An hour passed and Lara had accepted the fact that Patrick was there, in what was their living room, standing there, bold as brass, in front of her. They reminisced about the old days, and one thing in particular stood out for her. They were talking about the time when Patrick had bought the engagement ring. Lara had asked him a question, which had never been answered.
"You asked me a question" Patrick began, now sitting beside her, staring lovingly into her eyes. He smiled, and carried on.
"You said 'and me... Am I a stone to die for?' well the answer's Yes. Yes you were a stone to die for. I've never stopped loving you skip, and I never will." This brought tears to Lara's eyes, holding tightly onto the teddy bear, which was gradually getting damp with all the tears. She pulled out a box, in which was a silver necklace, and on that necklace was a gold ring, with a pure cut diamond in the centre. That was the engagement ring. The ring that Patrick had given her minutes before he died. She held it in her hand, the ring hadn't been worn since.
"You kept it. You kept the ring" Patrick said. For the first time that evening Lara smiled, the memory of that special moment flooding back. That night when Lara thought she had lost him forever, she thought all hope of him getting out had gone. Then, just as the fireboys went to pull out, there was a surge of hope and he crawled out.Out into Lara's arms, the relief written all across her face. She feels somewhat responsible for what happened.There was an eerie silence between them for a while. Patrick looked down and noticed just how bad things had got. There were bruises on her arms and bags under her eyes. What worried him the most was the stick insect that sat beside him. Lara had got worringly thin.She was always small, but never this small. He pondered over whether he should say anything.
"Lara look, erm...you look, erm...You been eating properly? It's just you look really thin..." Lara stood up, and wandered over to the mirror. She stood infront of it, and stared. She looked, and wiped a tear away from her eye. She sighed loudly, before returning to the sofa.
"Yeah, I've been really busy at work lately..not been at home much." Patrick shook his head disbelievingly. He wasn't convinced that Lara was being truthful. He thought that there was more than that. A lot more. She looked a shadow of her former self, it's like the Lara that he knew and loved and the Lara now are two completely different people. Patrick's heart fell as he realised that Lara was slowly wasting away. She needed help, fast.
"Look skip, I'm really worried about you, I think you need help, someone to talk to..please Lara..for me." He looked at her, hoping that she would agree, as it would only be a matter of time before something bad would happen. Lara smiled, before nodding her head. She looked lovingly into Patrick's eyes, and wiped another stray tear away.
"Yeah..I guess you're right..I have a problem and I need help. I'll speak to Max, ask for time off, and I'll make an appointment to see my GP. Ok?" Patrick nodded and smiled. Lara could be quite stubborn at times, so for her to agree to something like this was different for her. She looked at the clock that was on the wall. It read 8:30. It would be too late to ring Max now, as he would've left now, and the night shift would've started. She yawned loudly.
"Lar why don't you head off to bed..I'll stay here tonight..on the sofa" Patrick grabbed hold of a red cushion, and mouthed 'go'. Lara said good night and headed off to bed.