He sat before my tombstone, which was already covered in a t
thin layer of white. He traced the outline of my photo with his fingert-
- ip.
He didn’t have an umbrella. Snowflakes passed through my soul and settled on his hair and shoulders,
“Leo, you can hear me, can’t you?” he whispered, as if lost in a memory. “You know, after you grew up, I was afraid to get too close to you. The way you looked at me, the tone of your voice, your cool, soft hands… they were like a drug. They made it impossible for me to think straight. When you went to college and wanted to live in the dorms. I was so angry. Mom and Dad were fine with it, but I was the only one who said no.”
“My excuse was 1
that I was worried you couldn’t take care of yourself. But that was only part of it. The truth is, I was afraid you wou- Id start dating someone. I was afraid you’d get close to someone else”
He stopped, a grim, humorless smile on his face.
Chapter 2
“So when I heard that recording,” he continued, “it was like a lifeline. I thought it was my way out of the feelings that had tormented me for years. I told myself. Leo is lying. He doesn’t really love you. Loving your brother was just a mistake, a delusion, and no one
over has to know.”
Coward, I mouthed silently, knowing he couldn’t hear.
He told me he had given the company back to our father and used his entire fortune to establish a foundation for children with congenital heart disease. It would help kids like me, paying for their surgeries and their aftercare.
He said he was going to sell his house and take me to that historic town I always wanted to see, and we would live there.
He said so many things.
But he never said goodbye.
The snow began to let up, but the sky was still a uniform gray. Then, a single ray of sunlight pierced through a gap in the clouds,” forming a golden path between heaven and earth.
My soul suddenly felt weightless. I couldn’t hold my position near him anymore. I began to drift away, further and further.
I’m leaving now.
I smiled and waved at him.
He looked up, as if he’d heard something, his eyes searching the empty air where I had been.
He didn’t say anything more.
He simply collapsed in front of my grave, slowly shrinking until he was just a small, dark shape against the snow.
I don’t want my heart to hurt anymore, I thought.
So let’s not meet again, Caleb.
