Boys workin' on empty
Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat?
Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat?
It's so much - too much - and Koa can feel himself crumbling beneath it, his broad shoulders shaking as more weight piles on. It isn't the things that Anju says so much as the things she doesn't, the veiled instructions and desperate asks, darker than the moonless sky. He can feel his soul catching in his throat, his heart sinking and his bile rising as cotton balls fill his mouth. Do not hesitate, she says. There is nothing that I would not forgive.
But could he forgive himself?
"I'll make you proud." It's a whisper if that, hoarsely exhaled, a sacred vow he doesn't know if he can hope to keep. Copper eyes gleam in the flickering firelight; he looks at her as a child does his mother, a soldier does his captain, a hero does his queen. "I love you, Auntie," are the last words he tells her---
---and then he turns and walks away, desperate for fresh air and feeling as though he'll drown if he doesn't see the sky.
[fin]
But could he forgive himself?
"I'll make you proud." It's a whisper if that, hoarsely exhaled, a sacred vow he doesn't know if he can hope to keep. Copper eyes gleam in the flickering firelight; he looks at her as a child does his mother, a soldier does his captain, a hero does his queen. "I love you, Auntie," are the last words he tells her---
---and then he turns and walks away, desperate for fresh air and feeling as though he'll drown if he doesn't see the sky.
[fin]
Koa Carpenter
I just think about my baby
I'm so full of love I could barely eat
I'm so full of love I could barely eat







