Cursed to love you

on't remember

ripping beneath my fingers. The sound of my own scream-cut

his

s, hi

spering my name like a prayer-or a curse. And the way he said it

aze by magic I couldn't understand. The trees bowed toward me, groaning with secrets

I

ond of hesitation, e

laws against my skin, heard the roar of a beast that was not entirely hu

ing, just before the

It's alway

-

met him, I didn'

ve split me in half. No one could explain how I walked away f

dn't fee

if something had

closed my eye

t black coat, hands dripping with someone's blood

se-a m

st didn't k

aces. A lullaby in a language I didn't know, but sang anyway. It terrified my the

as m

-

ing in language

oems written in ash, kisses that weren't mi

before bed. She joked about sleep paralysis demons. But I wasn'

em looked

thought I wa

in a memory. But in a crowd on a str

d around him, like he didn't belong.

ed righ

sm

a man who had

than

-

right away. He waited

hat hadn't been touched. Until I couldn't breathe without hearing his

e, I'll

then. Not the time before

I didn't know why he looked

e memori

them, t

-

d a hund

etrayal. By my own hand. And al

n D'A

The man who never ages. The one who's loved me

ls it

f it's som

hing keeping us alive, b

-

and old churches, drawn to ruins and cathedrals like something ancient pu

ound the

forgotten fairy tales and an ancient guide to blood ritu

t it

ace-only older. Sadder.

de her w

-

ht, I ki

I woke up with b

bl

ill warm in my grip, his name on my

s eyes

. Cold

spered. "You'v

ilence. Into everythin

-

is life ends. But I

e reme

im trying

r walking to th

me like smoke. The letter is tucked into the pocket of my coat, folded and un

died. Not

since 2009. I stand beneath the flickering platform lights, hands stuffe

fail

with too much imagination and not enough closure. B

s like

member where I'm going. My feet do. They carry me down empty streets and

That eerie hush like the world holding its breath. The last time I came her

lau

when I went miss

dge of the trees

t. Then

ce is suf

-

ur later,

lea

g just beneath the surface of the air-as if time has tried t

this

d in thi

u c

in a

d in two hundred years. He wears the same coat. Same boots

ny of it real? The pai

r. Slow. Caref

y m

. "Because it's

it lik