1
I’m dead.
Dead. D E A D. Dead.
How do I know?
Because I’m not breathing.
Yet strangely, my body still has sensation. A low, resonant thrum vibrates under my skin, an electric buzz, as if my veins were filled with bees, not blood.
Added to that, an annoyingly bright light is burning through my eyelids. When I shift slightly, something sharp digs into my hip.
A rock?
A claw??
I instinctively suck in a breath, but there is no air to inhale.
Duh. Because you’re dead, Theo.
So why does pain exist in the afterlife?
Then, another sensation.
Oh shit.
Something or someone is moving my corpse. And I can hear muffled sounds, like I’ve got cotton balls stuffed in my ears.
I open my eyes.
A beautiful face swims into focus.
A beautiful face with aqua-blue eyes.
“Tee-Tee? Baby, are you really here?”
A tear falls onto my cheek, jolting me out of my stunned state.
“DONOVAN!”
The name rips from my throat, and I’m up, wrapping my body around him.
As his lips brush mine, I know a moment of perfect peace. Our noses nestle against each other, but no breath mingles in this still, strange atmosphere. “You found me,” he whispers.
After what could be minutes, or perhaps hours, Donovan leans back slightly. I cup his face in my hands, reveling in the contact. His hair is wild and matted, and those beautiful turquoise eyes? Argh, they look so haunted, but he’s here.
My lovely man.
My lovely, lovely man, who looks held together by a single fraying thread.
“Oh, Tee.” His voice sounds rough and unused.
“Hey,” I whisper, rubbing his cheek, his beard. “I love you.”
“Oh, Gods. I love you too, baby. So much.”
“So, I guess we’re dead, but it must be heaven if we’re together.”
