Death

Misty’s eyes light a fire deep down inside Carson that had been snuffed out for so long. He gazes at her, the future hanging in the balance.

Her cold words are like a hit below the belt, and hurt just as much, threatening to put out the fire again. Carson almost winces as the pain comes back to him. She did blame him…and he deserved every bit of it. In a sense, he really had been responsible for her death. Thought not a physical death, it was apparent that he’d killed her emotionally, and that thought tore at his heart. For a moment, anger is forgotten. His gaze drops to the table.

He’d been through this in his mind a million times before…but thinking of it now, while seeing Misty’s here…it drove the pain home.

As she lifts his cap a little, he looks back up at her, staring into her eyes. Something in them didn’t match her tone, but he could not tell what it was. He could only be grateful she hadn’t screamed bloody murder when he’d grabbed her. But there was a coldness there… there was the warning that this meeting may be but a fleeting interaction to send them both back to opposite ends of the world again.

Slowly, Carson releases his grasp on her wrist, letting her go, and fixing his gaze out over the water instead, to hide the emotions building behind his eyes. “Well, if you ever see that woman again, tell her to look up her boyfriend on the other side…because he died two months ago when he realized he had her blood on his hands.”