"It's been so long since she's talked to me that I can imagine she's dead," I said, and blew on the tea. It was still too hot to drink, but I took a painful sip anyway. "Sometimes, in my darker daydreams, I do. But I'm not brave enough to imagine the how or the why of it. Just that the only place she lives is in my memories, and maybe that's the sweetest possible world right now, because it's one where she can't break my heart any further."
First draft: 140710
Published: 230311