It never occurred to me that someone would have to die just so another could survive. It's a thing you hear in movies or even see in them, but it never felt real. That's why they say seeing is believing and when I saw it happening I understood. How could I not understand when it was happening to me and the person I love.

I have tasted blood and even smelled its rust-like aroma as my body fell to the ground. When I couldn't bend my body and every bone went stiff, I crawled across the ground. The times my body could stand after falling were the times I wanted more. To feel the familiar sting again as it moves like an echo across my skin when I can feel the...