Her father wipes one tear from many off her face and, in the same stroke, her existence as Bianca Di Angelo.
One straw stands out in contrast against the rest of her evaporating consciousness - In a sea of lightness and acceptance, it shone as her single regret. Where every other memory would slip through her fingers, the regret sat belongingly in her palm.
A name that is not her own tumbles with her into the next life. She is born crying.
…
The name Nico Di Angelo is not quickly forgotten. When Bianca is young and life is simple, Nico is a troublesome imaginary friend. He is the face of a faceless but familiar character in children’s books. He is a fiery nightmare that wakes her up screaming.
He is in trouble.
In her head and in her dreams, Bianca fails to save him a thousand times.
…
When she finally comes across myths and monsters and tragic Greek heroes, she tells her mother with youthful certainty ‘This is who he is’.
When she reads about a godly hell she says, with what she fears is accuracy, ‘This is where he is.’
…