Page 49 of Cherry Moon

Wading through the sand, I reached the tree. With nothing sharp to hand, I jumped up to reach the branch. If I shook it hard enough, it’d break and he’d be free. That wire was tied too tightly for me to undo.

He looks so bad.

No. He was unconscious. Not dead, unconscious.

“Hold on!” I pleaded.

I got a grip on the branch. Using the trunk for extra purchase, I held on with both hands, shaking, tugging with all my might.

G bounced, the wood creaking, cherries and leaves falling around me.

“Come on!”

Shake. Shake. Scream.

The first time I saw you, I knew I wanted you.

You are my everything.

You don’t get to leave me.

My worst fears were coming true. This was it, the end of our time together, the cruel sting of the endless forward march of time burrowing into my heart.

“Please, G!” I wailed, shaking, pulling, desperate.

Do you remember our first kiss? In my living room of the Grays Inn Road flat? Man, I was so fucked up, so confused. Thought I’d behaved like such a wanker, because, let’s face it, I could be a mega wanker.

Talk about a gobshite!

But I loved kissing you then, and I’ve loved every kiss since. That moment, there on the floor with all the bedding and pillows and stuff, was the beginning of the end of the dead stars. Time for the glorious alive stars you bring every day.

You saved me.

You loved me.

“You’re not leaving me!” I roared.

The branch snapped. I went down, landing beside him on my back. He was so still, his eyes closed.

Oh, shit. He wasn’t breathing.

I rolled over, straddling him, pulling off the wire and then immediately started CPR.

Why do his lips look so blue?

Compressions, mouth-to-mouth. Rinse, repeat.

“Come on, G.”

No response.

I’m gonna lose⁠—

“No, you’re fucking not!” I boomed.

It took me a while to realize my feelings for you, eh? Slow-burn at its finest. But when they bloomed, they seriously bloomed.

“Wake up, G!” I delivered another round of the kiss of life. “Don’t die! Don’t die! Don’t die!”