The ground beneath my feet—it remembered me. Like it had been waiting. Like every root under the soil whispered, You came back.
I walked slowly, step by step, toward the bench I once collapsed beside. That old wooden thing with its chipped green paint and loose screws. It hadn’t changed. But I had.
I sat down, heart heavy and stomach tight. The last time I was here… I died.
No, not Leon.
Catherine. She died for a moment. Her lungs collapsed. Her heart betrayed her. Her panic rose like a tsunami. And it was me—Leon—who saved her. With my hands. With my breath. With that stubborn urge to keep her alive because something inside her—inside us—refused to die.
My fingers brushed the edge of the bench.
Suddenly, it was like I could see it again. The way the sky spun as her head hit the pave
