Beyond the eye's sight

She stood, ankle deep in the freezing snow and put an arm up to the the tree's trunk. She focused on the texture beneath her fingertips and a wry smile reached her chafed lips. It did not fill her pale face, but merely sat upon her mouth and waited to be dismissed a few seconds later.
"I know I did everything wrong." She whispered to the wind. Her voice was thick from crying. "But please, don't make me carry this altogether too heavy burden with me all my days."She choked on her words. "Please, take it away and let me breathe this fresh air that is already surrounding me. It seems as though it is just far enough that I will never taste it's clean life."
The girl looked at the carved words on the tree and took a step back. A feeling of lead settled in the pit of her stomach and dragged her downward to her knees. She let herself sit there in the biting cold, holding back the tears that threatened to ruin her perfect pale features, and turn them into an angry red blotch of a monster as they always did.
"If you wish to let go, then let go." The whisper lightly caressed her ear, and when she turned, there was no one there but the lonely weeds of winter, brown and riddled with cold.
The girl pulled herself to her feet, now nothing more than a silhouette in the twilight field. Her shoulders sagged, hands hanging at her sides, and her hair jagged from the chill.
"You expect me to just move on?"
"Yes." His voice sounded distant but she knew better than that. He was closer than ever.
"I can't do that without you, and you know that." She snapped. There was a long silence and nothing was to be heard but the wind abusing the shrubs and weeds, and the single tree that stood alone and tall in the middle of the field. Then he replied, speaking the words that she had longed to hear for so long.
"I forgive you. You know I'll always love you, sweetheart. Now take a breath, and live. You're amazing. I know you can do it."
Her mouth dropped open and then closed once more, her lips quivering. Tears tracked down the planes of her cheeks and slipped down her neck. And the thing of it all: she let go.
The girl's face lit up and an abounding smile made her face new. She placed her hand over her chest and felt the quickened beat of his heart. He was happy, and she knew that somewhere, far away, fighting his own battle, she was keeping him alive with her own strength.
"I love you." She whispered one last time, turning away from the tree. She walked homeward with a new hope sprouting in her chest. Things were going to be different. Things were going to be better. And she loved him.