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This will hurt

 The abandoned child I'd taken in earlier that day slept peacefully in my lap. The voice of the god who gave me immortality wiggles its way into my head. 

"This will hurt."

I take a deep breath. "I know."

I know just how much it'll hurt to watch this kid grow up, fall in love, get his heart broken, make friends and lose them, become an adult, and old man, and eventually die. It's going to hurt to watch all of his achievements and failures. All of his best and worst days. 

The early days are going to hurt a lot too, as I help him overcome his traumas, as I teach him there is love in the world and I hold some of that love and am willing to share it with him. Holding him after nightmares, sitting with him as he breaks down over triggers I don't fully understand, showing him all for patience and softness I can as he struggles to understand I'm not going to hurt him.

"Why do you keep doing this? It always hurts you."

"I want to help..."

The child whimpers in his sleep, and I pat his head, trying to calm him the best I can. I'm glad he trusted me enough to allow me to adopt him. I hope he can trust me enough to give him a good life.

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