And then I saw something that shouldn’t have been. A bird. It flitted around me in the void, its beautiful wings flashing blue-green. It sang a song so sweet that I remembered what it was like to have a heart, if only so I could feel it ache. And oh, it ached. I remembered more. Jade, the color of new grass. Winter mint and the promise of snow on cold mountain air. A crooked smile and dark, thick waves of hair. I remembered pieces of him, and all at once, and I remembered how to drown. I needed him like I needed air. I reached for him like I was reaching for the surface of a still, flat lake.
...more
