This and Every Life

by Emmy Sanders

Romance, sex, friendship, even, are all secondary to what love is at its core. It’s the very makeup of our being. It’s our essence, reaching out to another and finding our reflection in kind.

“You guys are too nice. It’s tragic, really. Guys like you aren’t supposed to be nice.” “That’s a shame. I think niceness should be expected, not the exception.” She raises an eyebrow. “It’s like trying to argue with a ray of sunshine.”

“I would say I’d have loved you in whatever form you came to me. In whatever time. I would defend you with my dying breath, and I would follow you wherever it is you go. The pieces of us were made to fit, Gray. To be drawn together and shared. You told me once bound stars are destined to go out together. And I’m glad for it. Because I can’t imagine a life, now or ever, without you in it.”

Maybe we can’t live forever. But I know down to my marrow—wherever his soul goes, mine will follow.

There is not a world, not a lifetime, in which I am not his. Utterly and singularly.

“I believe in you, my love. Which is why I can say with absolute certainty… I love you. In this and every life.”