Patagonia

My Love Will Never End

~Abby~

Something was running through my veins like a cold IV. Soft hands were patting me, pulling up a blanket around me.

A blanket...?

I heard voices all around me, my world was in motion although I realized I was still lying on my back. My memories suddenly came flooding back like a wave of ice water.

We had been rescued.

"Jasper?" I croaked out, lifting my eyes open and wincing at the bright hallway lights moving over me quickly.

"Jasper?!" I called again, panicked this time. The moment I began trying to sit upright, a hand pressed gently down on my shoulder as someone said,

"Keep her calm, keep her calm."

"She's asking for her partner."

"Ma'am, hello my name is Doctor Lira. I know this is probably frightening and confusing but your friend is in surgery right now. I'm taking you to the intensive care unit, you are severely malnourished at the moment."

I blinked as my eyes focused on the woman in the white coat speaking over me.

"Surgery? What happened to him?"

Doctor Lira sighed and answered,

"Your friend experienced heart failure from malnutrition and starvation. He also had several cases of frostbite. We're doing the best we can to get him to come around."

Jasper...heart failure...oh god, oh no, no, no!

My eyes squeezed shut as fresh tears stung my eyes. This couldn't be happening. We had just been rescued and he was dying. Dying because he kept me alive...kept his promise...

I fell back asleep in seconds after they inserted something into the IV cord attached to my arm. The darkness engulfed me like a peaceful reprieve from the agonizing pain.

When I awoke hours later, I was greeted by the familiar face of Doctor Lira. She gave me a compassionate smile as she asked,

"How are you feeling?"

Noticibly better, I realized as I sat up slowly.

"Where is Jasper?" I asked instead of informing her on my state. Her expression faltered for a brief second as her eyes turned downwards.

"We are sending you home, your family has been notified of your retrieval. There are a lot of news reporters out there...seems like you two are celebrities now."

"Where is Jasper?!" I repeated in desperation.

Doctor Lira gazed at me wordlessly before whispering out,

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

My heart plummeted, careening into a dark void of no return. This wasn't supposed to happen. My love, my Jasper...he was gone.

Every single memory I had of his face, his smile, his laugh, his passion soared through my mind like the clouds over the Patagonian mountains.

He was gone...but I was still here.

I sat back in the hospital bed as the tears poured down my face, my eyes drifted to a wall mirror and the strange reflection of an emaciated wild woman with crazy hair down her back, and my own green eyes looked back at me.

Doctor Lira stood to her feet and began to leave the room, at the door she stopped and said quietly,

"We had managed to revive him for a few minutes...he only asked for you. He told someone to tell you his love would never end, to trust him on that."

The door closed softly behind her, leaving me burying my face in my hands as the sobs tore out of my body.

I no longer cared about being rescued, why couldn't I have died with him in our own haven, set apart from the rest of the world?

Because he promised me I would live...

He never stopped loving me...never stopped protecting me...

"Jasper, I'll always trust you...I know your love will never end. You didn't even have to tell me, baby." I whispered to the emptiness of the Argentine hospital room.



One year later...

Abby walked alongside the park lake where the ducks splashed in the sparkling water. She smiled faintly up at the sky as she pushed the tiny stroller ahead of her.

The beautiful little girl with bright blonde, frizzy, curls cooed and batted her small hands into the air when a stream of scattered dandelions blew by.

It was a beautiful day in early spring and the winter season was coming to another end; a perfect day for a walk outside.

Abby's phone began to ring from her purse. She stopped walking for a moment to pull it out and answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey Abby, it's Luke."

"Oh hey, Jasmine it's your Uncle Luke!" She said to her daughter with a smile, "How are you and Nicole doing?"

"We're doing great, thanks for asking. I just wanted to call and check up on you...I know today is important to both of us."

"Happy Birthday, Luke." She answered softly, blinking up at the skies.

"Thanks...listen, you know we love you right? That's never gonna change."

"Of course. Thanks Luke, but I promise I'm fine."

After hanging up the phone, she smiled softly in realizing that for the first time in months, she truly meant it.

Looking down at her daughter and smiling at the similarities between her and the man she had loved endlessly, she whispered out,

"We are always going to be just fine because he is still always with us. His love never ended that day, thanks to you, my beautiful child, he will always be with me, with both of us."

Abby pushed the stroller again, resuming their walk as the wind caressed her face and through her hair. The chilly last traces of the winter winds blew up into the air around her, scattering the leaves over the lake in a dance as old as time.

Jasper, I love you forever and always.

The end.