"The afterlife?" This stranger - who were they? Confusion flooded over you, and he turned to face you.

"You know, like, Heaven and Hell?" He sighed in annoyance at your ignorance. "I've been watching you all this time. Don't you want to leave this world? Is't that what you've been saying all this time?"

"Who are you?" The curiosity compelled you to ask, and he sighed again.

"You don't really need to know, do you?" He stated more than asked, but you were persistent. You wanted to know. "I'm a reaper."

"You mean, like the kind in stories? The ones who take your soul?" You were trembling a little. You didn't want to die yet. Somewhere deep inside you was screaming. You weren't ready to be forgotten. To be insignificant again, like you were before.

"Yeah, that's the one. So are you ready to go, or not? I have other souls to collect, you know. Do you want to disappear, or do you want to stay? Choose already."

The decision was a tough one. "Can I think about it a little longer?" You knew that it would take time. You had something to live for, but it wouldn't matter if you died - not to them. However, you wanted to see if something could change. If things could get better even if they were already this far destroyed.

"Sure, whatever." He left just as suddenly as he appeared. You blinked, and he was gone. "Take as long as you need. But going back won't be easy if you decide to stay."

You nodded in understanding and sat beside the bed where your unconscious body lay, as beat up and broken as your heart. You placed your hand over Rin's, even though he couldn't feel your touch.

He had fallen asleep. It was late at night, around two in the morning, or so, shows the clock you glanced at.

A young, beautiful nurse walked in with her friend, and gently placed a blanket over Rin. "Poor boy. Apparently, the girl is his girlfriend. To be so close to losing someone you love; it must be so scary..."

You wanted to scream, "him?! Losing someone he loves?! I'm the one who lost everything! If he loved me, he wouldn't have cheated, or used me as bragging rights to his friends!", but the words caught in your throat, and you knew why. You hated what Rin did, but you couldn't possibly hate Rin.

He cared about you when no one else did. He held you when you were hurting, and when you were scared. He assured you it would be alright, and showed you things you'd never seen before. He showed you compassion, and love, and what it was like to feel something through the numbness. He showed you the light in the dark and filled your whole world with color.

But he also caused a storm. A hurricane of pain and deceit and threw you into the eye of it. There was no escaping the horrors he showed you, and it scared you to think that he could cause it so easily.

You wanted to believe that it might have been all just one big accident, but something deep inside told you otherwise. Trusting people was hard enough without them betraying you.

Long hours of silence passed like days before sunrise shone through the white hospital curtains, casting beams of light across the room, chasing the shadows out. The nurse walked in and quietly opened the windows, letting a soft breeze roll in, gently caressing your face with a faint touch, blowing through Rin's hair.

The nurse stopped beside him and woke him lightly. "Do you want to go home and eat, or something, sweetie? We can call you if she wakes up."

He was a little defiant, wanting to be there right when you woke so he could apologize, but reluctantly got up and left.

You stared at his back as he walked out the door. When he vanished from your sight, you turned back, gazing out at the sky as sun rose. You glanced down, watching his figure leave the hospital grounds an turn to head back to the dorms.

He looked exhausted and guilty, even from far away.

He came back around noon. He had changed his clothes and showered, but you couldn't tell if he'd eaten anything. He pulled up a chair and sat beside your bed again, carefully taking your hand in his.

"Please don't die," he whispered, and placed a tender kiss to your forehead. You watched him from where you stood at the window, a slow tear spilling down his cheek. "I'm so sorry."

You didn't know what to think anymore. Maybe he really did care about you. You at least wanted to believe that, if anything, and if you had to die, you wanted to die knowing someone - anyone - loved you.

But maybe, it wasn't that simple.