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KALI SIGHED, APPROACHING HER FOR the final time. Last night, they didn't speak much at all after what happened. Kali ignored everybody, sitting at a table on her own until the Mind Flayer came back. She wouldn't let anyone go near her, scared that she'd kill them, too. It broke Nancyʼs heart to see her this way, but Kali wouldn't even look at her.
"How are you?" she asked, smiling with sympathy.
When Kali sniffed, Nancyʼs body ached to wrap her in her arms, squeeze her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. Nancy longed to protect her with her life. But she knew Kali was never going to listen. When she was in these mindsets, there was almost nothing she could do to pull her out of them.
Kali shrugged, not meeting her eyes. "Fine." Her voice was cold, distant.
"Talk to me," Nancy insisted, stepping forward to take Kaliʼs hands. Kali stepped back before she could reach her, causing Nancy to frown, her heart shattering. "I'm here for you."
Kali shook her head, no emotion behind her eyes. "You shouldn't be," she told her.
At this point, tears were pricking at Nancyʼs eyes. Things were so well at the beginning of the summer, now she barely recognised Kali. Last night, before everything at the mall happened, she thought things were going to go back to normal. She believed she was going to have her girl back — her girl, who called her up just to say she was bored; her girl, who stole her frilly pink shorts; her girl, who said would love her forever. Then, all her hope was crushed when the Mind Flayer did the one thing that would destroy Kali completely. He killed Cole. Not only that, but he made Kali do it. Deep down, Nancy knew Kali was never going to recover from this, but she wasn't going to give up.
"I'm going to California," Kali stated, tucking her hands into her jean pockets.
"I know." Nancy nodded. "But we can still make this work."
Finally, for the first time through this interaction, Kali turned to meet Nancyʼs warm, welcoming eyes. She knew this would make the girl standing opposite her hopeful, she knew Nancy was expecting some light in all of this darkness, but she also knew that her next statement would shatter her heart into pieces. Kali shrugged and let the words escape her mouth: "Maybe I don't want to."
For a long moment, Nancy didn't say anything. Her mind simply could process the words Kali had said. "You don't mean that," she argued, emotion breaking through her voice as the tears began to fall. She shook her head. "Kali...you don't mean that."
Kali looked her dead in the eye, her face like stone, showing no sign of emotion as she stared at the tears she made fall. "I do," she said coldly.
Again, Nancy shook her head, her heart shattering more by every word. "Things were so good," she said, her voice cracking. "What happened to us?"
