“She’s not coming back, is she?”
“No,” Dmitri frowned. “Probably not.”
Alexei sighed and rested his face on his folded arms.
Dmitri moved in behind him, pressing against him, holding him gently.
“It’s okay,” the man whispered in his ear. “We’ll be okay.”
“No,” Alexei shook his head. “It . . . it isn’t worth it. We’ve got each other, we’ve still got some money . . . We should just go somewhere peaceful where nothing can hurt us and live out the rest of our lives like that.”
“Is that what you want?” Dmitri pushed away from him with such force the water leapt up and touched his hair. “To die comfortably?”
“What else is there? To die longing for something that will never be found? Some stone flower? Some f*****g imaginary elixir of life?”
“No. To not die at all.”
“It’s not real, Dmitr
