Live, my world.

“Haah… Haah… Haah… Leo, I can’t run anymore.”

“Just a little longer, Em.

Em, just a little longer.

We are close.

We can.

Believe me, it’s right there.”

“What’s there, Leo?

I beg you, please, tell me what’s there.

I cannot see anything ahead of us.”

“A beautiful sunrise that is showing the path ahead of us, Em.

That’s what I see.

A path clean that we can walk on for a long time.

A place bestowed upon us where we can build a house and rest there for some time.

I can see it all in the warmth of the light that lights our way.”

“Does such a path really come in your sight, Leo?”

“It does, believe me.

I can see it very clearly, believe me.”

“I have believed you with my entire life,

with my last breath, with anything and everything I have, Leo.

You don’t have to ask me to believe you.

If my eyes don’t see anything ahead, then I must have gone blind.

Dare I not distrust you for even a single moment,

even if that moment is the last moment I live.”

“Then I beg of you, please keep walking with me.

I promise you, we will make it out of this place.

…

Em?”

“I’m here, Leo.

Just give me a little time.”

“We don’t have time!

We don’t!

We will lose everything!

The light will fade away!

Em, we need to move now.

This is our last chance.”

“Leave my hand for a while, Leo.

Leave it for a moment.

I need to…

I need to stand still, for I wish to see what you see.

Oh, my dearest, my love, my heart, my only light in this dark night.”

“It’s no longer a dark night.

It’s no longer a night.

The sun is rising on us, Em.

The path is right in front of me.”

“Leave my hand for just a single moment, please.”

“...

Em?

Em?”

“Look ahead, Leo.

The place you saw, was it a path broad enough to accommodate two of us?

Didn’t one of us have to walk ahead of the other to be able to walk on this path?”

“No, Em.

I’m not walking without you by my side.”

“Even if that’s the only way possible?”

“Even if that’s the last way possible.”

“Don’t push me on the shoulder and I’m not moving without you by my side.”

“I tried looking.

I tried seeing, but the only thing I could see in this dark, darkness, is you, Leo.

My world is only you.

My world needs to live.

You need to live.

Keep moving.”

“And what about you?”

“Leave my body by the tree.”

“Even though you are bleeding so much?”

“Yes.”

“Even though you are pierced by so many arrows?”

“Yes.”

“Even though it will get cold and lonely?”

“Yes.”

“Even though you are in my arms right now?”

“Yes.”

“Let me stand still with you in the world that has stilled for you.

Let me be still in it too.”

“Leo, I wish to sit by that tree.”

“Okay, carefully.”

“Come sit by my side.”

“I am with you, Em.”

“Listen.

I believe there is a world far beyond our own, far beyond this world made of soil and blood. Far beyond this world has to be a world where we can meet again someday, Leo.

So, before you meet me there, you have to do a few things, and those things together are known as ‘living a full life’.

When we meet again in that world, tell me the story of your life, of all the things that you did for me, Leo, because I pushed you away, because I didn’t let you stay still in my stilled world, that's why you walked.

Will you do that for me?”

“Yes, yes. I will walk on the path I saw, and I will tell you what I saw in that path when we meet again.

So wait for me in the world beyond ours.

We will, we will talk about what I saw, the path that was laid for the two of us, which only I walked on.”

“Good, good.

Now, continue.”

“Stop pushing me on the shoulder, Em.

I’m going, I’m going.”

“Leo, I love you.

Now, then, and any time we meet again, I love you.”

“Em, I love you too.

From when I first have known what is love, I have loved you.”

…

“Em?

Em?

Em?

Em?

I’m walking, Em.

Answer me.

Won’t you say goodbye?

Won’t you push me on my shoulder again?

The sun is rising, Em.

I can see the path clearer.

I can see it’s a much bigger path.

On either side, there are bushes.

Em please, the path is windy.

It feels a bit chilly, Em.

Maybe your words could warm me up a bit, Em.

Please, I beg you, answer me.”