*I love you, don't you know that?* Her words kept echoing over and over in his head as she led him over to the bed. She covered him gently with the blanket and then crawled in next to him, wrapping her arms around him so tight. She held him in her embrace just whispering soft words of comfort to him. He didn't remember the words as he eventually drifted off to sleep. Only when he was deeply asleep, did she pull away from him. Carefully she checked the bandage surrounding the wound on his wrist. Thankfully the bleeding had slowed. He would survive. She had saved him before it had been too late. She gave a sigh of relief. Only then did she rise to clean up the mess in the bathroom.
As she washed away his blood which stained the bathroom floor, it mingled with her tears. Somehow she knew she must get through to him. She couldn't lose him to his own self-hatred. The love she felt for him had to be stronger than the hate he harbored for himself. When he awoke, somehow she'd make him see. After his suicide attempt, she realized he was suffering just as much she was. Hurting her had devastated him so deeply that now he wanted to die. She must convince him somehow that despite how he had hurt her, they still had a future together. She stood there in the bathroom, staring down at the knife. Angrily she threw it in the trash. She loved him far too much to watch him self-destruct.
He slept for many hours and finally, his eyes drifted open. The cut on his wrist throbbed as he saw her staring at him. He looked into her dark-blue eyes and thought he saw disappointment behind her gaze. "I'm sorry. No matter what I do, it seems I keep fucking it up..." he said to her quietly.
"Had you succeeded, you would have destroyed EVERYTHING," she told him. "You have to stay here and fight for me... for us. There's no escape for me after what happened, and there's no escape for you either. We are in this together. If you run from it, you desert me. Don't hurt me anymore, please stay..."
She dropped to her knees and placed her head upon the palm of his hand. Gently he caressed her hair. "I won't go. I'll stay," he promised her. He would stay as he hadn't stayed that night; that very first night when they had made love. His actions that night had set all of this into motion. He would stay and fight. And maybe if he fought hard enough, his reward would be the comfort of her love. She kept claiming that she loved him, but he knew he didn't deserve it. He was certain that he deserved nothing but her hatred. Even so, he longed for her to love him with all of his soul.
"Please stay forever," came her quiet whisper as her silent tears wet his hand. Tenderly he brushed all those tears away. He wanted to promise her forever, but right now he just wanted to make it to the very next day.
