Muirin007

 "You came back." His voice hardly sounded like his own. It was feeble, tremulous… …fading. "I came back." My own voice trembled, and I let the tears fall freely. He said nothing, and his eyes glistened as he simply stared. Silence hung in the air, draped with endless emotion, heavy and stifling and steeped in sorrow so powerful that I could not help but sob anew. He let out a soft sigh, pained and mournful and tinged with wonder, and from his lips fell, scarcely more than a whisper, "You came back." I drew my fist up to my mouth, shaking my head furiously and choking back more sobs, my shoulders shaking with the effor

I knew I was deliberately disobeying Antoinette. Though I couldn't work out why, I knew she had her reasons for wanting me to stay away from the bookstore. I knew she would be incensed when she found out I'd ignored her warning—and she would find out. She always did. But anger and frustration smothered my guilt into temporary silence, and I stomped blindly ahead, my feet finding their way of their own accord to the antiquated sign hanging over the old storefront. I turned left past the sign, wound my way through the alley adjacent to the building, made another left and arrived at the back door. With a huff that would have put a walrus