I should’ve seen them. The signs. They were there, just waiting to be noticed…waiting to be helped.

He was my best friend… my love. The way his deep, sea green eyes looked like they could see straight into my soul…the way he would look at me and glow.

Everything about him captivated me.
But he wasn’t the same toward the end. His eyes seemed darker, if that’s possible, and his soul seemed to lose its brightness…its life. It was like someone flipped a switch inside of him, engulfing him in nothing but darkness.

I knew what it was like.

Depression. When all your friends abandon you, darkness being the only thing to embrace you when you’re at your most vulnerable. You feel so alone… like nobody gets it.

But Denny got it.

Denny understood me. Denny’s the one who gave me the help I needed…Denny made me feel alive again after wishing for death for two and a half years.

But I failed to do the same for him. Denny was the one who needed help this time and I failed. I should’ve been able to see what was happening. I should’ve paid closer attention. I shouldn’t have listened to him when he told me to go away.

And I knew something was up all along. I knew he was dealing with something. I knew because I would constantly dwell over how badly I missed the old Denny. The Denny that made me feel alive.

The Denny that would make me feel loved, not the Denny that told me to go away.

And then I finally had enough. I went to his house and let myself in. I used the key that he gave me, the key that is now permanently hanging around my neck on a gold chain.

I slowly crept up the stairs, trying to stay quiet until I reached his room. And then I heard it.

A sob.

A sob that sounded so miserable and so pained, it made my heart hurt with an unimaginable burn. My stomach fluttered as I threw the door open and gasped.

It was the last time I ever saw Denny alive.

He pulled the trigger.
I screamed.

The image of him crumpling to the floor is one that will haunt me forever. My chest was burning as I threw myself down beside him and brushed the hair out of his face. The face that now had a bullet hole etched into the side of it.

His eyes were open and his heart had the faintest beat to it.

I couldn’t let him go. Not like this.

“I love you.” I whispered.

He smiled.

He smiled, and it seemed like his eyes turned sea-green again and his face seemed to glow once more.

And then he was gone. The faint heartbeat grew silent and his beautiful eyes fluttered shut.

Silent tears ran down my face as I turned and reached for the bullet. The small, golden tube that was lying on the floor a few feet away from us.

The tears started coming faster as I ran my fingers over the intricate design that was carved into the hard metal.

And then I saw it.

A name.

My name.