Harper
Thoughtless though they may be, truer words could not be spoken. His own eyes burn with tears, blinked away forcefully and returning between each temporary banishment. It’s true. Nothing can make it less true. But it hurts. “No, I suppose not,” is his hoarse response. Standing like a fool before her, empty-handed and surrounded by promises not quite broken, but withered all the same. He knows her like nobody else, just as she knows him, and yet she feels like a stranger to him now.
Comfort is the last thing he expects from her, and it twists the knife in his heart, spilling forth tears that drip silent and unbroken down his cheeks. As she turns away he reaches for her, and the knife slides deeper as he hugs her gently from behind, as if shoved deeper by her back pressed against his front. He buries his face in her golden hair, one last moment of sentimentality. “You made me believe in love again Phoebe. I can never thank you for the change you brought into my life. I will always love you, always care for you, no matter the context. And I pray - gods, Phoebe, I pray - that you find someone even better than I hoped to be.” Because he still cherishes her, and as painful as it will be for him in just desserts to see her move on, he will thank the gods the day it happens because she deserves it and more. “I know distance is what you need. I know we can’t be how we were. But I am always here.” Ready to put the pain aside, ready to extend a hand, to compromise. Not in the same ways as before, but eternally at her side all the same.
He releases her then, afraid to have overstepped his boundaries, and wipes roughly at his face. He’d never choose to forget her, to turn back the clock and never meet her, but he wishes there was a cure for the withering decay inside his chest at seeing her walk away for good.
Comfort is the last thing he expects from her, and it twists the knife in his heart, spilling forth tears that drip silent and unbroken down his cheeks. As she turns away he reaches for her, and the knife slides deeper as he hugs her gently from behind, as if shoved deeper by her back pressed against his front. He buries his face in her golden hair, one last moment of sentimentality. “You made me believe in love again Phoebe. I can never thank you for the change you brought into my life. I will always love you, always care for you, no matter the context. And I pray - gods, Phoebe, I pray - that you find someone even better than I hoped to be.” Because he still cherishes her, and as painful as it will be for him in just desserts to see her move on, he will thank the gods the day it happens because she deserves it and more. “I know distance is what you need. I know we can’t be how we were. But I am always here.” Ready to put the pain aside, ready to extend a hand, to compromise. Not in the same ways as before, but eternally at her side all the same.
He releases her then, afraid to have overstepped his boundaries, and wipes roughly at his face. He’d never choose to forget her, to turn back the clock and never meet her, but he wishes there was a cure for the withering decay inside his chest at seeing her walk away for good.
I am water - soft enough to offer life
tough enough to drown it away
tough enough to drown it away
