It hasn’t always been this way, you know. There was a time when she was never late, never distant, never gone. A time when we were close, sisters almost. I know how hard it can be to lose someone close to you, everyone knows.  The concept of loss is universal, familiar to every single soul that has ever kissed this planet. Loss resides and settles within us all. I know it better than anyone.

It comes in different forms, all shapes, and sizes, just like we do. Just like you, just like me.

Just like her.

Before she lost the only person who truly knew her, she was bright like the sun. Glowing. Extravagant. Seen. However -- like the sun -- she was too bright sometimes. Burning. Her dimples popped and her teeth seen by all, her lips curling upwards toward the stars. Her eyes were like diamonds, sparkling brightly in the dim light in of the lamp in my temporary room. Her laughter painted the walls of my void house with joy and grace, whilst filling my ears with love. I wish it was real.

She was like the Sun. Something I had never experienced before.

Bright.

Full.

Alive.

But also doomed to fate.

Loss is a universal concept known to us all.

But it is especially familiar to the Sun.

There are many things in life that you cannot control, the main one being the experience of loss. Leah would grow to know this very well. I remember the day before it happened. The day before her father died. She was at my house -- if you could even call it that --and we were watching a movie. She laid next to me on the couch, setting her legs on my lap whilst stealing the remote. She was relaxed and content, at peace, not knowing what was about to happen in just a few hours.

I knew, I always know.

I couldn’t stop it, that’s not what I’m meant to do. Not the reason why I’m here.

The weight of her legs on my lap became heavier and heavier as the clock ticked through time, the air became as thick as blood. The sound from the TV turned to white noise. I tensed, and she noticed. I’ve become too human for my own good.

“Everything okay, Tia?” Her hand found mine, our matching bracelets ever more apparent. I should have never let this happen, I shouldn’t have gotten so close. I nodded and turned my forbidding gaze back to the static screen, but I still felt her quiet gaze burning holes on my cheek. I wanted to tell her, I wanted to turn and show her mercy, but I knew I couldn’t. I wanted to tell her who I was, who I am, and what I could be. I wanted to show her life and death. But I kept quiet, the souls of all deities burning within my vessel, eyes glued forward.

Pain. Loss. Love. All universal, all known, all eternal.

She went home that night with confusion in her heart, but trust in her mind. It was cloudy and icy the next morning, she couldn’t have possibly known. The ice formed on the road, her father sat in the passenger's seat. They couldn’t have known, only I did. I felt it as soon as it happened too. I heard the slamming and screeching of brakes, the crash, the cries. About an hour later, my phone rang.

I was the first one that she called, the first that she wanted to tell and be comforted by. My inhuman grip on the device almost crushed the mortal tool, but the sound of her broken voice flooding into my ears kept me grounded, and sane. She asked me to come to the hospital, her hope of my care was practically dripping through the speakers, but I couldn’t. I had other matters to attend to. I tried to be gentle, but I could almost see her chest drop and her eyes well with tired tears when I told her I was busy. She whispered a goodbye, like the end of a long song, and hung up.

It would be days before I saw her again, but I always knew how she was. She became more and more alone as time passed, more distant. I couldn’t bring myself to approach her, to talk to her. To share my stories of loss and love and life. I just sat and watched as she crumbled, slowly, like a trueborn sailor away from the sea. Days turned into weeks turned into almost a year. She was as alone as ever, but half a world away.

We crossed paths, our eyes connecting one again. No words were exchanged, no smiles or waves, just lost gazes among the sky.

She lost her father. I lost my only friend. I wanted to grab her hand, push into her mind and protect her from the pain that I caused. I wanted to show her the darkest parts of life, and the highest points of living.

Death should not love as I do, but I am not Death, not to all. To some, I am the embodiment of freedom, the end of a long thin line.

I am loss. Let it be of life, of a job, or of an opportunity. I provide change, and hope, and destruction. I can tear down the very fabric of hope, or fulfill the dreams of lost souls traveling the vast road of existence.

I am known to you, familiar to you, but you do not know me. Among loss, love is universal, and they move together in a sophisticated dance. With love, you lose yourself. With loss, you love what you have in front of you. Loss and Love are one.

She grabbed my hand, her warm skin pressing into mine.

The clouds vanished, the sky showed its face once more, and pain left to return another day.