I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

“Si Dieu me laisse, on sera ensemble pour toujours,” he says, and
though it is broken and perhaps not said completely right, C hugs
him.
“Your accent is terrible.”
They laugh together and when C finds the strength, he walks back to
the car holding Neo’s hand.
We go home all in the same car’s backseat, uncomfortable with wet
pants and sandy shoes, huddled under a single blanket, letting the
wind kiss us goodbye through the windows as the bomb on C’s wrist
goes tick, tick, tick–
music
Coeur never knew what he liked. People asked him what his favorite
color was. They asked him if he preferred playing at the park or in
his backyard. Coeur was quite indecisive on the matter and as a
four-year-old, he spent an inordinate amount of time thinking of
answers to these questions.
But why did he have to choose? Both the playground and backyard
were fun and if any color went missing from the world, Coeur would
miss it.
With these indecisive philosophies and relatively quiet nature, Coeur
became a passive child compared to his rowdy older brothers. He
was the kind that just went along with what others did and liked. As
Coeur grew up, however, he found that this lack of personality made
him feel hollow. The kids on the playground had their favorite games.
Some had insatiable energy and capricious attitudes, while others
were tender voiced, and lethargic. Coeur, for the life of him, could not
figure out what he was, so he must’ve been missing a part of
himself, right?
That’s what Coeur believed the pain was. The muscles between his
ribs ached. His teeth were sore. His hearing faded in and out by the