you've been on my mind

”Pa, I’m already gone.” The boy sounds smaller now, quieter, and Zeph will feel him wasting in his arms like a bag of too fragile bones. ”Thank you, for coming to visit me. An’ for bringin’ Mauna. I’ll tell Ma that you came. I think she’ll be happy.” With a rattling sigh, he sags further against his father. ”Come visit more often, ‘kay? We can talk for longer next time. Maybe we’ll go for a swim, like Ma did.” This last part is a whisper, before Zeph is suddenly holding nothing at all. The toy is gone, as is Ray, leaving the dock worker, as before, with nothing but his own grief and his own longing. LUDO Braved the forests, braved the stone Braved the icy winds and fire Braved and beat them on my own