"

Gentle he would be, denied he would not.

"

I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem.

"

When I was small, I never wanted to step in puddles. Not because of any fear of drowned worms or wet stockings; I was by and large a grubby child, wit...more

"

He was dead. However, his nose throbbed painfully, which he thought odd in the circumstances.