Hearing James’s voice, which I haven’t heard for a whole month, gets to me because at some point I thought I would never get to hear him speak to me again.
I thought he was also dead. I thought, just like Zia, he had abandoned me.
Thinking about that brings me to the last image of Zia’s dead body in my arms. That memory will never leave my mind.
“Luciano...” he calls for me and tears find their way to my eyes, and I sob nonstop. The pain and grief I thought I was done with pours in me. It is as if I am reliving Zia’s death again.
Every other question that I want to ask about him comes to my mind. “Luciano... are you still there? Are you okay?” he speaks to me again and from the tone of his voice, he is crying too.