Maxiana

I’m on the beach again, that beach of gems and calm, dark water. Black mist hangs all around me as I walk in no single direction, unsure if I’m going to step off the beach and into a vat of inky, black nothingness again.

He’s not here this time. I’m not sure how I know, but I can just… feel that I’m alone. Horribly, inexplicably alone.

I’ve never been alone. Never. Not a single day in my life.

I hug my arms to my chest as I pick across the beach. The mist begins to part, and through the starlight reflecting on the gems, I think I see the...