Jenny Downham

love you, he whispers angrily into my neck. It hurts more than

anything ever has, but I do. So don t you dare tell me I don t. Don t you

ever say it again!

couldn t manage that kind of fear.

She looks right at me as she draws blood into the syringe. I couldn

I bury these things in my heart – the feel of him under my fingers, the

taste of him on my mouth. I ll need them, like talismans, to survive an

impossible journey.

comfort of his arm around my

shoulder at night? The way his breathing changes with the hours, so that I

know when it s dawn? Every morning when he wakes up, he kisses me. His

hand on my breast keeps my heart beating.

I want you to be with me in the dark. To hold me. To keep loving me.

To help me when I get scared. To come right to the edge and see what s

there.

that death surrounds us all.

And it tastes like metal between your teeth.

live her life as if the human race was about to become

extinct, like nothing really mattered.

goes away. I worry about you all the time.

gets easier as your

children get older, but it never