I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

willow tree. We talked about bringing Henry and Ella and playing his
card games in the grass while he told us stories.”
I sit on the bed across from him. Anger slowly falls from Sam’s face,
a mask of dust withering away into nothing, like a crackling leaf.
“I don’t know why you’re telling me all this.”
“You said this place is barren of story, Sam, but you’re wrong. It’s full
of it,”
I say. “It’s full of people trying to survive just like you. But most of
them don’t, and I want to know why.”
Sam stares at me now, his childish curiosity seated beside a hunger
to understand and a grudge he’s trying to keep.
“I want to know why the people who find refuge in this place have to
suffer. I want to know why so many of their lives end unfinished. I
want to learn how to fend off my enemies. I want to save everyone
as is my purpose.” I tremble. My voice was only ever his, but my
existence is my own. It is an enigma. Difficult to phrase. Even harder
to say aloud.
Sam softens when he realizes what I’m trying to say.
“You’ve never questioned where I came from nor who I am nor why
I’m here. No one ever does, because I’m a part of this place. Like the
color of a wall or the heft of a door.” A ghost of sadness crawls over
me. It is dry and worn, familiar and faded. The pain of being
perpetually alone.
“I was so lonely when we met, Sam,” I nearly cry. “No matter who I
came to know, they all left me one way or another, but you never did.
My curse made a mistake the day that you were born. We were both
alone, but it gave us one