You’re insane, you know that?” he says. “It’s the only thing keeping me afloat,” I say.

I lost everyone I loved," I tell him. I wait for him to look at me, and then I add, "The day I met you.

Eventually I realize that I am holding on to him just as tightly as he holds on to me. And here we are: two small dying things, as the world ends around us like falling autumn leaves.

I watch the ashes swim around like dandelion puffs, making swirls where bodies and walls once stood.

Real’ is a dirty word in this place.

In another time, in another place, I wonder who they might have been.

I wanted so badly to tell him, but something about that entire night seemed so beautiful, so bizarre, that I didn't trust it with my secrets.