A Kiss and a Word

"I should've kissed you."

His voice stirred the cold, still air. His sigh for a moment was visible, a soft cloud in the air before him, before it faded to nothing.

A tear slipped down his cheek, and his eyes fell closed. He felt it begin to freeze even as it traced down to his lips. He lifted cold fingers to touch them.

"I'm so sorry," he choked, and opened his eyes. They rested on the headstone before him. Cold, silent, unfeeling--it was everything she had never been. His eyes traced her name, engraved in gray rock. Without her smile in front of him, the glow of her cheeks, they were just words.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Tears blurred his vision, and he let his hand rest in the snow that covered her grave. "I meant to tell you sooner. I meant to tell you-- I -- I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

He broke into sobs, shoving his hand over his mouth. Shaking, he shifted from his knees to sit next to the headstone, his head falling between his knees. As his breath steadied, he turned his eyes back to where his gentle love lay in the ground.

"I thought you knew. There's no way I could have hid it from you, I-- I was in too deep. I was in too deep from the first day I met you. When I saw you on the balcony, laughing with your friends, your hair was still dyed yellow-blonde... I always liked it brown, you know. I should've told you that. I'm sorry. I just wish I'd said something, you know? You have to know, you have to..."

He pressed frozen fingers to his lips.

I should've.

While I still had the chance.