"Leonard" she whispered in his ear.
He didn't respond.
"I love you!"
"Please don't leave me!" she barely said, vainly to control the sobs that overtook her body. Her nostrils burned, her face wet with tears.
How could I have been so stupid to let you go! She thought.
She slowly buried her head onto his fallen chest as he lay on the hospital bed, nearly motionless but for the slow steady breathing that separated him from an uncertain night of whether he would survive or not.
The room was dimly lit. The visiting hours would expire soon. But Penny knew that she only had a few moments to say it out loud what had been tossing and turning deep inside her for many months now.
As she pulled her head up, her tears fell onto Leonard's sheets that covered his resting body. One fell on his hand. She looked up at the ceiling and with her eyes swimming in tears she started to speak to no one in particular but to someone she had not a conversation with in a long time.
"Dear God, please don't take Leonard" she begged.
"He's such a good person. You've already got good ones up there. If you take him, the world is going to be that much crummier and lame." She closed her eyes. More tears came down her cheeks.
"I know I'm not a religious person, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in you. I need Leonard; he makes me a better person. I didn't mean to push him away. I am so sorry!"
"Please don't take him, please don't take him, I won't make the same mistake again! I need him. I love him!" She looked once more at Leonard.
"Please wake up, I love you!" She whispered as she once again pressed her mouth close to his ear, kissed his lips and cried once more and fell back into the chair next to Leonard.