"Why did you do this?" Placido asked, glancing at the blank face of his fiance. When no reply came, he continued.
"How could you do this...?" he asked once more, the misery in his voice crystal clear. Once again, the only thing that answered him was silence. He clenched his fists, trying to keep his anger under control.
Placido sat on the small bed located in his apartment. Around him on the walls were beautiful paintings and drawings. He glanced up at them, sick to his stomach with rage. To anyone else, these works of art would be breathtaking.
To him, they were painful to see. Every one of them consisted the same, small, beautiful girl. She was always smiling. She always had a loving look on her face. each picture was amazing, but there was one that stood out among the rest. Her eyes were an extraordinary purple color. They sparkled in a light that wasn't around her, but inside her. The violet curls of her hair draped over her shoulders gracefully.
In the painting, the girl stood in an amusement park. Her grin could make even the most cold hearted person smile with her. She held a small purple plush kitten close to her, as if someone would come and take it away from her at any moment. Her expression was warm, caring, and as if nothing could tear her from the happiness.
Placido stared at the picture. He stood up swiftly and yanked it off the wall. He threw it down, breaking the wooden frame it was held in. He ran around the room, repeating the process with the other paintings. He threw things around, breaking anything that was in his path.
Soon his anger subsided, and he fell to his knees cradling the amusement park painting in his arms. The smiling face of his fiance in the picture haunted him. There was no way to smile with her. No way to brush her bangs away from her eyes. No way to kiss the tears that filled in her eyes away. No way to hold her, kiss her, or make love to her until the morning sun filled the room and bathed their bare bodies in its beautiful light.
"Why would you do this to me?" he screamed at the photo, begging for an answer, "How could you leave me here alone?" Once again, there was no reply. But this time he wasn't expecting one. He buried his face in his hands, unable to contain the sobs that wracked through his entire body. There was no mistaking the love that slid from his lips with the words he spoke.
"Bella...I love you so much..." he mumbled between his miserable cries. He sat there asking, begging, pleading for a hand to rest on his shoulder comfortingly. For his purplette fiance to burry her face in his chest. For her velvet voice to tell him everything would be okay, and then for her soft lips to kiss his tears away.
How could he live without her? She was all he cared about. She was his life. Without her smiling face there to greet him every morning when he woke up, he wouldn't make it through a single day. He slowly stood up and lay down on the bloodstained bed and stare into the lifeless eyes of his deceased beauty.
Part of his mind screamed at him to take the razor blade from Bella's hand and slice his own wrists to follow her to where ever they went when they died. The other part of head told him it was nearly 2:30 and he had to go pick up their 4 year old daughter Gabbie from school. He bit his lip and stroked then cold cheek of his lover once more before lifting himself from the bed and pulling his cell phone from his pocket. He closed his eyes and made his decision.
He dialed three numbers that seemed so unfamiliar to him. he held the speaker to his ear and stared down at Bella. After one ring, a female voice answered.
"911, what's your emergency?" Placido took a deep breath and answered the woman shakily.
"My fiance committed suicide..." he said bluntly. The woman gasped softly.
"We'll send an ambulance immediately. What's your address, sir?"
Placido spoke calmly with the woman. He explained to her that he had to pick to pick Gabbie up. She assured the ambulance would be there soon, and he could say goodbye to Bella before they took her away. As promised, the ambulance was there before he knew it. The paramedics brought in a stretcher, and carefully lay Bella's fragile, lifeless body on the board.
Placido leaned forward and closed her eyes. He kissed her pale lips one more time before allowing the medics to haul her into the ambulance and drive away without turning the siren on.
Twelve years had passed since Bella's death.
Placido sat in a crowd full of parents. He couldn't stand it. He felt smothered. But it was Gabbie's high school graduation, and he wouldn't miss it for the world. Especially not since his daughter had been chosen to write a speech for the ceremony. A small woman stood in front of her students proudly and adjusted the microphone to her height.
"Now everyone," the teacher introduced, "I present to you, Gabbie Domingo, a very talented young lady we selected to say a few words about her school career." When she finished, a small girl with silver hair walked up to the stand. Her purple eyes wandered the crowd until they landed on Placido. She grinned. The grin told every one of the people watching that no one could take away her happiness. Placido smiled right back at her, but his heart skipped a beat.
God, she looked like her mother.
"Every person has a time in their life that they'll never ever forget. For the longest while, that time of my life, was the day my dad picked me up from school and told me my mom was dead," there were murmurs from the crowd that quieted when Gabbie continued, "Turned out, my mother killed herself. It hit my small family extremely hard. I buried myself in schoolwork. My dad smothered me in anything I wanted. From books, to music, to a home that wasn't the one my mom had died in. When we moved here, word got around quickly about what happened. I was pushed around by other kids and called things like 'suicidal freak.' I had no friends, until one day, a sweet, green haired boy walked up to me at lunch with his twin sister and asked to sit with me." She glanced back at her best friends Leo and Luna, who smiled at her warmly.
"I think I can speak for every single student up here when I say, High school is a living hell. It's just like real life with education added in. There isn't a student up here that didn't have some sort of big moment in these last four years. Something went wrong, and they thought they'd be better off dead. And I think I speak for everyone once again when I say, they weren't the best four years of my life, but I'll never forget them. I have something to remember in my life that doesn't depress me. I'll always miss this place when I leave. I'll miss my teachers, my friends, and the way my dad wakes me up with a kiss to the forehead every morning for school." A tear ran down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away. Placido sniffled a little and cringed away from the parent beside him who was blubbering like a small child whose favorite toy had been snatched away from her.
"I hope one day I run into one of my old teachers. I hope they can tell me honestly that they're proud of how I've done in life, and I hope I can reassure them it was this amazing high school experience that readied me for it. I hope one day I can visit my dad and make him smile when I tell him about my job. I hope..." she wiped her eyes, tears freely sliding town her face, "that when I die of old age, I can go to Heaven and see my mom again, and she can embrace me with that warm hug I miss so much, and tell me shes so proud of me. I think that's the happy ending all of us up here want, and I pray its the happy ending all of us will have. Th-Thank you." she stuttered and flashed a teary grin. The crowd erupted in cheer. Placido stood quickly, clapping like a madman.
After the graduation, Gabbie ran up to Placido and embraced him in a bone crushing hug. He hugged her back and stroked her hair.
"
Your mom...would be so proud of you, Gabbie. You did so amazing up there. Every parent in the crowd was blubbering like a baby." he said smiling down at his amazing daughter. Gabbie grinned up at him.
"I did it, daddy. I survived high school. I can finally grow up to be the woman you and momma wanted me to be." she beamed, wiping at her eyes. He kissed her forehead.
"You'll be even better, kid. You'll be the first woman to be president!" he laughed, but Gabbie shook her head.
"No daddy, I'm going to write a book for young adults. I'm going to finish what momma started before she died." Placido teared up. Hearing that come out of her mouth made him break down. He rested his head on Gabbie's shoulder and cried. She rubbed her father's back and whispered, "Let's make her proud, Daddy. Both of us. We can do it together." Placido wiped at his eyes and nodded. They grinned at each other and made a promise that they would do their best to be the best they could for what was waiting for them later in life.
They promised that when they saw Bella once again, they'd make sure to brag about her about their accomplishments. They promised they'd make her more than proud.