All that was left… was ten steps. Ten steps was all it would take to finish things. Life did not exist beyond that border. The end of the world stood before him, staring at him fearlessly, devotedly.

His heart refused to cross alongside him. It tugged and pulled at his feet, begging him to stay where he was safe. The redness of his eyes betrayed his fear.

He had family. A mother, who would drag him back with her bare hands if she were here. A father, who’d surely try to lecture some sense into his mad child.

But someone sat on the other side of that border, on withered grass and rotting soil. Tears stained their face as they watched him. The sickness of the earth beneath them tainted their hands and feet, holding them tight in a cruel embrace.

He could not let them bare that alone.

If the earth was no longer generous, if it wanted back the life it had given to its people, so be it.

He’d whisper the hurt away until it left.