Grim

by D.J. Krimmer

Because without feeling, there is no pain, and a world without pain works pretty fucking well for me.

“Everyone deserves to be touched, Kane. Everyone deserves to feel.”

Except he isn’t a man. He isn’t a monster. And he isn’t mine.

Because Rue feels like the last page of a book I never want to finish.

“Your father might have treated you like a princess, Rue Chamberlain,” he says as he traces my cheek with his thumb, “but I intend to make you a queen.”

“We can always cling to hope, Grim. Not you or anyone else can take that from a single soul. Living or lost.”

Because Rue isn’t just another soul waiting to cross over into the AfterLife. She’s the soul that I didn’t know I’d been waiting forever to find.

“No,” I repeat with steely calm. Then, fiercely, I state, “She belongs to me.”

“She is mine,” I say again, louder this time, darker, more final.

“I’m not ready,” she whispers. “I can’t face this. Not alone. Not without you.”

Kane is gone. Another vital piece of me stolen, another sliver of my traitorously weak heart torn asunder.

“She’s the only person I can remember who made me feel safe. Who made me feel like I mattered.” He hesitates. “Until you.”

“I know I’m not always easy. I talk too much. I steal stuff. I’m a bit much sometimes. But you made me feel like I wasn’t just a stupid little ghost. You listened to me. You saw me.”

“Knowing you, feeling like I belong, not to somewhere, but to someone—I haven’t felt that since Sophia. I forgot what it felt like. You made me remember, Rue. Made me feel real. Like that bunny did for a time. And you set me free.”

“It’s okay to miss someone,” he says. “That ache means you remember ’em. And that’s a good kind of hurt.”

“I’m afraid of not being remembered.”

How does one say goodbye without saying goodbye? How does one leave without letting those they love the most know they’re going? It rings. How do I do this?

But those are just that—stories. And this is reality. And in truth, nothing lasts forever. Heroes and cowards alike, it does not matter, for in the end, we all die.

“Love never ends, Kane. It’s the only thing more enduring than death. That doesn’t vanish just because she did.”