Thirty-Five
It was as if my chest was stabbed with a thousand knives, and air cut off from my lungs.
We marched through the dark forest while birds sang, preparing for dawn. It was a physical feeling inside of me, a feeling of pain, excruciating, hurting beyond reason. Caleb was dead. As it was happening, I knew it with such clarity that it pierced my heart, as if I had seen it. But I could not explain the knowledge, as if it came from without, from this strange connection. I had to prevent myself from hyperventilating, and even stopped for a short moment to catch my breath.
Caleb is dead.
I knew that his body was burned with the strength of an enormous explosion. He was dead instantly, but he had seen it coming several seconds before. I had been there with him. Pain spread inside of m
