
    I swallow. “I want to stay with you.”
    Noah shakes his head, pulls my hands down. “You’re just saying that because you don’t think there is another way.”
    â€œIs there? Noah, we’ve been trying to figure out how to get off this island and failing, and maybe—maybe it’s time we tried to figure out how to stay.”
    â€œYour whole life is somewhere else,” he says.
    â€œNot anymore.” I take a deep breath. “I know my sister is safe. I know it will be hard, but she’s—” My voice catches, but I push forward. “She’s going to be at college soon and until then Ed will look out for her. I know he will. Noah, my life—my life is with you now.”
    He looks at me. I see his eyes get liquid. “August,” he says. “This isn’t what you’re meant for. This isn’t your destiny.”
    â€œBut it’s yours.”
    I see him swallow. “You’d do that for me?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhy?” he asks, and I see the bewilderment in his eyes. The way his forehead knits together.
    I think about the chief’s words on the bluff. About sacrifice. Duty. About how we show it. “Because I love you,” I say.
    He doesn’t react, just keeps looking at me. “That’s not a good idea,” he says.
    â€œIt’s not really a choice, Noah.” I fold my hands in my lap. Suddenly, I feel exposed. What if I’ve misread this entire thing? What if he doesn’t want me to stay with him? “What about you?”
    â€œYou have to ask?”
    My heart leaps up into my neck. I feel it beating there, trying to scramble up my throat and out of my mouth, through my words. “Yes,” I say. “I do. We’re talking about forever.”
    He nods. Then he runs his hands over his forehead. “When we started second grade, Tobias Scarsdale used to pick on you. You were so small and he was one of those freakishly big kids, remember?”
    I nod, but I don’t say anything. I have no idea where he is going with this.
    â€œHe hit you once. You were answering a question, and he just leaned over and grabbed your elbow and smacked you. He wasn’t allowed to sit next to you for the rest of the year.”
    â€œNoah…”
    â€œAfter school that day he was waiting for his mom. I almost killed him.” Noah looks up, shuts his eyes briefly. “I pummeled him. I was suspended for a week, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t let someone get away with trying to hurt you.”
    His head snaps back down. He looks at me. I feel all the air leave my body in one, solid rush.
    â€œSummer after seventh grade. Your parents wanted you to go to Europe with them, but your sister had soccer camp and they didn’t want her to miss it. You thought it would be unfair to just bring one of you, so you stayed home. Your aunt came to look after you guys, and you made Italian every night. You even went and used your allowance to get one of those pasta makers so it would feel like you guys were in Italy.”
    â€œHow do you…”
    â€œFreshman year, when your mom got sick, you didn’t leave the hospital for eight straight days. Ed and I would go home at night and you would sleep on the two chairs in your mom’s room. Maggie didn’t visit. You were angry about that, but you understood.
    â€œAnd that night Ed asked you to be his girl I came there to tell you how much I loved you. I came there because I couldn’t bear to think of living another minute without you by my side. Ed showed up