There’s no pain.
There’s only shock and a chill so cold it slowly ices me to my core.
But there’s also a glowing warmth that morphs into a freeing calm when Thiago says he loves me back. It’s followed quickly by bone deep, soul destroying sorrow that I won’t get to grow old with him after all.
It takes the last of my strength to open my eyes one final time. His face hovers above mine, awash with tears. The pain etched in his features is so raw and visceral that it’s almost enough to keep me from losing consciousness.
I ripped something inside of him. It’s a wound he’ll never heal from. I don’t want to leave him with that pain. I want to protect him as much as he’s protected me.
I’m not ready to go.
The injustice of it kills me.
Another tear trails down the side of my face.
But my breathing gets shallower and the lights start to dim and the birds stop singing and the darkness calls to me with the seductive voice of a siren guiding sailors to their deaths.
I guess it’s time, even though I’m not ready.
No matter how much I try, there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
With a devastating finality, the world goes black.
