Chapter 35
Thirty-Five
The cabin sits where it did all those years ago, near the break in the woods. Fireflies flit through the coming dark, dotting the land with flashes of their hopeful, glowing light.
It’s not my original cabin, of course.
That’s long gone.
This imitation is for tourists—sanitizing the truth of it all. It’s missing the smell of crowded bodies, the stink of sweat from laboring under an unforgiving sun, and the acrid scent of bitter desperation that marked each day.
Light flickers from within.
He’s here and it’s time.
“I don’t feel right leaving you alone.” Sebastian takes his hands from the steering wheel and wraps them around mine.
I turn to him, thankful for this man. “But I’m not alone.” I touch my heart with my free hand. “I have you here. I have all of them here. It’s time for me to finish this.”
I swallow and glance out the car window, pulse racing. Just because I know what to do doesn’t make it easy.
A new thought creeps into my mind: Death can be cruel. “But what if he takes away my life right then and there? What if he returns me to how I was?”
Even after all these years, I remember the pain that lies on the edge of death.
I think about the spots, not being able to breathe, coughing up blood .
. . What if he returns me with mere minutes to live?
It’s one thing to have thought my deal would come with death; it’s another thing to confront my agonizing mortality.
Sebastian grips my hand, his fingers dwarfing mine. “Then I will be with you until your final breath and carry you in my heart to the final one of mine.”
His words, his quiet confidence, his everything, is what I’ve been searching for through space and time. He reminds me of all the beauty I’ve seen that I’ve promised Death exists.
I kiss him.
I kiss him with all that I have in me. The kiss is sweet, full of every emotion we feel for each other and more.
I don’t want to break away, but I must.
It won’t do to keep Death waiting.
“It’s time,” I say, Sebastian’s forehead against mine.
He nods and lets me go. This is something I must do on my own.
I take a deep breath and slide out of the car.
It is time to face Death.