Yearning swelled within his chest. The said feeling had engulfed his heart for what seemed like an eternity. Slowly, the memories of joyful days flooded his broken mind. The way she smelled, like lilies and herbal tea, how he adored the scent. The way her clothes framed and complimented her luscious curves and how beautiful and delicate she looked without them. No words could describes how he longed to run his fingers through her flowing, amber locks. He missed waking up and seeing her lying there beside him, golden eyes beaming with joy and love. He ached to hear her melodic voice, his breath hitched at the bitter sweet memory.
If only once, just once, he could touch her again. To caress her face and whisper sweet word into her ears. To hold her gorgeous, flawless form, if only just one more time. Memories of their time together flashed in his mind. Oh how happy those days were. So free and lighthearted, so sweet and mesmerizing. The young man would give anything to turn back the hands of time! Even if only for a moment just so he could tell his wife just how much he loved her.
But alas, the maiden of time was heartless. A cold, merciless entity, who pitied no one, and cared nothing for anything or anyone. A being that slowly, gradually, grasped everything and turned it to dust. Everything must come to an end, time sees to that. In the end, everything turns to dust. Fate was equally cruel. It toyed with the all being that possessed a heartbeat. A cruel, twisted entity that saw other's lives as a game to play, as entertainment. What sick being they were. The young man cursed the two entities for what they did. They robbed him of the one thing in life he held dear to.
She was young, so young, too young. If time had not taken her then fate would have, and it did. The twenty-four year old man felt rage boil in his stomach, how dare they take his wife away from him! But anger slowly transitioned into sorrow. "Why?" The young American whimpered. "Why her? Why did I let her go out that day?" The horrid memories of that tragic day ripped itself through his mind.
It was a beautiful day, the sun pouring light into every window of the Jones' small, but comfortable home. The house was quite, save the noise in the kitchen where the man of the house was cooking breakfast. "Alfred?" A soothing voice cooed from the entrance of the kitchen. The husband turned around to around to find his beautiful wife smiling at him. "Good morning Honey. How are you feeling today?" Alfred questioned as he took his wife's hand and helped her sit down on the wooden kitchen chair. "I'm alright, but you sure are getting heavy." Ly answered looking down and placing her hand on her swollen stomach. "Any day now right?" The American asked with a touch of anticipation in his voice. The young woman giggled at her husband's eagerness. "Yes Alfred, any day now." Ly replied. She looked up from her stomach to see Alfred's face, and found him gazing at her large belly, his cerulean eyes filled with love and adoration. The sight made her eyes water a bit.
"Alfred, người yêu (sweetheart) I'm going to the flower shop today to get more lilies for the baby's room, I'll be back in a little bit alright?" Ly stated as she rose from the chair. "Ly, don't you think you should stay home and rest?" Alfred questioned. "Haha, not to worry, dear one, I'm still as tough as ever!" The young woman exclaimed proudly. Hesitantly, Alfred agreed to let her go out, but he couldn't shake off a strange feeling, something told him not to let her go, but he reasoned that he was over thinking. " Tôi yêu các bạn (I love you) Alfred!" Ly exclaimed as she walked out the front door. "I love you more honey buns!" Alfred replied. The young woman giggled at her husbands silly, yet creative pet name as she walked out of the house. Alfred watched as Ly strolled down the the sidewalk until she was out of sight. Something in Alfred's chest tightened, once again he brushed off the feeling, but he couldn't help but feeling like something was going to happen, something life changing.
Ly strolled down the side walk, enjoying the sun's rays kissing her skin and the wind twirling her light blue blouse and white, ankle length skirt to and fro.
Eventually, after walking for awhile, Ly reached a busy intersection. Cars and people scurried all around her. Everyone in such a hurry to get to their detestation. Ly waited for the walk sign to turn green. And when it did, Ly advanced down the street, everything was calm until she heard a scream tear itself through the air. She turned her head to the right, and was met with a speeding car.
Alfred was drinking his fourth cup of coffee when he heard an ambulance race down the street...the same route Ly had taken... By pure instinct, Alfred sprinted out the door, not bothering to put on shoes or a coat. Running as fast as he could Alfred followed the emergency vehicle to its destination.
When he arrived, he was met by the sight of a crowd. He pushed and shoved through the gathering to see what they were surrounding, when he reached the front, his heart stopped.
There his wife lay, drenched in a pool of her own blood. Everything stopped. Everything was a blur. The police telling him to stand back. The paramedics exclaiming that the young woman and her unborn child were already dead. Then Alfred was slapped back into reality. "LY!" Alfred cried diving towards his wife. The police tried to hold him, "I'm her husband! Let me go!" The police let him go, remorse filled their eyes. Alfred dove towards Ly and held her lifeless body close to his chest, cradling her back and forth. "Ly, please forgive me! Forgive me my love! Please just wake up! God please! Have mercy! Please bring her back to me! PLEASE!" Alfred sobbed. He sat there, cradling his dead wife an unborn child for what seemed like an eternity. Time had frozen in that moment, nothing else mattered. Nothing.
The paramedics took Ly away from Alfred's embrace and placed her on a stretcher, even though nothing could be done to save her. The American remained on his knees, in the middle if the road, not caring what would happen to him. He looked at his hands and realized that he was covered in his wife's blood. A violent sob ripped itself through his throat. Again and again he screamed and whimpered, his body shaking wildly. He gasped for air in between his sobs.
As Alfred continued to loudly mourn for his dead wife and unborn child, he felt a hand softly touch his shoulder. Reluctantly he turned towards the owner of the hand, who was an old woman. "Young man, are you Alfred?" The elderly woman questioned. "Yes ma'am I am." Alfred croaked, his throat raw and irritated from his sobbing. "I am a witness of the death of your wife, she was walking across the street when a drunk driver hit her. She had no time to get out of the way, and what she did broke my heart." The woman's hazel eyes watered. "She bent over, and wrapped her arms around her stomach, to protect the life within her, to protect her baby." The aged woman's words were like daggers in his heart. How she valued the baby's life over her's. " Alfred, I held the hand of your wife in her final moments and heard her last words." The elderly woman stated. "She said, 'Tell Alfred I love him and that I'm sorry, so very, very sorry.'" That did it. Those words had released the tears he had tired to hold back. Bending down, he began so cry, not as violently or as loudly as before, this time it was silent, and quite. The old woman held Alfred as his expressed his grief in tears.
It's been one year since the death of Ly and their unborn child. He stood there in front of the dreaded tombstone, on it, inscribed the name of his wife and their child. The dark clouds greedily concealed the sun, and rain began to fiercely fall from the sky. But he stood there, not caring if the rain soaked into his clothes. What did he have to lose? What more could the world take from him? He had nothing to lose.
The years rolled by, and Alfred changed with time, physically, not mentally or emotionally. Even in his old age, he continued to mourn his late wife and child. He refused to marry again, explaining that no other woman could ever make him happy the way Ly did. His family would visit him often, wanting him to know that he hadn't lost everything. But when his family left, and all was quite, Alfred would break down in tears. The passing of time healed nothing. He would spend hours looking through old photo albums. Photos of everything, really, photos of small things, like photos of Ly cooking and pictures of Ly and Alfred hugging a life sized Micky Mouse at Disneyworld. Photos of big events, like their wedding day. Even to this day, he was astonished just by how beautiful she was, in her fiery, crimson Ao Dai. And that is how he spent the rest of his days.
It was in the prime of Spring when Alfred passed away peacefully in his sleep. His funeral was a large one, considering how many people loved him.
White. Everything was white. He could feel nothing, no weight, no gravity, nothing. He was floating in a vast sea of florescent white nothingness. Alfred her the sound of gentle footsteps approaching him, he opened his sapphire eyes and was met by the familiar, sweet sight of golden honey eyes. He blinked once, then twice, thinking it was all a dream, but no, she was really there. His wife stood before him, in a pure white sundress, her hair adorned with ivory lilies. But Ly wasn't the only person who stood before him,in her arms, a little girl with cinnamon colored hair and turquoise eyes gazing at him. He moved slowly, scared that if he moved too sudden, the vision before him would shatter and disappear. Then Ly extended her free hand to her husband, and whispered;
"Welcome home Alfred."