A/N: Warning! This is not anything amazing, we had to write stories for English so, being the fangirl that I am, of course I chose MCR! It's not perfect but, you know, enjoy it anyway! (Reviews = imaginary killjoy hugs! :D)
A single red rose for the girl I loved.
Helena, my girlfriend, was now laying in a black casket before me. Her long black hair framed her porcelain face which seemed to glow slightly under the sunlight filtering in from the church windows. I slid the rose between her fragile hands and turned away, tears threatening to roll again
"Gerard?" Frank's soft voice asked, "Ready?"
I gave a small nod as he steered me away. As I looked up at him, the memories of the downfall flooded back.
My mind set on rewind and went back two weeks. I was spending the evening in my low-rent apartment watching re-runs of Doctor Who. The phone rang and I turned off the TV, grabbing the handset.
"Hello?", A frail voice with a hint of a New Jersey accent asked.
"Hey Helena," I said softly, a smile at my lips: I loved talking to her, "What's up?"
"I-I need to t-tell you s-something..."
"Sure, what is it?"
Static took over for a moment as she didn't speak.
"Gee... my- my dad is dead"
I was choked.
"'Lena... What? What happened?"
"There was this- this accident..." Helena began, her tears causing hiccups in her voice, "The factory, it was on fire... d-didn't you see it on the n-news?"
Ah, shit! I thought I've been too busy watching freakin' Doctor Who and Helena's dad was killed!
I switched on the TV onto the news. Sure enough, the factory was ingested by an orange inferno and the sky was covered in huge black clouds of smoke. Emergency service sirens flashed through the scene, an inferno of panic. As I gawped, I heard Helena sobbing quietly.
"Sugar, look... I'll come over," I told her as I started to pull on my converse, "I wont be long, 'kay? Hang in there, 'Lena. I love you"
"I love you too," She whispered.
I left the house and quickly made my way to hers. It wasn't quick enough though - it was as if life was in slow motion whilst my mind was racing to get to Helena. I knocked on her door but it just swung open.
"'Lena?" I called into the house. The TV was on in the living room, replaying the burning down of the factory. Helena wasn't in the room.
I noticed a little piece of torn note paper under a paperweight on the table and I picked it up:
'Gerard,
I'm sorry it had to end like this,
But it's better off this way.
Thank you for all you've done,
I love you.
Hel x'
Suddenly it was as if like a nuclear bomb had hit my world and sent shards of my life flying in all directions.
"Frank..." I mumbled, frantically rustling around for my mobile, "Frank, I have to call Frank..."
He picked up almost instantly: as my best friend, he always did.
"Hey, man, what's up?"
"Helena! It's Helena!"
"Whoa, what's happened?"
"She's left a suicide note!" I Panicked, "She's going to kill herself and- and - oh my god, Frank! The cliffs!"
"Oh shit! I'll meet you there!"
I ran to the beach as fast as I could and Frank was there, looking equally panicked.
"Helena!" We both called her name over and over, but to no response.
"Oh hell..." I bit my lip, clawing my hair with my fingers, "I know - you go search the rocks. I'll go to the cliff"
Frank nodded and we parted. I ran to the cliffs and started to climb up the rubble path, the white rock crumbling under my fingers as the path steepened. It began to rain hard, the water pounding down like a million tiny fists on my back. As I reached the last ledge and climbed up, I saw her there on the edge. Glossy black hair blowing in the wind; porcelain skin glowing in the moonlight; a single red rose slid into her flowing hair.
"Helena!" I shouted, running up to her. I hooked my arms around her from behind and pulled her away from the cliff edge, but she tried to squirm out of my arms, "Sugar, it's okay! Please, calm down..."
Helena was crying so much. I turned her around and cradled her in my arms, but she pushed me away.
"Go!" She sobbed angrily, "Please!"
"'Lena," I took a step towards her, "Don't do this"
"You don't understand, go home!"
"Why would you kill yourself?"
She paused, swallowing and refusing to meet my gaze.
"He was all the family I had left..."
I took Helena's hand in mine and stroked up her chin, coaxing her to look at me.
"You've got me. I'm always going to be here for you, I promise. Please, come home..."
"Gerard-"
"I love you, you can't do this..."
"Let go of me!"
Helena jerked her hands out of mine. She met my eyes with hers, glinted with pain, "I don't want to live in this world any more. My family is gone and-and I'm a burden. It's not worth your time, Gee..."
"You're not a burden, you're everything to me..."
"Gerard?"
I paused as she put her hand on my face. I looked at her - she was spookily beautiful in the moonlight. Her toes were right on the edge - my heart pounded.
"Yes?"
"I love you," She whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek, "I'm so sorry"
"'Lena!" I called out as she swayed back. I was millimetres away from her hand as I reached out for her. She fell silently and I screamed her name, "Helena!"
I fell to my knees on the cliff edge and I let the rain beat down on me because I was crushed beyond anything else. Helena and I were two pieces of a puzzle that would now never be put together. The rest of the pieces were the life we would have built together - the happiness we would have shared and the happiness we'd already shared together. All those pieces had just dropped into the crashing waves below me and I was now the only one left. A single, torn piece of a picture I would never know.
Two weeks later, I found myself carrying the coffin down the stairs of the church in the rain with mine and Helena's best friends. Frank was behind me as we slid the coffin into the hurse. We'd never see her again. Just as the others began to walk away, I took the red rose out of my jacket pocket and placed it on top of the coffin as a token of the life we would have shared, had Helena not taken it away. In some ways, I hated her - but I could never stop loving her either.
Yes, I loved her... a single red rose for the girl I loved.