"Tis better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all." St. Augustine
Dead. The word echoed through her head like a redundant cymbal. She gripped the blood
stained piece of paper tightly, crumpling it up in the process. In agony she sank to the
carpeted floor, sobs racking her small frame. It didn't seem true, she didn't want it to be
true. She backhanded her sleeve across her pale face trying to stop the multitude of tears
cascading down her freckled cheeks.
She felt empty like a piece of her self had been ripped out and shredded to pieces. She
had lost so many people in her life, but this one hurt the most. They had been through so
much together. They had survived a plane crash, being captured, the rescue, but now he
was gone. Who was going to dry the tears from her eyes? Who was going to comfort her
when she woke up in the middle of the night, her body trembling and covered in a filmy
layer of sweat?
Through her blurry eyes she stared at his dead body, lying crumpled on the floor
drenched in blood. His naked muscular chest lay still, having let out his last breathe.
Timidly she crawled forward, placing a trembling hand on his cold ashen face. The
steady flow of salty tears continued running down her cheeks, dropping onto his bare
chest. It wasn't supposed to end this way. Her broken heart ached for him, for his touch,
for his love. With care she caressed his bloody cheek and stared into his now lifeless
green eyes.
She remembered him so well. His memory was forever imprinted on her mind and heart.
Together they had broken free of their pasts that had held them captive for so long. Now
his past had collided with the future. No matter how much he had tried to escape the men
he was running from, he could never elude their metal grasp completely. Slowly they had
taught each other to love again, to let go of their brokenness, their pain, and live. Their
connection was so strong nothing could separate them, not even death.
"Why'd you do this to me?" she sobbed, running her hand through her mocha ringlets.
She sat there cradling his limp corpse weeping, for her, for their love, for their future. She
looked at the crinkled paper in her hands with the three barely legible words scrawled
across it. I love you. She placed her hand on her slightly protruding stomach and tears
instantly sprang to her already moist eyes. Beneath the layers of clothing and skin there
was life, life they had created. He would never see his child, the child he didn't even
know about. As hard as it would be, she would always have a piece of him with her.
"I love you Sawyer." She whispered into the darkness
With that she curled up next to his lifeless body and cried herself to sleep, dreaming of
what could have been.