ONE-SHOTS

Paradise - UP

Requested by wtf11Gray  and based on UP, the Disney film. Told from Carl's point of view, just after his wife Ellie's death. I haven't watched the film in a while, so please correct any mistakes I make. Thanks for reading!

From the first moment we'd met we'd instantly connected. Ellie and me, I mean. We were the perfect pair. When we were children we did everything together, joined by our dreams of the faraway place Paradise Falls, and the explorer Charles Muntz. And I wanted so much to make our dreams a reality.

She was born to explore the world. She believed she could do anything, and that I could too. We met as children, when we discovered the other's love of explorer Charles Muntz in that clubhouse decades ago. Her dream, as she first told me all those years ago, was to travel South America, and move her clubhouse to the peak of Paradise Falls. She made me promise to help her, a promise I intended to keep, even then. I've never forgotten that moment.

Years later we got married. It was an obvious decision, one I have never once regretted. How could I - she made life worth living. Through the hard times, the sad times, the bad times, some of which neither of us could've got through without the other - we stayed together. We turned her clubhouse into a home, preserving old memories and bringing in the new. We looked forward to starting a family. But that was one dream that couldn't become a reality.

The Adventure Book was what got us through it. Reminding ourselves of past promises, future adventures, was one of the only ways we got by. We planned our trip to Paradise Falls, so long a wishful dream, which we hoped would eventually happen. And it would have, were it not for the trials of everyday life. Bills, ailments, repairs, all stopped us from chasing our childhood fantasy. But we never gave up our happiness, because we had each other.

That day when she was hospitalised was the worst day of my life. I'd took her on a picnic, about to surprise her with the tickets - when she fell suddenly ill. Those days alone, trying to get through without her, were some of the most gruelling things I'd ever been through, and would ever go through. I was been slowly torn apart.

Before she died, she gave me the Adventure Book. A token to remember her by, I assumed. She never told me the true meaning.

Her funeral was held in the same church as our wedding. I know I can't live without her, but I will try. I will live out the dream we couldn't do together. And I will go on. Up and away.

-Carl.

Sorry it's quite short, and probably not my best work. But I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, and thanks wtf11Gray for recommending this great idea! Hope you like it too. Have a very happy new year!!