Forever ( #loveshot )

Mille struggled to get up the steps to the podium. She was old and when you were in your seventy's, stairs could be rough. She reached out and grabbed the microphone to pull it close to her fragile body. Looking out at the near-empty crowd in front of her, she cleared her throat with a series of haggling coughs.

"Many people are sad about Richie's death. I-I-I'm not." Mille looked over at the quiet six person crowd before beginning again. "I know that Richie is still here, that he's still standing by me and kissing me on my cheek. I can still remember the taste of his lips."

Millie started to sniffle as she thought about all of her and Richie's memories.

"When his legs stopped working, and he turned seventy, seventy-five with me, I still loved him. I always will." Millie tried to hold back tears as she spoke. "And I know, I know he still loves me."

Millie reached into her pocket and pulled out a wrinkled tissue, using it to dab her damp eyes. "I-I still remember wh-when I realized I was in love with him. I was much younger, twenty-three. But I, well I knew when he took me into his loving arms and kissed me under the light of a thousand stars. After that, I fell in love with him every single day."

Millie could feel herself grow faint, she wanted him here. She wanted him to hug her and hold her tight, but he couldn't. Not yet.

"When-when he was placed in the wheelchair and the doctors said that it-he was hopeless, he-" Millie tightened her grasp on the tissue as she tried to bar back tears. "He still danced with me. We would spin him round in his chair, and we even got to the point where we could do a pretty mean Tango." Millie let out a faint laugh.

"Richie!" Millie exclaimed as he attempted to spin his wheelchair. "You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Oh, come on Millie. If I don't have much time left, I want to spend 'da time I've got spendin' fun with you." Richie reached for Mille's hands as he attempted to start a waltz.

"Oh, Richie, I love you." Millie said as he tried to spin her.

"Richie was the love of my life, and even though he couldn't physically sweep me off my feet anymore, he did it every day. He was too good for this world, so God took him away. Hopefully, soon I'll join him." Millie stepped off the stage as her children and grand-children came to join her in crying.

"I love you, Richie."

I love you Millie.

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This story is for the Love Shots contest.

Signed,
Golden_Star_