His hand squeezed hers four times as he mouthed the words. His face was buried in her long brown hair as they embraced so she couldn’t see his lips move. The tears from his eyes were beginning to matte her hair against his face. He focused on that feeling. He knew he didn’t want to forget how he felt in this moment. No matter how much it hurt to see her go, he knew this feeling was the culmination of all the moments of love they’d felt between them over the past year, so, he felt it. He burned it into soul.

He squeezed her hand again as he felt her hug start to loosen. As if he could make her stay by conveying his pain through hand to hand Morse code. Four squeezes. I-won’t-forget-you. And then, she was gone.