Love's Redemption (Chris and Maddie)

Chapter 618

1 brought Hayden back to Kahmark

One evening as the sun melted into the horizon,

of growing old together

I

But I couldn't leave not yet I stayed, keeping him company, pretending he was still there

When I was a kid, I overheard my mom talking about how a person's sou dont just vanish after they

I die. She said it lingers for a while, staying close to the people it loved-especially for the first the something days

I didn't know if it was true, but I clung to the thought. I didn't want Hayden's soul to feel alone so stayed Watched over him until I felt like he was truly gone. Only then did I let myself think about leaving During those days, I cut myself off from the world. My phone stayed off I lived like Yuna used to-reading books, picking wildflowers, brewing tea from petals, and painting

I painted Hayden, again and again. Every stroke reminded me of the portraits Wayne had made of me hidden in that house.

Moming and night, I talked to Hayden like he could still hear me

in my dreams tonight, okay? Say the stuff you never

bad sometimes, I wonder if I should follow you, just to make it stop." "Hayden, I found this little bird today. It was

"Hayden..."

needed to, hoping for an answer. But no

felt like there was a

sat by his side, the wind would brush against my face. Soft, warm-just like

days blurred together, marked only by the quiet rhythm of sunrises and sunsets. On the 35th day after his death, I brought fresh

Is today the last day

but I kept going. "I'll be leaving soon, too. I'll go back to work, back to normal life. And.... I'll face the

spoke, a soft breeze passed by, lifting a strand of my hair

since Hayden's death, I'd barely cried. Only in those quiet, unbearable moments when I missed him so much it felt like

strand of hair. "Hayden... is that

wind picked up again, ready and gente le an

night, I stayed longer, unwilling to leave When ally Self

open and his voice, soft and steady called out to me

flew open. The moment save him, I

him,

here alone Go back be happy,

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