She held onto Bertie as tightly as possible. It was almost as though if she didn’t she would somehow float away, which if you think about it wasn’t entirely out of the question. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and although she was trying not to, she felt herself fighting away the tears. It began with her lower lip—a minor tremble at first, and then a losing battle. Within seconds her face had a life of its own and was twitching madly before it seemed to spread to the rest of her body. Shaking as though she were shivering from the cold, the tears made everything blur; from the faces of the circling animals to the strangers who were in a stasis all around her, she could barely see a thing. Being this close to him made her heart beat in a way she hadn’t known since she’d felt his love rip itself out of her that day at the train station. Several years had passed since that fateful argument, and now here he was, and how her heart now danced again. Placing Bertie gently down onto the ground between her bare feet, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, and yet still the tears flowed. Sniffing and sobbing, she made to say his name yet it got caught in the back of her throat and what came out instead was a garbled mess. It made her laugh, even though to laugh caused her stomach to hurt. It was absurd to think that at this moment she was as far from graceful as she could be, but it didn’t matter. Through the tears, she could make him out moving towards her, and when she felt his fingers caress the side of her face, it was as if the memory of all the pain she’d experienced since their last embrace had simply vanished.

A Journal for Damned Lovers UK

A Journal for Damned Lovers US

Anthology UK / Anthology US