My tears splashed onto Leo's hand and swirled with his blood in crimson streaks. Like a lone raindrop vanishing into the endless ocean, I felt achingly small. The weight of my foolishness crashed down on me because I had done something unforgivable. I had left Leo and Grandma behind in this world and fled like a coward. In our next lives, we might never cross paths again.
No one would spoil me rotten like a princess, and no one would bark "Hey squirt" with that rough affection. No one would whip up my favorite honey-glazed fish, and no one would throw down in a back-alley brawl just to defend my honor. We would be faceless strangers in life's next crowded tide. A passing nod might be all we would ever share. I had been wrong, so wrong, to think my death could punish him.
In that heartbea
