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“I knew I’d find you here.” Rat settle onto the ground next to Boy, and out of respect said nothing else but waited for when Boy was ready to acknowledge his presence. Even though Isa and their grandchildren were packed and waiting on Independence, to head back to school, Rat wanted to say his goodbyes to Boy before taking off.
They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes before Boy finally said, “Even after all these years I never get used to her being here, no longer alive.”
Rat covered his friend’s cold metal fingers with his own warm ones and wished he could take some of Boy’s pain upon himself, but knew that was impossible.
He cleared his throat before asking, “When my time comes, I wonder if the family would mind if I was laid to rest here, too? It would give me great comfort knowing that one day you would come to visit me too, whenever you stop by to visit Liberty.”
Boy turned his unblinking stare upon Rat. “Do you actually believe we would have it any other way?”
Rat smiled and then stood. He touched the top of Boy’s head before turning to leave.
Boy called after him. “You don’t plan on dying today, do you?”
Rat laughed. “Not today, my friend.”
“Damn straight.”
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The End
Author Bio
Regina Puckett is a 2014 Readers' Favorite Award winning author for her sweet romance, Concealed in My Heart. I Will Breathe and Borrowed Wings, both received the Children's Literary Classic Seal of Approval. "I Will Breathe" was also selected as a Science Fiction Finalist in the 2015 IAN Book of the Year Awards, won the bronze in the 2015 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, Finalist in the 2017 Literary Classics Awards and was the only medalist in the 2016 New Apple Ebook Young Adult Science Fiction category.
Regina Puckett writes sweet, contemporary and Regency romance, horror, inspirational, steampunk, picture books and poetry. There are always several projects in various stages of completion and characters and stories waiting in the wings for their chance to finally get out of her head and onto paper.