/path of wisdom\

this story has no rules and little structure

"Sweetie, get out of the road, sweetie—come on, please, for daddy, for...other daddy,"

You're standing in front of a busy road. He's trying to call out to your young adopted daughter, tiny and fragile, as she stumbles into the street.

Giving up, your love jumps onto the pavement after her, barely noticing the bus coming. By the time he does, he knows there's so little time, so he pushes his daughter out of the way and you run towards him. You grab his back collar and pull him back, jumping in front just in time, though he tries to pull you back too—

All this happens in a very short amount of time, and the next thing you're aware of is searing pain below your hips, and then a terrifying lack of feeling below your thighs. Blood is everywhere, on him, on a bystander who's trying to tie a tourniquet or something, there's even a little bit on your daughter. Most of it is on you, the road, or the bus. It smells metallic, the scent travels through you and you can taste it on your lips, your teeth. It suddenly occurs to you that you cannot remember anything before he started calling out to her, yet all the information was already there, that he was your lover and that you had adopted a Chinese baby about two months ago, that this was a busy street, that your lover was very kind but not one for thinking deeply, that you had spent thousands of years together, perhaps eternity...

After a sudden moment of climactic revelation, you black out.