My name is Joey, and you're with me now

I will love you forever on my own

There were five trees in the garden and each was perfect; green and beautiful trees surrounded all the animals and all the animals. There were a hare and a rabbit who had the same favourite everything: they ate the same lettuce, they liked the same parts of the garden and they never, ever went to bed without first sorting out their arguments. And while they did have arguments, they were very, very safe arguments. When I say an argument can be ’safe' I refer to when the two people arguing have a prior agreement that however difficult the conversation should get and whatever silly things they might say, neither of them will run away

The hare and the rabbit met under the chestnut tree. While they were both quite nervous and soft mammals, they both liked making people laugh so they ended up talking all night. They loved each other right away. Their skills complemented each other: the hare was very good at finding tasty hay and the rabbit was excellent at distracting the other animals while they took it back to their little home

It wasn't a very good home, it was much much more like a house than a home. It was cold and draughty and sometimes all the water just ran hot. But sometimes it is possible to hide a home inside a house, and that is what the rabbit and the hare did. They picked the perfect room and made it their home. It was covered in blankets and pillows, and everything was in lovely bright colours. In their home they were happy. They were worried that the happiness they brought each other was the only happiness of its kind and so they were very careful not to lose each other. Happiness can be just as scary as sadness because it is far easier to lose. They tried to make up their own language but neither of them were very good at remembering the words so they just ended up speaking normally

"I love you." said the hare
And "I love you." said the rabbit
And they really did love each other

But no two people can be together forever and this was the case with the hare and the rabbit, so the rabbit said goodbye:

"We don’t look alike. We don't look alike at all but our faces match exactly. I wonder why that happens. We're very different animals but sometimes seeing you feels far more familiar than a mirror. I feel better for having you in my life and I want, really, to say thank you. I've felt fear before but never like that of losing you. I've felt loss before and thought it was painful, but I have never missed you because you have always been there. You have gone by different names like 'eyes' and 'breath’ and ’heart' but you are always there. And this is it I suppose. We still have our health, and our hearts, though depleted, will get better again

But I’ve never missed someone before they left before. There's a smell on my covers that I hope never goes away. There's a stain on our duvet that I hope never washes out and somewhere in a part of the world that you have to listen very closely to hear, there's a version of us that will stay here for much longer. There, forever: our hearts. Our hearts in sound forever."