• She watched as the sky above tore a harsh line between two clouds. They were mercilessly thrown apart as they progressed in front of her. The white wisps of air and water drifted apart reluctantly, a few rugged threads still clinging to the connection between them. In the end though, any effort the white fabrics made was futile. Who can go against the wind, even a mighty thing like a cloud? For the wind, in comparison, is far mightier.
    Or maybe she was reading too much into it. With a heavy sigh Alex stretched her arms upwards and tried to push the two entities that were now completely separate back together. Of course she failed. Her eyes flickered to the left for a split second and back again.
    “Stop ignoring me; I know you know I’m here.” She sprang, agile, to her feet like only a dancer could, walking in the opposite direction to the accusing voice.
    She drifted towards the silver railing and stared out across the skyline. Square shapes marred the airspace with their angry, obnoxious bodies; scars cutting through the air. This was the kind of city where stars were obstructed by unnatural light, flung up haphazardly. The stars were so beautiful back home, one of the least vague memories of Alex’s childhood. Burning balls of fire, Tom had shallowly named them. Alex could make do with the clouds though, she had to.
    Her eyes focused on a lone female blackbird, settling on a small building across the street. As far as Tom was concerned, Alex had taken up birdwatching for the feigned interest she was showing in the small black dot. “Alex,” he prompted after a few mild minutes.
    “No. Whatever you’re selling, I don’t want it.” She tensed for a rebuke from the tall dark shadow that she didn’t turn to face. It didn’t matter, Alex knew Tom like the back of her hand.
    His disapproving tone burned her ears, “There’s no time for this; you know that.” She did. Time was a precious commodity lately, there just didn’t seem to be enough of it. Fifteen years is like the shortest time when you’re at the end, seeing it disappear behind you.
    “Tom…” Alex turned to face him; he seemed to exude emptiness. At least, that’s what it was like for her, maybe for others he exuded arrogance. The stance was there, the confident set of his shoulders and the certainty with which he held his head up high; that mask he’d created since they first started taking him.
    Tom ran a hand through his thin dark hair so it fell obstructively in front of his eyes. “Get your head out of the clouds and into the real world for once.” He made his graceful way towards her, choosing to look past her indignant face and out to the city.
    “I don’t want to. In the real world, you don’t exist.” Alex tried to see more than just the sharp planes of his hard set jaw. His expression didn’t want to be read, it seemed.
    “I know, that’s a good thing.” Tom contradicted his words with his actions. One arm hooked around her shoulders and pulled her into a loose hug, while the other played with her hair; he did this a lot when he was on edge. Every time he came back, he would have this cold, shaken look on his face and he wouldn’t speak until morning, all Tom did was hold her those nights.
    “It’s close, isn’t it? You feel it?” She nestled in against his chest. Yep, definitely still existing, warm. She wouldn’t let go of him, not now, not ever.
    “I do. The end is nigh.” He was joking, with a passing whisper of sadness. Tom put his face in Alex’s hair, closing his eyes tight. He could feel the pulling as they tried to break their bonds; they did that every time they could. Every time they thought his defense was weakened, they attacked Alex’s mind.
    “I love you. I really do. My imaginary boyfriend.” A tight laugh escaped her lips between silent sobs.
    “I’m far from imaginary Alex. And I love you too, implicitly, with all my heart and soul.” His voice was fading away, losing tangibility. Tom fought back, but he was bound by the contract he made: they had until Alex was 16 years old. Tom knew the time she was born exactly, because it was his own birth date: 2:46pm and 13 seconds. The beginning. He was there in the back of her mind; a thought, a whisper of an idea.
    2 minutes left.
    He could do nothing, he had no power as they cut through each thin bond, like scissors cutting through single threads—easy, infuriatingly. Those eleven years worth of attachments, gone in the few seconds he whispered Alex’s name into her hair. They shouldn’t have this power, she was the only one, since they were five.
    “Tom!” She cried, clinging closer to his insubstantial form as it faltered, a few rugged threads, the strongest, still clinging to the connection between them. It was happening, she was losing him. It was a part of herself she was losing, the core of her being.
    “Bye,” were his great parting words, all he had to say for the life he was leaving behind him, the life they were stealing. That world was a cold place Tom told her she would never see; it was the world he was being taken to, his allocated time was over. They had had longer than anyone else; but it was not enough. “You’ll be fine Alex. I’ll make sure of it, okay?”
    Mere seconds were left now. The only thing Tom could do, that he could control now, was the way he left. He took a step backwards, out of her arms. Tears cascaded from her eyes. Alex never cried in front of him, so he knew they hadn’t cut the deepest bonds, the ones like love. He knew she would hurt, and hurt bad, but he was glad she still felt connected to him, that she wouldn’t forget; it would make existing away from her easier—knowing she was still connected.
    Alex knew he would watch over her, but nothing could console her now. The wind whipped up around his feet, his long coat thrashing violently. Slowly, with each passing breath the wind took a few centimeters of Tom’s body away. Tom smiled down at her until he disappeared completely. At the back of her mind he was still there, just slumbering, a memory.
    She didn’t bother drying her tears or muffling her sobs, whoever was taking him from her deserved to feel guilty. After a while, she lay back on the hard, cold concrete. For the first time in her life there was silence. Her entire existence, even from birth had been paced with his constant heartbeat, even before she knew he was there, before she imagined him. Now, there was nothing to cling to, no beat to thread music to; no planet to orbit. For the first time in her life, Alex was alone as she stared up at the blurred white on blue.
    Broken beyond repair, the two clouds drifted apart; evidence of the frayed edges where they used to be connected was clear in the scarred shape they’d taken. Those two clouds would never meet again, their broken threads weren’t ever going to heal.
    And as Alex watched the sky, she suddenly felt very small and alone.

    ~

    Ally laughed her beautiful, tinkling laugh. It was the kind of sound that just made you smile, no matter where, no matter when. She ran, totally uncoordinated in fashion, towards Tom, who was making his own way through the jungle of eye-height grass.
    “Tom!’ She cried, between bursts of bell chimes, “Did you see it? Did you?”
    “I did, Alex! I saw it! I saw it!” Tom had no idea what they were talking about, none at all, but what did that have to do with it? He was with Ally, every moment was pure bliss. She grabbed hold of both of his hands, jumping up and down excitedly; he was helpless to resist her exuberance, bouncing along with her so they looked like a pair of animated kangaroos, or maybe space hoppers. Tom laughed in his own childishly high voice.
    “Tom, let me go!” Ally laughed again as he pulled her to the ground beside him, both of them howling with uncontainable mirth, rolling in the daisies. Alex’s white sundress was stained with ribbons of bright emerald, and they were loving every second of it. At 5 years old, all you want to do is run around, get messy, and ruin your clothes; Tom and Alex had achieved all three of these things, so they lay on their backs, catching their breath.
    Alex watched her best friend’s chest rise and fall, listening to his heartbeat as it slowed. She had noticed—a few months ago when he first came—that his breathing, his heartbeat and his pace matched hers; Tom naturally fell into step beside her, like he had been there all along.
    She was too young to know what to make of it, and Tom was too immersed in having a life alongside her. Tom knew. Alex didn’t. And it would stay that way until Alex grew too old to be dubbed Ally anymore, until Tom could be sure she didn’t think he was purely imaginary. Tom didn’t need to explain it to anyone, and he wouldn’t, it was automatic, it was his place—it was the place he belonged: his very soul entwined with hers.
    Tom had come to this conclusion at the human age of 5.
    “Tom!” Ally poked his arm, then pointed to the sky, “It’s a bird! Do you see it? Do you!”
    “Yeah,” Tom replied, “look over there—” he pointed to the other side of the blue.
    “It’s a heart!” Ally shouted, grinning like a great big white and green cheshire cat. Tom grinned back at her and took her hand as they both turned their eyes to the clouds again, engaging in a game of cloud shapes.
    Tom would miss this.