He didn’t want to feel again. It was a clear understanding of that sentiment. Feeling hurt. It was brutal. There was nothing like the surge of emotions within a being and the battle to cultivate them in the way you wanted others to witness.

But he also didn’t want to cease living. Not actually. And those two wants could not exist at the same time.

How could someone so alive become so lifeless? How could a woman who proclaimed love abandon the recipient? How could one brother protect the life the other brother didn't want?

"To Live as the Dead"

by Jenny Raveling