Page 44 of His Sunshine Baby (The Silver City #2)

A long silence follows. There is always this strange numbness after a battle, as if what had happened was too much of a nightmare for anyone to process it. But no one is going to wake up, this wasn’t a dream. There is no end to this, just that horrible feeling that, somehow, we need to move on.

Nora and I lay together for a long moment. I’m too tired to move, but too shaken up to collapse. I feel horrible.

After the witch’s death, the word must have spread around quite quickly. The remaining battles, even from farther away, die down. Either the vampires all died or some ran away, I don’t know, I don’t care. I just feel the fights stopping, and this strange silence spreads wider on the battlefield. I feel Nora’s aura, spreading like fresh snow around my injury, helping me heal. I hold on to that sensation, trying not to give in to the darkness that calls me. I feel so numb. I just want to lie there and sleep. But we can’t…

Finally, Nora somehow manages to get up, and she walks away from me. I know exactly where she is going. My own mate is coming up to me. I shape-shift back, and soon feel Nate’s fur against my skin as he lies down next to me. This contact is what finally frees me.

I start crying. I release all of my feelings, my pain, this bottomless despair. Moon Goddess, what happened to us? I’m even too scared to mind-link anyone, to find another one of my friends dead. I just curl up against my mate, looking for any bit of comfort I can grasp. I can’t believe it. Levi… The reality that one of my best friends died hits me brutally. Chris, William, and so many more from my pack… Even Iris… I’m overwhelmed by the sadness. I know I need to pull myself together, but… I just need a minute. A minute to pour out the sadness filling my heart. I can’t be a warrior right now. I’m just heartbroken.

Nate patiently waits for me to calm down in silence.

His presence is the one thing I need right now. To know my mate is here, my mate is fine. I selfishly hold onto that one thought. I take a deep breath, and struggle to get up. Even after this, there is so much to do.

It’s a wreck around me. I spot Nora, a bit farther away, her hands on Damian’s fur, looking concerned. Her white hair is glowing but, to my surprise, the tips are starting to turn back to their black color. Moon Goddess, the sunrise…?

I can’t believe it. It’s really dawn. Far behind the trees, the sky is starting to show some dark purple tones. It’s just the beginning, but… I try to remember the whole fight, or how long Nora and I stayed lying down. It felt like eternity went by without us knowing. We really made this fight drag on until the last minute… No wonder we are all so exhausted, we fought for several hours straight.

“ Damn, I fucking love summer. ”

I chuckle nervously at Liam’s words. He’s standing, walking slowly to Damian’s side. Nate and I walk up to them too.

“Are you okay…?”

“He has several broken bones,” sighs Nora. “I’ll do my best, but…”

“Nora, save it for other people. I’ll heal this by myself.”

I can tell she wants to save her mate first, but the King is right. There are a lot of people who need her healing aura more than Damian right now. I share some of my aura with Nora, giving her a bit more strength as she goes on to heal other people.

I walk up to Danny and Bobo, a bit farther, both wolves resting together on one side of the battlefield. They are both drenched, and Daniel is whimpering.

“ My poor babe… ”

“ I’m okay. ”

“ Okay? Babe, half of your bones are broken! It’s gonna take ages to heal… ”

“ I’m okay. ”

I’m so glad they are fine. Those two were heroes tonight. Daniel is not a fighter at all, but he still stood with us, and jumped in to help Bobo. I’m proud of him. I sit next to Danny, caressing my best friend’s fur. I can’t help but cry a few more tears again, remembering Levi. My best friend sighs, putting his head on my lap.

“ Don’t cry, if you cry… I’m gonna cry again too. ”

I nod, but I can’t stop it. I don’t even dare to go and see his body. I’ve rarely felt so helpless. I take deep breaths.

“Ahem… Excuse me.”

I turn around, surprised to hear another voice. It’s a human man, looking tired but standing, and handing me his shirt.

“It’s just that, uh… I figured you might want to…”

Right, I’m still naked. I clumsily wipe my tears, get up, and thank him, grabbing the large piece of clothing. That guy is tall, his shirt covers me down to the middle of my thighs, it’s good enough.

“You’re the… sort of voice we heard, right?” he asks.

“Yeah. Thank you for coming.”

“It’s… We should have come sooner. We knew something was coming up, but you know, we thought it was werewolf business again. Then the word spread that the vampires were really getting… Anyway, we all heard your voice at the right time. We picked up whatever we had and decided to come. If we have a choice, we’d much rather pick the werewolves’ side than vampires.”

I chuckle nervously. No kidding. The vampires probably would have enjoyed a feast.

All around us, humans and werewolves are helping each other. Some rescue teams are still doing their best to take the victims to the nearby hospitals or give them first aid on the spot. I look around, feeling unsure.

There are so many victims. I start helping, like a robot. We decide to gather the dead together so everyone can find their loved ones, and help identify them. I see so many people I know… I have to stop several times to cry, pull myself together, find new bodies, gather them, and cry again. At some point, when I’m on the verge of tears again, someone pulls me away from the gathering of bodies.

“Hey, hey, come here.”

Clark takes me away for a bit, and holds me in his arms, soothing me a bit. I didn’t even notice my godfather was near me until then. I don’t know where everyone is. I’ve just been going back and forth, helping whoever needed it and trying not to think.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he whispers.

I just let go and cry again, sobbing loudly. I’ve been collecting so many bodies from our pack, I can’t hold it anymore. People I grew up with, and some young ones I trained… How do we keep going after this? All of the clans have collapsed. Alphas, Betas, fighters… so many people have died. I mumble my worries to Clark, unsure if I make any sense with all the sobbing.

“Don’t worry. We'll take it one step at a time. The pack will be okay. We will decide with the King what happens from now on…”

“Clark, Chris is… I think he… sacrificed himself.”

“I heard what had happened with Iris. I think so too. That kid… He probably thought he wouldn’t make it in this war. He also… He had some regrets about his sister. Chris was too good. He probably thought this would be the best way to help us. To help you.”

I cry again, thinking about my cousins. I can’t believe they did this. Even Iris redeemed herself, in a way.

“Xavier is…”

“I know.”

I don’t know when my uncle died. I didn’t realize until I saw him among the victims.

Clark hugs me until I can calm down.

“Have you seen a doctor yet? Your back…”

“I’m okay,” I sigh.

I know my back probably looks ugly at the moment. It’s been stinging for a while, and I feel the fabric sticky with the blood. At least Nora healed my biggest injury for now. It’s probably going to take a while before it stops being so painful every time I move my abdomen.

“You’re really pale. Maybe you should– Hey, hey! Elena!”

I don’t know what happened. I feel the earth move under me, and my legs become numb. Someone catches me before I fall to the ground. Voices gather around me.

“Okay, time out for you, babe.”

I wake up on a couch.It takes me a moment to recognize Clark’s house. It’s full daylight too, I probably slept for a while. I’m feeling very weird, a bit… numb. Did they give me some drugs? I push away the blanket that was covering me, and struggle to sit up.

“Oh!”

In front of me, in the kitchen, Liam noticed me, and almost drops his sandwich to run to my side. He has a medical eye patch and a lot of bandages covering half of his head, but at least he looks fine.

“Selena? How are you feeling? Nate, she’s awake!”

Liam gives up his spot to my mate, who comes down the stairs in his human form with jeans on, replacing Liam and crouching down next to me. I frown, seeing his bare shoulder. And no arm attached to it. Nate holds my hand, looking worried.

“Are you okay? Clark said you collapsed.”

“Nate, your arm…”

He shakes his head.

“It was a small price to pay. Who cares about my arm. How are you feeling?”

“Like crap. I wish I’d forgotten… Do you have any news on Estelle? And everyone? How long was I passed out?”

“She’s okay, all the kids are. They’re still at Nora’s house with William and Neal’s wives. You just slept for a few hours, Sunshine, you can rest more. Nora is resting upstairs too, she tried to help everyone as much as she could, she’s exhausted.”

“Nate, what about the others? Your brother, Danny, Boyan?”

“Damian and Boyan were taken to the hospital, they needed some X-rays, but they’ll be fine. Daniel and Tonia went with them to help the medical staff, the emergency room was overwhelmed. Clark lent us his house for you to rest.”

I nod.

“What about Sylviana?”

“She went to her house, she said she needed to be alone for a while,” replies Liam.

“We agreed to gather at Nora’s house in a couple of hours.”

“Okay.”

Nate sighs and sits next to me on the couch. I’m only too happy to be able to cuddle with him for a bit. All the events from last night feel so… I don’t know, impossible. Even while I’m resting like this, I can’t get those images out of my head. Nate only has one arm to hug me with. Liam looks too tired to joke around, and I hear many people outside, doing whatever needs to be done.

I can’t believe it’s over. I’m still on edge, as if something was about to happen. My body is tired, but my mind won’t relax. I thought I was a fighter, but after the fight is over, what am I supposed to be?

I miss Reagan. I know she would have found a way to get me back on my feet, whip me into finding the willpower to do something. It was already hard to have lost my mentor, but now… A part of me died with Levi. Losing my cousins, my uncle, too, it’s like I barely have any roots anymore. Somehow, learning the truth about our parents’ death didn’t close any wounds, it just made the scars more meaningful for Nora and I. So, how do we move on from here?

“I love you,” I whisper to Nate.

His fingers stroke my hair lovingly, and I feel his lips against my temple.

“I love you too, my sunshine.”

I close my eyes, enjoying those words like the best medicine in the world. I’ll be okay. I still have my family. I have my mate, my baby. I have Nora, Danny, Boyan. I still have a family, in my heart.

“Nate. I want to see Estelle.”

“Okay. We can go now.”

“Can I come with you?”

We both turn our heads. Nora just came down the stairs, her hair all over the place. My cousin got to take a shower and change into some new clothes. Somehow, seeing Nora as tired as I am makes me chuckle.

“Hi, Black Luna.”

She pouts.

“Hi, White Luna,” she replies. “How are you?”

“Right now, I’m jealous of your clothes. I’ll go and take a shower before we go.”

“I’ll see if I can get us a car,” says Nate.

Good, because I’m sure neither Nora or I are in any state to get there by foot.

I take a welcomed shower, putting the dirty shirt away, and freeing myself from all the dried blood and mud. I guess they just transported me to Clark’s couch as I wasn’t a priority, but I’m still one hell of a mess. My shoulder’s scar looks worse than before, and I have some new ones on my abdomen and back. I guess Nora couldn’t use too much of her power on me alone. My skin is dry as hell, and as I wash myself, I discover numerous bruises and little cuts underneath all the dirt.

As I get out of the shower and look at myself in the mirror, I don’t recognize the woman staring at me. I have a bruise on my lower jaw, and some cuts above my eye. Looks like I went through hell and came back. I did. Somehow, I feel like I’m not the same woman I used to be. I’ve been through too much, and there’s this feeling that I’ve lost something I’ll never get back.

Once again, Levi’s face comes to mind. It fucking hurts. A few tears escape me again. It’s terrible to say, but his death hurts me more than any of the others. Levi literally died for me. He shouldn’t have done that, but he died for me, and that thought is haunting me. I don’t want to keep holding on to that.

I look at myself again in the mirror. I can’t take it… I hurriedly investigate all the drawers and cupboards until I find what I need. I take a deep breath, and take one last look at my reflection.

When I come down the stairs, refreshed and with some clean clothes I borrowed from Isa, I’m feeling much better. Nathaniel and Nora give me surprised looks.

“Selena, your hair…”

I reply with a faint smile. My blonde hair is now freshly cut into a short bob, the rest of it in the trash bin upstairs.

I walk to my mate, and he gives me a little kiss, brushing my blonde hair.

“I like it.”

“Thanks.”

No one asks anything else, and we leave Clark’s place.

Somehow, driving to the south makes me feel a lot better, like getting away from the battlefield clears a bit of my emotions. It’s still way too fresh to forget the craziness we went through last night, but at last, it does finally feel like it’s over.

When we park in front of Nora and Damian’s house, the children are in the garden. To our surprise, Sylviana is with them. James and Estelle drop the flowers they were playing with to run to us.

“Mama!”

I get on my knees to welcome my baby with wide open arms. My little star runs into me and, the second I can hug her, I let out a nervous laugh of relief. Moon Goddess… She’s alright. My baby is alright. It makes it all worth it.

“Mommy, your hair… It’s like Rapunzel!”

I chuckle, and let her play with my hair, while Nate caresses her face and kisses her. She frowns when she sees her dad’s arm. Nate put on a long-sleeved shirt to hide his bare shoulder, afraid she’d be scared.

“Daddy… What happened to your arm? And Mommy too, you look all hurt.”

“Daddy and Mommy had to fight last night, little star.”

“You beat the baddies?”

I exchange a glance with Sylviana, standing a few steps away. She has a very faint smile, looking at us. Her eyes aren’t smiling at all. While Nate is talking to Estelle, she turns to Nora and hands her the newborn baby. Oh my gosh, Nora’s baby.

We walk up to them, and James is already making a fuss, while his mother’s attention is solely on her newborn. He’s so small…

“Nora?”

Behind us, Tiffany Pearl-Blue just came out of the house, her daughter Rose right behind her. Moon Goddess, William’s wife… From her expression, she already knows. Her eyes are red, but she looks very graceful. Nora turns to her with a sorry look, almost as if she’s about to cry, but the young woman gives her a smile.

“It’s okay, Nora. My husband is a hero. I’m already very grateful for how you are honoring him.”

I don’t know how she can hold in her emotions like that when William passed only a few hours ago, but my admiration for that woman is endless. Maybe she just doesn’t want to show her sadness in front of her daughter, but even I have a hard time not tearing up, thinking about our cousin…

Nora turns to us, with her baby in her arms. The little boy already looks just like his older brother. His eyes are deep blue, and he has hints of black hair. He’s awake, looking at Nora with big curious eyes. He’s not even a day old.

“His name is William Black,” whispers Nora, looking at him lovingly.

I chuckle. It’s perfect. She then turns to Sylviana, who is standing on the side, looking at the baby with a faint smile on.

“Sylviana, do you want to be his godmother? He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

However, the witch’s expression changes into something sad. She shakes her head.

“Thank you, Nora, but… I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I’m dying,” she whispers.

It has to be a nightmare.

We are all gathered in Nora’s living room, trying to understand what the heck is going on. Liam is walking in circles like a lion trapped in a cage, while Sylviana is sitting, perfectly calm. I still don’t understand.

“It can’t be right,” says Nora, translating my thoughts exactly.

Nothing makes sense about this. Damian and Nate, standing on the side, exchange looks. The King is carrying his newborn son, which he hasn’t let go of since he came back from the hospital. Next to me, Danny keeps shaking his head, unwilling to believe it.

“Sylviana, there has to be something…”

“No, you can’t do anything, Daniel. It’s alright.”

“It’s not fucking alright!” yells Liam.

The baby starts crying, and Damian glares at him, but the youngest Black brother obviously doesn’t care much at this moment. He’s the most agitated, legitimately. He walks towards Sylviana, crazy.

“You can’t tell me to fucking watch you die, Sylviana!”

“I’m sorry,” replies the witch.

Moon Goddess. This situation makes no sense. We left the kids upstairs with Tiffany, Tonia, and Damian’s Beta and his wife for now, but the situation here is unbelievable. I take a deep breath and turn to Sylviana.

“Sylviana, if we take you to the hospital–”

“It won’t do anything, Selena. At best, it will buy me a few minutes. I don’t want to die in a cold hospital room with machines keeping me alive until they can’t. I’m fine if I can be with all of you.”

“You look fine,” whispers Nora. “How can you say you’re–”

“My organs are failing, Nora. You can’t see it, but I’m like a flower running out of sunshine and water. I’ve exhausted my magic way past what I had in that fight with Nephera. Even you can’t save me, Nora. I condemned myself already.”

“There has to be something we can do!”

Sylviana shakes her head. How can she be so fucking calm? She doesn’t even look sick! Her skin is barely a bit paler than usual! If it was anyone but her, I wouldn’t even be willing to believe it. Announcing that she’s dying as we’re talking with her!

I take a deep breath; I can’t handle any more crying today. Next to me, Daniel stands up too, and walks to the kitchen, followed by Bobo.

“How long?” I ask.

“I–”

But before she finishes her sentence, Sylviana suddenly coughs up blood. Holy shit, this just got very real. Liam runs to her, completely shocked, but she calmly wipes it off, shaking her head.

“Not that long, apparently…”

Her eyes lose focus for a moment, and she needs to hold on to Liam and Nora not to fall. We jump off the couch, letting her lay down. Moon Goddess, she’s really dying. Her face is getting whiter, and… I can feel she’s fading away from us.

Sylviana is lying on the couch now, and Nora and I have given up, we are both sobbing, shocked. I feel Nate’s hand on my shoulder. I’m trembling and I step back, holding onto him. Nora is on her knees next to Sylviana, looking desperate. We all are. Liam is standing next to her, unable to say a word.

Moon Goddess, none of this can be real. It doesn’t feel real. A few minutes ago, everything was fine! Sylviana looks at us with that gentle smile of hers, and for a second, she has the eyes of someone very, very old. Nora takes her hand, my cousin’s eyes filled with tears.

“It’s fine, Nora. I had to do this. It had to be this way.”

“I don’t get it… What do you mean?”

Sylviana shakes her head.

“I wanted to save her. To allow my sister to finally have the peace she needed. She had been suffering for so long, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I didn’t want her to hurt anyone, or Silver City… I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” asks Liam, desperate. “You could have–!”

“It wasn’t about you, Liam. That hatred Nephera was carrying was a curse. Someone had to pay the price to break it, and I did. If only death could calm my sister down, then I’m glad I could do that for her, even if it cost me my own life.”

“But–!”

She shakes her head and reaches out her hand. Liam falls on his knees, and she rubs his cheek gently.

“Liam, I had my mind set way before I even met you. You wouldn’t have changed anything. I loved you, Liam, but my sister didn’t deserve any of this. Silver City, our parents… Nephera was a victim too. She took the wrong path. Since I was born, I’ve felt sorry for my older sister, for what she had gone through. For our mother parting with her, and later, when I discovered what she had endured. I was born to protect Eleanora and Selena, Liam.”

“You can’t sacrifice your life for this! You can’t…”

“It’s not a sacrifice. Liam, I am so, so lucky I got to meet you, to have the life I wanted here. I even chose when and where I would die, love. If I die for the people I love, surrounded by my loved ones, I’m already so blessed. Not everyone gets to pick, but I do.”

Hearing her last words, Liam suddenly breaks into tears. His head down against her hand, he completely loses it, sobbing loudly, his shoulders shaking from the utter pain. I can’t even begin to imagine the hell he’s going through…

“Eleanora, Selena?”

Nora and I step a bit closer. Sylviana gently smiles to us.

“I am so glad I got to see you both grow up and become Lunas. My mother was always too busy to take care of me, but Althea and Lilyan would always be there. You look like them so much, in so many ways… You’re like little sisters to me. It was hard to watch you grow from afar.”

“Sylviana…”

I already cried so much today… How is this happening? How can she even be smiling? I don’t get it…

She caresses Nora’s face with her other hand, while I’m standing there, helpless, sad beyond repair. I don’t want to go through this, lose someone else today…

“It’s okay… Everything will be okay.”

For the first time, Sylviana lets out a tear, and her smile breaks a little. She’s getting weaker. Her lips are losing their color, her cheeks too… Moon Goddess, no, no…

“Nora, you have to…”

“Liam, I can’t heal that,” sobs my cousin. “I… I’m sorry I can’t…”

Damian walks up to her to hold her and comfort her.

I don’t know if Sylviana doesn’t have the strength to, but she just looks at us without adding a word. For a long while, we stay there, sobbing silently, waiting. Waiting.

It’s… I close my eyes and take deep breaths. I know she wanted us with her, but… it’s hard. I can even hear Danny crying from the kitchen. The house gets awfully quiet, and somehow, I know she’s gone. Sylviana is gone.

Liam’s crying gets even louder and more erratic, and Nora gently shifts her position to hug him. I can’t deal with that. I turn and cry against Nate’s shoulder, unable to hold back. Moon Goddess, why? Why Sylviana, of all people? She did nothing but protect us!

I can’t take it. I can’t stay here, with everyone crying around her body. I need some air. I run out of the house, into the garden, to take deep breaths. My head is spinning, but I’m just trying to calm down, calm down my frenetic sobs and breathe. Breathe, just breathe…

“Sunshine…”

Nate comes and hugs me, trying to comfort me. I’m so fucking tired. Tired of crying, tired of losing people. If it wasn’t for my mate, my daughter, my family being here, I know I’d be a fucking mess. I’d collapse and crumble. I hear him sigh against my ear.

“It’s been a fucking long day…”

I nod. When will this all be behind us? I feel like the end of the world is just taking forever.

“Boyan?”

We turn around and, standing at the entrance of Nora’s house, Boyan is there, carrying Sylviana’s body. What the fuck is going on now? He just walks out, looking determined. Daniel and Nora come out from the house behind him, both as confused as I am.

“What’s he doing?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” sobs Danny. “He just said he had to do something, and he…”

Whatever it is, Boyan is walking away from us, and we need to get moving if we want to follow him wherever he’s headed. Liam and Damian soon come out too, rushing behind us. It takes a while, but Boyan keeps walking, deaf to all our questions. Daniel is freaking out, and Liam doesn’t even say anything, Damian almost has to support him…

Boyan takes us to the border, another part of the city. Where the hell are we? This is such a deserted part of our territory, why would he take Sylviana’s body all the way here? He suddenly puts her down on the ground. This makes no sense. We all stare at each other, confused, but Boyan retreats, and opens his arms to push us to retreat too. What’s going on?

Suddenly, something happens with Sylviana. Her butterfly! I had forgotten about her pet thing. It comes out of her chest, or maybe an inside pocket I didn’t see. Is it supposed to survive its owner?

The butterfly flies above her, and I realize that thing is getting bigger. Much bigger. Before our shocked eyes, it grows until its wings are as wide as a human being. Some strange dust is coming out of it with each flap too, almost shining. Is that some witchcraft…? I exchange a look with Nora, but we are both lost.

“Look.”

Nate points to the ground, and I realize the butterfly’s dust is not simply falling, it’s moving to some specific spots. The dust piling up is slowly starting to write some enigmatic scriptures on the ground. I have no idea what that writing is, but it’s like gathering into shapes and circles around Sylviana’s body and lighting up. Something strange is going on.

“Since when was that here…”

“Sylviana did this,” suddenly says Boyan.

“And how the fuck do you know?” growls Liam.

“I just… remembered.”

Boyan looks confused, like he’s half-awake. Did she do something to him? How did he forget she did such a thing? I stare at the strange scene, and suddenly, the soil under Sylviana starts moving. It’s trembling, like there’s something underneath. What the heck is that!

“Step back,” orders Damian, pulling Nora and Liam away from it.

Nate has me retreat too, and Daniel pushes Boyan. Every part of the soil that was touched or inside the strange scriptures is moving and suddenly, Sylviana’s body starts being engulfed by it too.

“Sylviana!” yells Liam.

“Liam, no!”

Damian and Boyan both hold him back. Should we do something? I know Sylviana planned this, but… Slowly, the soil recovers her, digging under her and swallowing her in. Moon Goddess… Soon, her face is the last thing we see, and she disappears underneath the ground. I can’t believe what just happened, but it’s not over. The soil is still moving. No, it's shaking even more.

Something suddenly breaks out from the ground. A tree! A gigantic tree sprouts without warning, in accelerated motion, growing from a little twig into a majestic tree in front of our eyes. I… I’m speechless. The roots grow in all directions, while the tree keeps getting bigger, much bigger than a normal tree.

It suddenly stops, but for a long while, no one dares to say a word. It’s… beautiful. It’s a giant white oak. Its trunk is very pale, and I recognize some of the earlier scriptures imprinted into its bark. The leaves, thousands of them, are all an eerie green, almost shining. Somehow, I feel like I’m watching Sylviana when I look at this tree… It has her print all over it, I don’t even know how. Moreover, I feel its magic, so mighty, pure, and powerful… It’s spread all through the branches and beyond. I look down, but even the roots are overflowing with that magic, and I can feel it running underground too, extending further than what we see.

I turn to Nora, knowing we can both feel the same thing.

“It’s a…”

“…a defensive barrier.”

We nod along, convinced. So that’s what Sylviana had been secretly preparing. Another barrier, for when she couldn’t be here to hold on anymore.

She really knew all this time. She knew she wasn’t going to make it. Maybe she had been lying all this time about being stronger than Nephera. I don’t know. She really did her best until the end, only thinking of protecting us.

I keep staring at that tree, and for a while, I feel a bit calmer. That’s what she wanted. She did this for us… I nod and sigh, taking a step back into Nate’s embrace.

For a long, long while, all of us stay here. I close my eyes.

I listen to the wind in the leaves, the familiar sounds of the city, and Liam’s crying.