Leave Me Behind

Smoke rolls from the top of our chimney in the distance. Winter in Thornhill, Scotland, isn’t too bad. We moved out here four years ago and found that we like the seclusion from the rest of the world.

The dark forces will likely always be searching for us. But there’s a good chance they think we died in Labrador.

Our cottage is an old stone-framed one with moss and ivy growing along the walls. In the summers, the green rolling hills are welcoming, and the four of us enjoy walking along the stone fences that line the dirt roads.

This life isn’t grand or dangerous, but it’s what we want.

The three most important people in my life are alive and with me. I couldn’t ask for more.

Eren shivers and wraps his arms around Bunny. “It’s so cold. Can we go back now?” I shoot him a glare and he lets her go. She’s carrying a handful of firewood like I am.

“You’re the only one not doing anything. Stop complaining,” I snap at him, and he grins at me. My eyes lower to his artificial legs. He walks so well on them that you’d never know he had them amputated.

“Hey, I’m on nanny duty remember?” Eren narrows his eyes at me before laughing at Nathan’s scowl.

My three-year-old son says as carefully as he can, “I dun need a nanny.”

“Don’t,” Eren pronounces it correctly for him and Nathan’s scowl deepens.

Bunny laughs and her eyes soften on our son. My chest warms at the second chance life’s given me. The family that I’ll protect no matter what.

“We should go to the pub tonight and see if Rei is working,” Bunny chimes in, smiling at the way Eren’s face drops and turns red.

“Yeah, Rei seems to enjoy chatting with you, Eren,” I add nonchalantly. He tries to hide his grin, but I know he’s really into her.

Nathan’s red cheeks grow with a smile. “I like Rei!”

Eren laughs and squeezes Nathan’s hand. “You too?”

The woodpile is stocked, and we sit down at our table to eat lunch. The hearth is warm and the fire lights our cottage well. Orange flickers over photos we’ve hung on the walls. Some are of Malum, Abrahm smiling at my side. Others are of Jenkins and Bunny in London, sharing a kiss on a balcony. My heart aches for all the faces that are no longer here with us, yet soars with the ones that still are. The new ones too.

Bun stares at the silver music box that she keeps on top of our old piano sometimes, and I know she misses him in the way I’ll always miss my Abrahm.

She gets up and brushes the part on my back where she carved a symbol into me. It took me a while to figure out what it meant.

In the end, I fell in love with a Riøt soldier after all.