Absurdly fast. The cold breeze against my perspiration was heaven as images of having Holly in my arms, played out. I’d spun around to tell her to leave me alone and had hit her with my elbow accidentally. When I’d seen her start to fall it had just been an autonomic reaction to grab her.
But then something had happened. The second I’d put my fingers on her ribcage and felt Chloe’s heart I had been lost. Hit head on with emotion. The physical sensation of that thundering pulse that I had felt so many times before had paralyzed me. The heart I had owned and still felt like I owned. Mine. It was all I had left. For a moment I’d held onto the sensation of having Chloe in my arms again. All I had wanted was for her to stay with me. To not leave again. That everything had been a horrible dream and that she really was okay. I’d smelled her hair. Fresh apples. Chloe always used to use that shampoo because she knew how much I liked it. And then Holly had spoken the one word that Chloe used to say to me whenever told her I loved her.
