Disclaimer: I do not own the song lyrics! I just really liked it in the Lion King 2 so i used it! -SagWarrior
I ran out of the room and didn't stop even after I was well past the subdivision's borders. I kept running into the woods and didn't care that mud and leaves were sticking to my tennis shoes and jeans, or that sticks, branches, and thorns were scratching and cutting my bare face, neck, and arms. Suddenly, when I was about a quarter of a mile into the woods, I slipped on a wet patch of grass and fell on my hands and knees. I stayed there sobbing. My whole body was shaking and it was hard to breath.
What had happened? How could he be dead? The bureau was wrong. Dimitri promised that he wasn't going to die overseas. He swore he'd come back to me. There was a mistake. Yet, there wasn't. The letter that was now a crumbled mess of ink and paper in my hand was proof. The dog tag that matched the one around my neck was wound around my shaking fingers. This little rectangle piece of metal was a huge neon sign screaming, "Rose, you fiancé is not coming home alive. Grieve and move on." The only problem was that I don't think I could move on.
I sat down and brought my knees up to my chest and cried. Rain started to fall in a soft shower as if all of the angels in heaven, the same heaven Dimitri believed in so heavily and was probably living now, were crying right along with me. It just made me sob harder. Soon, I wasn't able to breath but in short, gasping spurts. It hurt to breath. It hurt to think, feel, even sit there on the cold forest floor. I felt my heart shatter over and over again as I replayed the words that the man on the phone had said to me.
"Miss. Rose Hathaway?" a stiff sounding man asking.
"Yes this is she," I answered. Lissa, who was standing across the island in my and Dimitri's house, looked up at me curiously.
"My name is Lieutenant J.D. Perkins and I am here to tell you that your fiancé, Corporal Dimitri Belikov, was killed in action today. I trust that you received a letter from the bureau today?" he asked nonchalant.
I stared blankly at Lissa and looked down at the letter that was unopened by the bureau on the countertop in front of me. I maneuvered the phone in between my ear and shoulder and violently ripped the letter open. I read it as fast as I could. It was telling me everything that Lieutenant Perkins had just said.
"Y-yes, Sir," I whispered.
"I am sorry for your loss, Miss. Belikov was one of my best guys and I know that he will be deeply missed by us as well as his family back home. Good night," Perkins said before hanging up.
I had dropped the phone on the counter and started to hyperventilate. The letter in my hands was now crumbled in my tight fist, my heart that felt like it had shattered. Lissa ran around the island and tried to catch me as I fell to the floor. I landed on my knees which made Lissa look a bit relieved that I didn't land on my head.
"Rose? Rose, who was that?" she asked frantically. I had only acted like this over a phone call once before. The night Abe called and said Janine had died. This death announcement though, was a lot more personal.
"Lissa? What happened?" I heard Christian ask. My eyes were glued to the floor in front of me. I didn't really see it, but it was better than looking at the letter or at my best friend's worried face.
"I don't know! Rose got a call and a letter and she started to freak out," she explained.
"Rose," Christian said in the most calm voice that I've only heard him use towards Lissa. "Rose, what happened? Who called?"
"D-D-Dimitri," I whispered. Tears were rolling down my face and I figured that if I said it slow enough and as calm as I could manage, it might not be true.
"What about Dimitri, Honey," Christian urged. He moved over to my other side and started to stroke my hair while Lissa rubbed my knee.
I couldn't answer. I just shook my head slowly. Lissa moved so that she forced me to see her.
"Rose, what about Dimitri?" I could see in her eyes that she feared the worst. If only she knew that it was just that bad.
"He's gone, Lissa," was all I was able to say before I started sobbing. Christian drew me into him so I could have a shoulder to cry on but it wasn't the shoulder I craved. I pushed away and ran into the night.
Now, I was sitting on the ground, soaked to the bone, and was uncontrollably sobbing for the love of my life. I was pissed that he broke his promise, I was upset that Lissa didn't catch on when I fell in the kitchen, I was shattered that I had lost the man I love, and I, over all, was a mess.
I sat there in the rain a little longer when an old song came to mind. It was a song that I remember Janine singing to me when I was really little. It was fitting for this situation so I let the lyrics fill my mind.
In a perfect world
One we've never known
We would never need to face the world alone
They can have the world
We'll create our own
I may not be brave or strong or smart
But somewhere in my secret heart
I know
Love will find a way
Any where we go
I'm home
If you are there beside me
Like dark turning into day
Some how we'll come through
Now that I've found you
Love will find a way.
I stopped myself after that first chorus and shook my head. One little line in that whole part was wrong. Now that I've found you was totally wrong. I've lost him so how could I have found him? I dropped the mass of wet paper that was the letter pronouncing my fiancé dead and put my face in my hands.