Chapter108:

Chapter 108 XENOIS  I spun around, my heart racing, but there was no one there. The bathroom was empty except for me. When I turned back to the mirror, he was still there in the reflection, standing behind me like a ghost. "You're not real," I said aloud, my voice shaking. "You're just my imagination, my fear manifesting because of the memories I saw last night." "Am I?" the reflection asked, and his voice was my voice but colder, emptier. "Or am I the truth you've been running from? The reality of who you actually are underneath this desperate performance of domesticity?" "I'm not performing," I said, gripping the sink harder. "This is who I am now. Who I choose to be." The old Xenois laughed, and the sound was chilling—utterly devoid of genuine humor. "You think you have a choice? Xenois, you are me. I'm not some separate entity you can banish. I'm you. I'm the foundation everything else is built on." "No," I said firmly. "You're who I was. Past tense. I'm different now." "Because of