Page 436 of Eternal
No one thinks that. But maybe… he did. Maybe he’s seen too many broken things to walk past them anymore, maybe he’s a little bit broken too, a little bit masochistic.
It probably hurts him to touch me, but he still does, and maybe if he holds this one jagged piece, me, it won’t feel so alone anymore.
He promised this birthday would be different.
He said he had a gift, he was so excited, and said he had something to tell me.
This birthday was supposed to be different, and it is.
Because for the first time in twenty years, my broken heart came back to life, and then shattered all over again. All it took was a bullet. Maybe we don’t die just once.
Because the pain in my chest is screaming, this is the second, but it’s also the last.
I can feel it now, the warmth leaving my body.
Like my soul is unraveling quietly, slipping through my fingers, drifting away.
I wish I could see him one last time.
I wish he were here so I could say it.
Because he deserves to know that he made me happy, that for the past year, he made me feel human. That my pain meant something because he saw it, and stayed, that I was a child once. A little girl who couldn’t stop the people who were supposed to love her from hurting her.
Who didn’t understand what a mother should be, who couldn’t stop her father from giving up, who used to dream of stars… who only wanted to smile.
But the world took that from her, because she was unlucky, because she was too quiet, because she apologized too much,because she needed something, anything, to make the emptiness less loud.
Because sometimes, the only voices she could trust were the ones in her head, whispering that maybe she wasn’t truly alone. And now… Now it’s quiet.
But it’s okay. I’m okay, I found what I needed. I have proof, I can save them. I did it.
And maybe… maybe that’s okay.
I wish…
Footsteps. Fast.Heavy.
A voice, cracking with fear,
“Hey…HEY!”
Damir.
But I’m already sinking.
And all I can do is look up, blurry, shaking, bleeding, and whisper: “Damir…”
121
DAMIR
“Let Down” by Mack Lorén
Present
She wasn’t answering.
Not texts, not calls.Nothing.
