"Stay Pony, Goldboy"

 

Following the vision, these would be Lucy Vetiver's last words to Alex before turning her cheek away never to face him again.

 

He would try and stop her but she would run, far and fast, fleeing to the water tower where she would curse the changing of the seasons, every shape of every cloud destined to drag itself through the sky, all the future winds, future rains, configurable constellations of stars and colors of sunset to come.

 

All the people summoned into her life to love and lose like tattered trading cards - myriad futures stolen, bought and paid by her loneliness.

 

The gypsy had tried to warn her but she had not been ready for this.

 

She had not been ready to learn: All the sappy pop songs and greeting cards in the world were wrong - more often than not, loving someone meant the total opposite of happiness.