And in the middle of it all, bright as the sun, was a tangle of threads.
Of bonds that stretched between us all, stronger than they’d ever been.
They whispered packpackpack.
And I was home.
Eventually I quieted.
Eventually I calmed.
My chest stopped hitching.
My eyes stopped leaking.
I was very tired.
I opened my eyes.
Kelly was watching me, a worried look on his handsome face.
I reached up and touched his cheek. “I see you.”
He smiled a trembling smile. “You do?”
“Yeah.”
“You remember?” You remember me?
“All of it. Everything.”
A tear fell from his eye. I wiped it away.
He grabbed my hand. “You can’t ever leave me again.”
I couldn’t promise that. None of us could.
I said, “I won’t. Never again.”
He kissed me.
I closed my eyes.
And here, at last, I followed the wolfsong and found my way home.
break
We should have seen it coming.
Some days, he smiled.
Some days, he laughed.
Some days, he looked alive, his eyes bright and shining.
But there were nights too, nights I’d hear Kelly climb out of bed. I’d listen as he went down the stairs onto the porch, where his brother waited.
I didn’t want to listen.