A sheer wind rustles the blades of grass beneath us, the warmth of his body shielding me from the chill nonetheless.

He leans his head closer, nestling it right in the crook of my neck. I can feel the sensation of him breathing through my shoulder. It’s shallowness putting me into a trance as I watch the clouds race by. This is peace, I think. If I’ve ever known it. It’s got to be.

I take my free hand and comb my fingers through his golden curls, a song comes to mind and I begin to hum. The vibrations bounce through the air between us like a summer night of crickets. I hope I’m giving him the same peace he is giving me.

In fact, I need to know if that’s the case. I need to know if he loves me as intensely as I love him. Our youth is fading before our very eyes and I need to make this move.

I shift my weight to sit up, peering into his soulful green eyes. His eyebrows form a shape of confusion.

I go to speak but my words are stuck, I clear my throat hoping to untether them from my mind.

“I need to admit something.” The courage breaks free and it’s left my stomach in knots.

“Oh yeah?” He responds, “what is it that you must admit?”

I play with a piece of grass between my fingers, twirling it in hopes the anxiousness falls away.

“I…I think I love you.” The words rush out and my skin crawls knowing I can’t take them back-I am now forced to face his reaction.

But his reaction is…hard to decipher.

He lays still, removing his eyes from me and back to the ever changing clouds. I can sense the thoughts building in his mind. Through all the years I’ve known him and all the years we’ve spent in this very field, not necessarily as lovers but just as ourselves, I’ve never witnessed this silence from him. It’s unnerving and I feel as if I’m about to vomit.

I turn to face the thick woods beyond us instead. My heart is hammering at the thought of rejection.

Only until I sense words forming on his mouth as he exhales a deep breath do I ease up slightly but keep my eyes on the trees.

“I love you too, Charlotte.” He says as he puts a hand on my shoulder. I look back at him with the giddiness of a child and I can feel the tears swelling. My smile reaching a mile wide.

I look deep in those green eyes, searching for the same happiness but my skin runs cold when I start to notice the whites of his eyes beginning to turn unnaturally red. Blood red.

His lips part into a wry smile as a sliver of blood slides down the corner of his mouth, dropping to the earth beneath us.

All at once, blood starts pouring out of his eyes, then his nose, and before I know it his whole head is weeping the crimson liquid. I panic, but he still sits as if nothing is happening.

“Adam, you’re...you’re bleeding everywhere!? What is happening?!” I scream through a sob. But then it hits me. We were told this would happen. When…

We told our last lie.