"Oh -- oh God…" she cried, bending over his nearly limp body. "No…"
"Wait…" he breathed. His chest raised and fell on the beat of his heavy breathing; his struggling heart tried to keep up.
"What?" she said quickly. "What is it, I'm here."
"Wait…Please, don't…" He gasped for air, his lungs collapsing inside him. He clutched at her hand, desperate to hold on to something real.
"Don't what?" she asked. She put her hand on his face and looked into his soft, blue eyes; tears clouding her own.
"Don't go…" he whispered harshly. He winced in pain.
"I won't, I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
She leaned in and kissed his head, then his lips. He coughed and squeezed her hand again, almost harder than she could withstand.
"Please," he cried. "Don't go."
"I'm not," she said.
"Don't go."
The tears began streaming down her pale cheeks. She shook as she tried to remain calm.
"I'm not going."
"Don't go," he called out. He thrashed under her, his expression showing his suffering.
"I'm here!" she yelled. "I'm not going anywhere!"
He shook and shook; thrashed and thrashed; gasped in a futile effort to stay conscience and breathing.
"DON'T GO!" he screamed.
She slapped his face and sobbed. "I WON'T GO! I L-LOVE YOU! I W-WON'T G-GO!"
"NO!" His voice echoed off the walls and momentarily masked her sobs. "I CAN'T GO! PLEASE, I'M NOT READY TO GO YET!"
She blinked and realization hit her. She grabbed his face in her cold hands. "You're not going anywhere. Just look at my face," she commanded.
He stared up at her face, its usual beauty contorted by worry, fear, and pain of heart. "I don't want to go yet."
"Stay, then. I want you to stay."
He smiled weakly. His eyes slowly fell shut, the smile fading.
"No," she said. "NOT YET!" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him with all the vigor she possessed; crying out that it wasn't his time, he needed to stay and be with her, that she loved him too much to let him go.
He couldn't hear her; he was gone.