I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

I’ll steal you a broken thing
“I think,” C says, “Someone who loves broken things will do.”
Hee nuzzles against my leg. She purrs, her half-ear creased
backward.
Sony’s cat and my friends look to me for guidance, for where to go
next.
I’ve always been a follower. I don’t know how to lead. It was always
you who pulled me from the backgrounds, from the edges of the
frame. It’s you who always knew how to read me. On an abandoned
stretcher, in a nightly garden, on a ledge, in a place where broken
hearts were once healed–
“I know where she is,” I whisper.
“Where–”
I break into a run, hopping over Neo’s bed and out the door.
“Sam!”
I have nothing in hand. Not our memorabilia, not my pen, not
anything.
There’s a faint image in my peripheral of C grabbing the box, Sony,
and Neo pushing the door to follow me.
I get to the stairwell first and hurl myself down the steps.
I know where you are, Hikari. I know the places your soul finds
solace because I know you and I do not need a letter to prove it.
You are compulsively readable. Your eyes, your glasses too big for
your face, they never look too far ahead so for what you can’t see,
you touch. You feel with freedom in a way I both envy and adore.