Page 25 - Demo

Blue mist hazes over the ground,
hiding the bushes from eyesight.
Everything is blue, and now I’m covered in your sor- row, being pulled apart at the seams. You don’t know what it’s like to hurt like that, to feel your own heart failing because the blood was running out of you. Your heart for mine, I traded you willingly, but you took the real risks. A dagger to the spleen, a half-severed limb - those are your pains to bear. But it is my heart that sus- tained you, my organ pumping the blood through your veins. I was cautious; I never fought, never let myself into dangerous situations. I protected your heart like it was my own, yet now I am to die for your recklessness, and you will have a second chance at life.
Your body is torn, beaten and purple, but that will heal with time and the use of a fully working heart. Mine lies inside you, punctured by the arrow meant to end your life. Instead, it will end mine, and the magic that
swapped our hearts will swap them back, leaving me with a worthless, ruined thing while yours beats strong- ly, refueling your bloodless body. You will be reborn, and I will die from no fault of my own.
How could you be so reckless with my heart? I trust- ed you, loved you. We were supposed to be there for one another, to keep a steady watch over each other’s well-being, risking everything only for each other. Yet you went o to battle, ghting a war that was not yours to ght. The King holds your head in his lap, praying above you, calling you a hero. I can see you in my mind’s eye, gasps growing stronger as the magic begins to do the deed. My knees grow weak with the sudden pain in my chest. Your heart is leaving me to be re- placed with my own mangled one. I hope your sorrow consumes you as the pain recedes, guilt replacing your pleasure at being alive.
Heartless
Helen Korbel
22