“Finn?” I ask hesitantly, but there is no answer.
He’s truly gone.
The room is empty and cold and stark.
My entire life, my brother has been my other half. He’s loved me unconditionally, completely, with everything he has.
And now he’s dead, and he’s asking me to do something.
Something hard.
To exist without him.
To figure out, once and for all, what is true,
What is real.
I have to do it.
And to do that, I have to re-trace my steps.
If Finn is gone,
There’s only one thing in my life that is true.
One true point of reference.
One important thing.
Dare.
With shaking hands, I close my eyes,
and try to think about Dare.
Because it’s always been about Dare.
I try to focus on his dark eyes, and his bright smile, and his swaying shoulders…but thoughts of him won’t form. They’re stubborn and elusive, and all I can think of is the beginning.
The beginning
The beginning.
With a start, I remember scratched words from Finn’s journal.
Mars solum initium est. Death is the beginning.
The beginning, the beginning.
I NEED TO START.
My breathing catches then quickens, because maybe once again, like always, Finn is telling me where to go.
Maybe the beginning is exactly where I need to be.
* * *
Chapter Two