The airport was bedlam. Busy as only Rio could be.

Hanging up the phone was the hardest. Second only to the waiting.

Saying goodbye had seemed too traumatic considering.

Instead I told her I would see her soon, but I could still hear the doubt dripping from her every syllable.

"I just... this has been crazy. You left, and now you're coming back? Just like that?" She had said.

Yes. Just like that.

Her death, real or not, was like chiseling into my stone body.

I would forever have the divot it left behind. Would carry it with me, always.