"You died." My mouth moved, but I couldn't hear my own voice. "You died!" I screamed, hurt and disbelief burning through my eyes and cheeks as salty tears spilled down. My dry throat broke, and the wind stole my voice, muffling it with its own roar.

  I knew I shouldn't cry. It would only make things worse, maybe even kill me quicker. But I couldn't stop. I let the drops gather on my eyelashes, cloud my vision, and roll down my cheeks.

  The figure in the distance blurred, like watercolor on a soaked page. It had to be her.

  But... what if it wasn't?

  I forced my gaze downward. I stood atop a hill, less than fifty feet from the back of a girl whose hair flowed gracefully in the wind. The same shade. The same length. Just as it had been so long ago.

  I shook my head. Stop it.

  I had held her when she slipped. When they took her far away. I had watched her blue eyes fade, lifeless. Stop!

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  My knees gave out. I didn't even know if I hit the ground. One moment I was standing, the next I was crawling through dry, rocky soil.

  "You died," I whispered. Or at least, I thought I did. The weak voice I recognized as mine said something different:

  "You left me."

  I swallowed, trying to force the lump in my throat down. It wouldn't go. It choked me. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't call for help. I was helpless. Just like she had been.

  Then the girl moved. she didn't walking away, but turned towards me.

  The wind roared, as if trying to push me back, to save me.

  But I couldn't look away. I couldn't move. I was paralyzed, at the mercy of those ocean-blue eyes, the same eyes I had lost myself in countless times before. This time, they swallowed me whole, drowning me in their dark waves.

  I stopped struggling. I stopped screaming. Every fight, every desperate motion, had led me here, to her. I had made it.

  Maybe this was heaven—or maybe something far darker.

  Something black crept into my vision, consuming everything. Terrifying, yet beautiful. A scream tore through the wind, warning, begging, but I let the darkness take me, surrendering completely.

  I wanted the last thing I ever saw to be her, even if it was just a mirage.