Thank You

Meeting

And the world stops. The clocks stop ticking. The birds stop singing. The clouds stop moving. And I stop breathing. In less than a second, everything stops. Time is suspended, and my body is in frozen in place, my eyes fixed on her ocean gaze. The one that made my heart hurt for so long, and the one that animated my dreams for months.

Neither of us is daring to move. What if a simple blink made everything go away ? What if this is merely a dream ? A fantasy running after me, all because I have finally found how to enjoy parts of life, even away from her. A punishment for leaving her behind, in an abusive home, in a world of violence and atrocities. What if this is not real, and I am not staring at her, but at a stranger, or at nobody at all. Is my brain playing with me again ?

"Diana ?"

But this looks too good to be a dream – or even nightmare. She is here, standing in her long, beige trench coat, her blond locks flying over her face, and her blue eyes watering in the distance. It is her. It has to be. No fantasy could paint her so realistically. Not now that I have spent weeks trying to erase her every feature from the deepest of my thoughts.

"Diana, move, we're in the fucking way."

And she makes the first move, once again. She turns from her side to face me, revealing her swollen belly. Something seems to break inside of me. A piece of my heart ? How could it be ? I thought it has been shattered already. And if not, the remains of it were all with her. Yet, I feel something breaking inside my body, and my throat feels drier than ever. My eyes are dry too. I don't think I could ever cry again.

I had forgotten. Forgotten that time had passed for her too. I don't know what I expected, really, but maybe I simply thought there was no chance for me to ever see her again. A precise picture of her had been saved in my head months ago, and so busy trying to destroy it, I had forgotten she could – and was going to – change. I had forgotten I was not the only one allowed to change. The only one to want to change. Although was this change her choice ?

"Diana, what the fuck ? Wake the fuck up !"

Her eyes are a beautiful mess. An ocean full of fear, love, regret, pain and warmth. A single teardrop rolls down her cheek. She is so far, still, but I can see it running down her face, passing right beside her beautifully red lips mouthing 'my darling'. These words resonate in me, even if I cannot hear them, her voice echo in my head as my suppressed memories come flooding back all at once. Her voice is such a gorgeous melody, but it sounds so excruciatingly sad  to me now. These two words do not have the same meaning as they used to. They have history. They are full of emotions.

I attempt to scream, to shout her name, so that the whole world can hear the love I still have for her. The love I hold secretly inside of me. The love I wish could heal every damage done to her, to us. The love I wish could destroy the things that kill her. Destroy him. I want to scream that I love her, that I won't ever let her go again, that I won't ever try to forget her again. That I am coming to her now. But my throat is dry, and the words are muffled by the feelings rising in me and choking me.

"Cate," I can only get out of me in a raspy, whispery voice full of all the tears that will not come out of my eyes.

A small smile appears on her tired – yet so beautiful – face, and at the same time, Ash lets go of me to look further down the street, this time observing more than looking to truly find what – who – I am looking at. I can hear a gasp next to me when my friend most probably spots my one and only true love standing in front of us, but all I can really focus on is the face of this woman I adore.

But magical moments are only called so when they end. The gorgeous blonde's head snaps in the direction of the building she is waiting in front of, and a look of terror slips on her face. She quickly wipes the single tear stain on her cheek and look at me with a warning in her eyes. I can see her mouth the three words I have waited to hear for so long now, and I want to scream them so bad.

My voice is blocked inside of me, and it feels as if air didn't reach my lungs anymore. No sound can come out of me, not until I feel an arm wrapped around my body, dragging me toward an unknown direction. And the world starts buzzing around us again. Time is back to normal, and my voice comes back to me slowly. I try to get out of Ash's embrace, but they are stronger despite their slender figure. I am being taken away from her. From Cate. And I try to shout again.

"I... I love you..." I desperately try with a wimpy, weak voice, "I love you... I love you ! Cate, I love you !"

Her biting her lip not to cry again is the last thing I see before being slammed again a wall. Ash dragged me to the nearest street, hidden from her, and from the person she was waiting for on the sidewalk. Him. This monster.

"Shut up, Diana. He can't see you, but I can watch. Stay there."

My legs simply cannot bear the weight of my body anymore, and I collapse onto the round, my back still leaning against the dirty wall. All I can do is watch my friend peeking from the corner of the building we are hidden by.

"He's coming out. He seems kind of angry. Don't think he suspects her to have seen you, though. She's pretty good at hiding, but... she still looks scared. He grabbed her by the arm... They're leaving. Not coming our way. Yeah, can't see them anymore."

After a few more seconds waiting, they walk back to me and keel before my curled-up body. The take my chin between their thumb and index to make me look straight into their eyes. They have this serious, sort of violent and menacing look on their face. They are about to make me promise not to try and meet her again.

"He's gonna hit her."

"Shut up, Diana. It's not your fault, and you're not going back there, 'kay ? It's fuckin' dangerous, and you're not going. Get it ? I'm gonna take you back home, and you stay fucking there. You don't try to go there. Promise."

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i think it would've been fun to make you wait for this update, but i decided i'd rather get reaction now rip
also my birthday's is a week from now, kinda crazy