Diya

I don’t want to believe it. I don’t want to believe what he has come thousands of miles to tell me.

Let this end another way. Let him not be dead. Please. Let there be a miracle and another twist to the story.

Let him not be dead.

His voice is choked with tears. ‘I lost two brothers that day. The one that God gave me. And the one I chose.’

His grief is silent. Tears roll down his face, and he makes no sound. Finally, he says, ‘I should have kept quiet. I should have not said a word. I opened my mouth and I killed him. I could have saved him somehow, but I didn’t.’