Atrus couldn't believe what was happening. Sirens sounded outside the house, but he couldn't hear any sound. Paramedics rushed to Kalia trying to revive her and also cutting into her stomach. The world and everyone in it was a blur. He thought this may have been a dream. A dream he wanted to wake up from right then. Snapping him out of his daze, a man dressed in a black uniform handed him a baby wrapped in a blanket. Somewhat unsure, he nervously held the infant in his arms, making sure to support it's head.
"We couldn't save her." said the paramedic solemnly. "But we did manage to get your daughter."
"Dau-ghter?" Atrus stuttered, holding the infant close. "Kalia?" he said softly, looking around.
"She's gone." explained the paramedic. Atrus stared blankly at the staircase for a long moment. Suddenly the memories of moments ago rushed back to him and his eyes filled with tears. "KALIA!" he screamed, almost dropping the baby in his anger. He lifted the child and went to drop her on the ground, but suddenly stopped. He stared at her as she cried in his clutch. Tears were now rolling down Atrus' cheeks as he slowly brought the infant down and put her close to his chest. The paramedics moved away from Kalia's body to retrieve a stretcher giving Atrus a clear look at her. He slowly and shakily walked to her side, before kneeling down next to her and laying the baby on her chest. He then lowered his head and hugged them both, crying more then he had ever. After forever and not long enough, the paramedics returned and asked him away. Gathering himself he confronted one of them.
"I've heard that falling down stairs can cause mothers to loose babies. How is it that she died and the baby survived?" he wondered.
"We're not sure, an autopsy has to be done. We do know she suffered a severe blow to the skull." replied the paramedic. Atrus nodded and watched as they took Kalia away. They also removed the baby from his clutches, explaining that she had to be taken to the hospital for some examinations. They instructed him to wait for a phone call from the hospital for when he could retrieve her. Atrus was finally left alone. Not knowing what to do, he picked up the phone. Speed dial 1 was Anna's phone number, so he called that. The phone rang twice before Anna picked it up.
"Anna…" he whispered, his voice sounding raspy.
"Atrus?" she questioned, somewhat recognizing his voice.
"Kalia's…" he began, but stopped to hold back tears.
"What? What's wrong?" she demanded, now worried. Atrus no longer caring about crying, answered in tears.
"Anna, Kalia's dead." Anna couldn't believe her ears. She stepped back and tripped, falling to her bottom. She started to cry, then remembered something important.
"I might know a way to bring her back." she finally said.
"Please!" cried Atrus, still sobbing.
"We'll be right over." Without waiting for a response, Anna hung up the phone.
Atrus sat down on the couch and waited. After what seemed like an eternity Anna and Ren came over. Anna sat down next to Atrus and tried to comfort him, but he just brushed her off. Ren handed him an odd looking vile.
"Drink this" he ordered.
"Wait!" interrupted Anna. "You have to know something first. That vile contains a liquid which can cause someone's deepest desire appear. Some restrictions apply, however. If you love her, and have always loved her, and always will love her then drink. But Atrus, if you screw this up… She'll never come back, and you might not survive either. Do you want to risk it?"
"Atrus thought to himself for a moment then, without saying a word, drank from the vile. Swallowing it all in one gulp he resisted the urge to spit it all out. It tasted horrible.
"Now think about what you want." instructed Ren. Atrus closed his eyes and imagined Kalia. He thought about how sweet she looked when she was sleeping, how she was always happy and smiling whenever she saw him. He remembered all the times she was stuck on the couch and waited for him to get home because she didn't want to roll off and hurt the baby. He thought about all the times she said that she loved him, and he never replied. Never replied but always knew that he did. He then knew to himself that if she were revived it wouldn't change much. He wouldn't change. No matter how much he tried, he wouldn't be able to change. He almost began to cry thinking of this when he thought to himself that she had stayed with him all this time. Even if things didn't change she still would love him as long as he loved her. A tear rolled down his cheek as he wished for her to come back.
A morgue is a place where they prepare bodies for burial and perform autopsies. There, Kalia opened her eyes and looked around the dark room. It smelt of death. She cringed in pain as she sat up, the wound in her stomach still open. Confused and alone she got off the table on which she lay. Even though she was naked and bleeding profusely from the stomach, she managed to stumble to the door. She stepped out onto the sidewalk where someone quickly spotted her.
"Call an ambulance!" they shouted and someone else dialed on their cell phone. The ambulance arrived with the same paramedics that had pronounced her dead earlier that day. Flabbergasted, they brought her into the ambulance and to the hospital to get fixed up properly.
Atrus sat alone on the couch waiting for the call to pick up his daughter. The phone did ring, and he answered it quickly.
"Come down to the hospital right now, it's about your girlfriend." ordered the doctor, and Atrus was on his way. It didn't take him long to reach the hospital and race to the room where Kalia lay. He opened the door slowly and saw her holding their daughter and smiling. He froze for a moment, not believing his sight. 'I guess that stuff really worked.' he thought to himself before running over to her. Ecstatic, he wrapped his arms around them both. Holding his girlfriend and child close, he whispered. "I love you." Kalia felt something she had never felt before, such a feeling of happiness. "I love you too!" she exclaimed and snuggled herself closer to him.
After calling Atrus they had called Anna. She and Yoh were sitting in the living room with the babies on the floor playing. Yoh had his arm around Anna's shoulder and was just enjoying the feeling of being against her.
The dictionary describes love as being "A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness." The emotion love can be felt towards anything that is dear to you. The strongest bonds of love are certainly the love a mother has for their child. There are few mothers who wouldn't sacrifice their own life to save their child. Kalia would agree that it would have been better her then the baby. Perhaps even stronger then this is the love of a partner. This is, perhaps, because this is one of the few loves that are chosen. It may not always be there, but when two people love each other romantically they share a bond so strong that not even death itself can break it. To me, love is a word that can be thrown around and used on everything, such as 'I love my kitty' and 'I love my laptop' but is only truly meant when I say it to my family and, much more so, my lover.
To me, love is best and worst feeling in the world. Magnificent when you're with the person you love, but abysmally horrible when you're apart.
Despite all this, the feeling of love cannot be described. There is no word for love besides love.
I ask all of you once more, what is love?