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There is nothing to figure out, there is no how or why. Sometimes things just happen.
She was the flint lighting sparks in my darkness, illuminating a history that I can just barely see.
Her cheeks turn pink, and I find myself wondering how I managed to bear ten years without her in my life.
I’m so used to our lives falling apart that it makes me nervous when it hasn’t happened in a while.”
Even if I hadn’t known you, I would have stopped and looked back. I would’ve introduced myself.”
*swoons*
Everything always seems like it’s going fine until suddenly, one day, it’s not.
I blame the fact that the President sells the Undercity the dream that, if they only worked hard enough, they too could Level themselves up to the Sky Floors. I blame the fact that the dream is a fantasy.”
“That I love you,” I whisper. “That I’ve been in love with you for years, even when we were separated. Especially then. I’ve lived with you in my life, and I’ve lived without you. No matter what kind of fear I feel in the possibility of us being together, the fear of being away from you is something I don’t think I can bear.” I look down, shy to meet her gaze now. “I have nightmares of losing you again. All the time.”
“I’ve looked over my shoulder for a decade,” I whisper, “wondering what it was that was missing in my life. Turns out, all this time, it was you.”
“If June were down there, you would tear every street of the Undercity apart to find her. You would keep going until you were dead, and you wouldn’t care what the hell I said.”
No matter how strong the country, no matter how invincible one might seem … there is always a tipping point. Always something that can pull the entire house down.
So true.
I find myself wondering if there is ever a time in history of peace, if we can ever find a way to escape the cycle of destruction we bring upon ourselves.
Maybe the United States was only ever united for some. Maybe this place has always been a dystopia.
Her hand lingers, holding gently on to mine. “We can’t save the world,” she says softly. “But we still try anyway,” I say. “One day at a time.”
“My home is where you are,”
“Because sometimes, sir, the only way to make your government listen is to force them to,” I say.
It’s a special kind of hell, speaking frankly in a system that doesn’t reward honesty at all.
