I cautiously lowered my body onto the bed, as to not wake her. My eyelids trod to the strain of darkness until she leaned over and whispered “I love you” into my ear. I lay idly, listening to her breath stagger and grow unsteady. Sleep would not ensnare me; I knew that with the death of each breath, the moment would dissipate into the uncertainty of human memory. I listened and felt a tear trek from my eye to my lips. It was lone and brave and tasted of salty humanness. This droplet was not one of sorrow or of joy. My absconded tear birthed from a fabric of emotions, intertwined as time does the universe, so I documented it.
