We had been here a few days already when I noticed the trees across the bay.

Or, I think it was days, based on when I’d been getting hungry. It’s a bit difficult to tell when the sun doesn’t set.

I — Huh. Has the sun always been that color?

Anyway, the trees. I could see them swaying in the breeze, but yesterday I realized there was none. No breeze, I mean. So what’s making the trees move?

Sa...

We said goodbye on that cliff, where the sea leaves a bruise of salt.

The wind over the lighthouse sighed, blew my hair around us like a shroud. The lighthouse watched like a priest when you kissed my cheek.

“I’ll be back,” you said in my ear. You said something else, but the wind was too loud for me to hear you.

Winter came and passed. The ice crusted on the bay broke off in jagged pieces. A ...

“Don’t move.”

He’s looking in my mouth again. Then my ears. Nose. Tipping my head back and forth, looking for anything that could be wrong.

The kettle screams from the stove. He grabs the handle and flinches away, wringing his hand that’s turned bright pink from the burn. The kettle is still screaming.

“Don’t —“ He tries to stop me from standing to help, and trips over the other chair. “I’m fin...