Crossroads

Chapter 49

Lincoln

"Mia is my muse.
The steady rhythm of my symphony.
The crescendo of my very own composition."

PRESENT

Here I am. Again.

When I came to this bridge almost exactly thirty months ago, I didn't expect them to turn out the way they did.

Hell, I didn't expect to even live another thirty months...

I expected the light.

My patients told me about it. When we bring them back to life, so many of them say they saw it. The light at the end of the tunnel. They say you bathe in a sense of serenity, that life seems gentle, suddenly. Like you're floating in soft brightness.

My life back then was neither serene nor gentle. It was darkness, a violent pitch-black void, and I was craving the light like a moth by nightfall.

I found that light now. It's a light so intense that I feel the sun could vanish, and still, I would always find my way. I would always know where I need to be.

Right by her side.

It's where I am right now, right by her side, while the busy traffic on the road behind us becomes mere background noise as we reach the railing. The waves crashing against the shore create a sound that is both so violent and so beautiful, that I can't help but close my eyes and take a deep breath, letting those melodies play in my head.

It was this symphony that called me here, back then. These forces of nature, the howling wind whipping against my skin, the streaming water thrown against the shore, and the giant boulders beneath the bridge... They all served their own purpose, sang their own hymn.

I hummed right with them. I was convinced their symphony was the one I needed to listen to, because it was the only one I could hear. My life was deaf for a long while. The only sound in my head was this fusion of demons, their screams echoing through my soul every second of every day.

This symphony, the prospect of my impending death... it was the only voice that could silence them.

Until Mia came into my life.

I still remember how she stood there, strength and confidence rolling off of her in waves as violent as the ones beneath us. The moonlight cast her in this celestial light, and I remember how for just a second I thought that this must be a dream. I thought I was hallucinating.

Turned out Mia is not a hallucination at all. That's what always drew me to her. She's the epitome of life, of reality, of raw and dangerous honesty. I think I will never really understand that she shares a life with me now, that she deems me worthy enough to be by her side.

"Link?" Her voice sends me out of my thoughts, her arm wrapping around my waist as she tugs herself closer to me. I can imagine how worried she must be, how confused about the fact that I brought her here of all places, today of all days.

It feels like the right place to start this new chapter of our lives, to prove to myself just how far I've gotten. Being here, taking in this scenery, the memories of that day flooding my brain... I realize I've come to peace with it. I've stopped fighting myself, and started battling those demons, silencing them with my very own weapons.

I created my own melody, my own symphony composed with the help of my armory, inspired by this woman right next to me. Truth is, as much as I know that I learned to battle them myself, fighting is so much easier and so much more beautiful when she's doing it with me.