Chapter Twenty-Four
I try to breathe, but I am drowning.
Not in water, but in my grief.
I close my eyes and breathe through the overwhelming pain. It feels like my heart is trying to beat its way out of my chest before ripping to pieces and falling to the ground like ash.
I was so close. So close .
Why didn’t I reach out? Why didn’t I help? Why didn’t I do something? Anything?!
Why did I fail her?
She will never know me. She was too perfect for this world, and now she is no more.
Still, I cannot leave her.
I can never leave her.
I stay in the shadows and watch. They carry her body into the building where they heal their wounded, and I still watch.
I am waiting to make sure those warped beings do not return to cause more destruction.
I was so close when she fell, but I was not fast enough to help.
I was close enough to see her eyes, and then watch the spark leave them as the elder lulled her to sleep. The same elder woman then wept fiercely for her, and I watched as her love flowed down her face, carried by her tears.
Tears that mimic my own.
My mind knew the truth, the moment her beautiful eyes closed, having died before she even truly lived…
But my heart?
My heart is a thoughtless beast that pounds with hope inside my chest.
My heart keeps my feet in place.
Watching her.
Mourning her.
Waiting for her.