The Fall

by Tal Bauer

I have always known that I would end here. Dark water calls to dark water, the ocean inside me rising to meet its larger self. It’s like coming home, like closing a circle, an ending that chews its tail and calls itself a beginning.

It was always going to end this way, always in dark water, remembering your mouth and the taste of salt on your skin. I love you⁠—

I would make the slow, terrifying, beautiful crawl back to him in every life, in every time, with every breath I draw.

it reaches through me to him, to this man who would set his dreams on fire to keep me warm.

God. Blair has carried his grief like armor, worn it so close to his skin that removing it means exposing every tender place beneath. And he’s choosing to do it.