Chapter 573: Rileys Song (1/2)

Chapter 573: Riley's Song

There will always be pain There will always be suffering

The only difference is whether you are the one experiencing it, or the one inflicting it

But what if you're both? What if you are hurting, and at the sa someone? Is it by choice?

Or is it because you have no choice but to be?

Do you want to hurt people when you're hurting?

All nor, they may seem like a mistake, but they are not They are completely normal—that is how you know you're still actually alive That you're not just sos nonchalantly, like nothing e is coe is so, someone that could not receive it? Do you then hurt yourself?

It is normal to hurt, and it is nor yourself?

You hurt, and therefore you want to feel it Your heart aches, and therefore you want the rest of your body to realize it

That is the kind of pain that will always be unexplainable—and yet billions upon billions of people feel therowing ever stronger when you think your day grows brighter

"Just a few ht collapse on us and all —move that one!"

"Yes, sir!"

There are those that cling to life, wanting to burrow themselves out of the cave they find themselves in because they know; they know that at the end of their desperation, is hope

"Why can't we just fucking blast our way through!? You're strong, I know you can do that!"

"And risk the entire cave collapsing? Do you want all the creatures inside this cave to rush out?"

"Aita, stop pestering hi to help us!"

"fuck! Rylo is dead, Milla He… he's dead If only this bald old man recovered sooner, he… he will still be—"

"Stop it! If you're just going to rant and co remains dead!"

"No I don't want to see that fucker if I don't have to Let's just get the fuck out of here"

And then, there are those that co that caused theet rid of the hurt is to reet it completely But of course, the hurt will always be there

And for Pia, as tasked to watch the very sa that caused her to hurt—it was brutal Riley was already sliced and diced into separate pieces; his organs, completely mushed into paste

So why? Why was she tasked to look after it by Jaht her hurt will be gone as shehis reans were co There was nothing If Riley was still alive then what about Rylo? What about the man he had loved and has loved forhim instead? Maybe somewhere in the cave, he was still alive Maybe inside the ratking's stomach, he—

And there it is, another source of the hurt One would think it was grief, but it is not

Grief does not hurt, it heals Grief is proof that love is undying What hurts you is not grief, but the thought of what could have been is now a fantasy—a chapter of your life that will never be

And you cry

"Ry…" And the tears that fall to the ground will be evenout the words you wish to speak—because as the point? The one to hear it could no longer do so

The only thing you could really do is cradle yourself; to wrap yourself in your own ars And perhaps in that darkness, you hat you have lost

And then, ht holding you again