A finale only our love is worthy of.
1
Enzo
The world has gone dark.
Like the entire world decided to flick off their lightswitches all at the same time, and agreed to never turn them back on. All I’ve seen for weeks is darkness.
There is no electricity.
No light guiding my way.
Not even a sunrise to greet me in the morning.
The world is dark.
Or maybe the world hasn’t literally turned the lights off. I’m sure the sun has risen. If not, we’d all be dead, but I haven’t seen it. I have a filter over my eyes. A haze that prevents me from seeing the light.
My mother is gone.
My father is gone.
Pietro and Milo are gone.
Zeke is gone.
Liesel is gone.
Langston is gone.
I’m familiar with death. Used to losing those I love. That list is short compared to the countless number of men and women who have died fighting to protect me.
I should be used to dealing with death.
But I don’t think death is something that anyone really gets used to. Because each death of someone you love leaves a permanent mark on your soul. A black spot you can never remove. And from my short list of loved ones alone, my soul must be mostly black at this point.
None of those deaths cast my soul into permanent blackness, however. Because only one person matters. My heart beats for only one person, even though she’s gone. My heart will never stop being hers.
Kai.
Kai is gone.
Our child—gone.
She’s everything I’ve been fighting for. Everything I’ve done has been for her.
And now she’s gone.
No, not gone. That word implies she will return. That she is simply off somewhere on vacation and will return one day.
Kai is dead.
Dead—I’ve never hated a word so much.
But I’m not going to war against the word. I’m going to war against the world.
Because the world let her die. The world didn’t protect her. The world had the most beautiful, strong woman, and it let her die.