124. Is Your Love Strong Enough?

I will never leave you. Not again. Not ever.

I tell Kelsey this as I lead her out of the big, bad woods. I was a kid when I first entered these woods, but I’m no kid anymore. I recall Iris telling me about that fire deep inside and how I was stronger than I thought.

But I also know now what the big, bad world is capable of.

I’ve lost track of the trail I came on and simply wander, hoping to reach a road.

I hold Kelsey and promise I won’t let her go.

But you’ll eventually have to let go.

I’ll keep protecting her.

But you can’t protect her all the time.

Maybe it won’t be the darkness. There will be other things to battle.

Time.

Indifference.

Forgetting.

Life.

Look at your parents. At your uncle. At the whole rest of the world, Chris.

I’ll stay by her side.

But what will be the point, when in the end you’ll surely fail?

I tell her I’ll always be there.

But is your love strong enough?

It can be.

Will it be strong enough?