Spirit
It was dark as it slid slowly across the floorboards, seeping into the cracks. It was splattered across walls, and it was seeped into fabrics.
It stained her fingertips and merged with her tears.
She gripped the hand in front of her tightly, as though her grasp would keep his soul connected to his body, as though it would stop him from dying… From leaving her.
Her eyes were wide as she examined the fading life in front of her, the pained smile, the sparkle that was somehow still in his eyes.
Perhaps this was just to comfort her, she knew, but it could also have been a sign of no regrets. This may have been his time to die and maybe, just maybe, they would meet again in some sort of afterlife, or their souls would wander through the world together when she met her end.
If that was so, then perhaps she, too, could face death as fearlessly as this boy.
"Smile, Chizuru," Heisuke mumbled, his closing eyes looking up at her. She rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her free arm, and tried to smile. "Hey, Chizuru. I love you."
And in her arms he breathed his last.