Worthy

"Just help me understand," Dee said in a measured way with a practiced tone (careful not to tack "this shitshow" to the end of her sentence). "Mom," Seph stuttered, tears in her eyes, and gave her a letter. "Is it from him?" Dee asked, suppressing the urge to groan dramatically and cap it with an eye roll. "Just ... please ...," her daughter begged (and so she began to read). "I agree that none of this makes any sense and ensures that we will suffer (to be understood, to live peacefully with and without each other, to trust that we are blessed and not cursed). But if I am fated to live out some kind of half-life, then let it be the one in which yours is the face I see when I open my eyes; let it be that impossible situation where it is your hand that takes mine; let it be the irresistible torture that places my heart at your disposal and hopes beyond reason that you will spare it some compassion. I accept all of the agony I will endure for the moments which will bring a happiness beyond my comprehension - not that I am found worthy of love, but that I am allowed to show YOU in my adoring gaze that nothing else in creation can rival your light." And Demeter looked up then, tears in her eyes to match Persephone's, and wondered if it was possible she'd been too hard on the boy.