Page 30 of Cherry Moon

He ran a hand over his short, dark buzzcut. “From what?”

“Seeing the world.”

His forehead creased. “The outside world is overrated.”

Sweet. “If you want to hit a beach, I’ll go. Don’t do this because of me.”

He cocked his head. “Did I ever give you that impression?”

Shit. Had I annoyed him?

I shook my head.

“As long as I’m with you, Aki, I don’t need to be anywhere else.” He took my hand, brushing his lips across my knuckles. “I love you so much. I just want you to be happy.”

Tears burned in my ducts, my anguish hot coals pressed against my core. “Oh, man.”

“What’s wrong?”

It came spilling out of me, the dam collapsed. “I’m gonna lose you. I can’t… I can’t…” I took some frantic breaths, getting to my feet. My food crashed to the floor, my heart jackhammering.

“Aki?”

Pacing, I wrung my hands together. “Nothing lasts forever. You’re going… I can’t stop time from…from… Please… I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna lose you.”

The panic attack hit me hard, forcing me to my knees with tears cascading down my face.

“Aki.” G came down with me, cradling my face. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Tell that to the splinters in my head. “I can’t… I can’t…”

A bitter wind blew through the room, snapping me out of my spiral. “What the⁠—”

“A choice will present itself to…”

A burst of pink behind my eyes, flashes of the Cherry Moon at its reddest, a swirl of Sakura. Icy air attacked me, stealing my breath.

“Shit…”

“Love is ripe,” a voice said. Not the one from before, but a colder one.

So much colder.

Pain seared through my forehead, my heartrate tripling.

“A choice will present itself to you…”

“Bollocks.” I stumbled back, bumping the bed. I went down, my vision blurred with pink, pink and bleeding red.

“It is coming, Akira.” The warm voice this time.

Grabbing my head, I yelled, “Bloody hell!”

I felt G’s presence, looked up to see a smudge where his face should be. The rest of him melted, drowning in pink, fringed by the tiniest of Sakura.

Cold, so cold. The room was plunged into darkness. Every shadow thick with sorrow, their unseen tendrils sliding across my heart, all sticky and vile. Drawing more tears from my eyes and a whimper from my lips. Suffocating me, a hundred pythons coiled around me, crushing life and joy and love away.

Hands on me. Falling away. Leaving me alone down in the dark.