TWENTY-ONE
AlmaLeo wakes, screaming from another nightmare. I calm him down, and he holds me while drifting back to sleep. He doesn’t seem to remember the night terrors in the morning, which is probably a blessing for him. Though I can’t get his tortured cries out of my mind.
Sleep evades me for most of the night. My brain won’t stop weighing all the options. The blatant differences between Leo and me keeps me tossing and turning, but the glaring truth makes me stay—and that’s that I love Leo. I do. I’m drawn to him on a spiritual level. It doesn’t make sense, and I can’t always put words to our connection. Just like faith, love is hard to prove, but when it’s present, it’s impossible to ignore. I feel it. I believe it. I need it.
I need Leo.
Sleep doesn’t come, so I decide to get up.
