Last Rites for a Fading Star
Death, he'd seen so much of it over the long years. A thousand traditions, a million different prayers over distance so vast he could barely hold the numbers in his mind. Even as explosions backlit the darkening sky, he dropped to his knees on the wet hillside. A different choice, a step to the right rather than the left and this place could have been his home. For the space of an indrawn breath, he had wanted that so very much. He wanted that one thing he could never have. The home, the loving, tender wife, the children who were normal.
But the valley where those dreams slept lay below him, a vista shattered beyond repair. The planet, once famed for its unspeakable beauty, Bellezza, would now be known by another name. The Graveyard, planet of the dead. I'm the only living thing here... The thought made him feel cold.
"Where did I go so wrong?" he whispered into the damp night air. His only answer was the bombs that fell like rain. "How do I put this right?"
The brush of a ghostly hand on his shoulder, the barest hint of her perfume. Not an answer, but maybe absolution? I don't deserve that, not yet. I did this, and I have to make it right. He lay back on the bruised grass and looked up at the stars.
Life and death walk hand in hand
Happy partners, equal halves
Until life stumbles and slows
Then death takes a firmer hold
A few more steps, life grows cold
And death, the patient friend
Wraps his arms around life
And draws her gently home
He blinked. Strange how that verse had come to him. A sigh, lost beneath the dull retort of a gun. Well, maybe not. It had always been her favourite.