Page 136 of One Last Rainy Day
They both nod and take off through the gate and down the hill. Taking my time, I allow the memories to flood me, emotions churning as I stare at the etched date of the days I lost them. It feels just like yesterday, then again, a lifetime ago.
His words kick back to me as I stare down at his weathering stone.
“When we wait for someone to do something, no one ever fucking shows up.”
“I always believed you,” I whisper as every hair on my body stands on end. “You were the someone who did something—still are,” I choke around the burn in my throat. “I hope you’re seeing this, brother.”
Dom
“Don’t you dare leave me here. I want that date with you,” Cecelia demands tearfully, roping me back to her as the past, present, and future collide and intermingle. Within the nextheartbeat, I’m blinded by another flash of light and pulled back through.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Anger and resentment between two fighting brothers who refuse to turn their backs on the other.
A ceaseless war.
Love lost and found.
“I’m right behind you, Dom.”
A battered heart pushing a ring on a new love’s finger.
More grief as a presence brushes against me.
“I see you found our back door, nephew.”
A hospital door.
“Wake the fuck up, T.”
A faithless man healed by a fatherless son.
An intake of a baby’s first breath.“I told you I’d give you my firstborn, but I gave him your name instead.”
Another crack of a baby’s first cry...echoed by another, and another.
Flags waving as millions gather with renewed hope.
“We’re waking ghosts up, Rye.”
A lost love retrieved on a cobblestone street.
“I wish you would have taken me with you, but I guess, in a way, you took us all with you.”
A burst of music, a paintbrush dipped in red, a distant bark.
Healing.
“Je suis désolé. Je suis désolé. Je suis vraiment désolé.”
“Fireflies.”
The coronation of a queen.
Unification.
More presences brushing against me, our governing view the same.
