What else could she do?
"Don't don't don't don't don't don't please, please —"
Even his eyes are dying.
The fear taut in her stomach erupts again and spreads through her limbs, makes her blood freeze over. She's been here before, that's all she knows, all she could tell.
His breath, ragged and short, sounds like sinking under the earth.
What else could she do?
Other than hold his face in his hands, tight enough that maybe the bleeding will stop maybe he'll stay maybe he won't go don't leave don't leave don't leave
She's pulling at his hair, maybe he'll stay.
Even she's dying.
She's saying his name bringing him so close that maybe he'll stay
over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and
"ochako"