"Try to get along without me." I was reduced to tears, my knees trembling like an earthquake. I reached out to him, my entire weight falling on him as I embraced him in a tight hug. I felt him lovingly hug me back, but almost right after, he removed my hands from around his neck.

"You're strong, I know that. Don't fret about me leaving," he paused for a minute, as if searching for the right words. "I believe everything happens for a reason, and so does this. Goodbye." My world began to melt into black. He was the only thing visible to me as he turned away and faded.

"No..." My legs finally gave way.

***

"I miss you, babe." I was standing by the water's edge as I remembered the moments when he left. It was my first Valentine's Day without him to hold me. As a single tear ran down my cheek, I tossed the chain necklace into the water and watched it sink down to the bottom, the silver treble clef pendant glittering as it too, like him, vanished from my sight.

"Live, so we can be together again someday."