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65. Sacrifice

Author: Karen Moon
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

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I remember that summer afternoon as if it were yesterday. It had been ten years, but the details were so vivid in my memory that it was as if I could feel the fresh breeze and the warmth of the sun on my skin again.

Carmelia had dragged me to the top of a distant hill, far from home and responsibilities.

"Hurry up, Bianca! We don't have all day!" she shouted, laughing as I tried to keep up with her. She was quick, her long brown hair blowing in the wind, and I did my best not to fall behind.

"You always make me run," I complained, breathless when I finally reached her at the top. She just smiled, that lively smile that made the world seem like a safe place, at least as long as we were together.

We sat on the grass, and as always, Carmelia started pointing at the sky, creating stories for the clouds that drifted by. For each shape she found—a house, a dragon, a broken heart—she invented a narrative, and I would immerse myself in that fantasy world only Carmelia could create.
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