She Will Be Mine

The Aftermath

1 year later.
​I walk out of my apartment and head towards the remains of the Empire State Building. A memorial has been carved out of the metal, and it has been justly been named. I visit every day and pay my respects to the love of my life that sacrificed herself so that the people of New York could live instead.
​It took months for me to come to grips with my life. The Private Investigation office lost more than just a talented officer that day. They lost a dedicated worker, a friend, a bad-ass.
​Murphy dedicated his life to his work, and I joined him, we both vowed that an incident like the one that took place last year should never have to repeat itself, and we would work and try our hardest to make sure that it never did again.
​Out of the whole explosion, Desiree Hunt was the only casualty that mattered. Danny Streisand died as a result, but nobody cared about him. Desiree's story flew across the nations, and donations flocked the city as people tried to help for the loss we had experienced.
​I still own the little box from that day. It sits on my desk, and I plan to ask her that question when I see her again someday. Desiree will always be my one true love, and no time apart will change that for me. As I make my way down the streets of New York towards the memorial, I look and notice how many people still try and remember the girl that was Desiree Hunt. Banners flock the streets, proclaiming "Remember Desiree". Ribbons in every color of the rainbow are tied to car antennas, lamp posts, street lights, everything. Desiree has been forever immortalized in the city of New York for her service, and that is the way that it should be.
​The Desiree Hunt Memorial. The name itself represents her. She would be proud to represent this city, and it seems that she holds all of us together. The name rings loud and true and the whole thing feels like it was finished yesterday. I remember that day like it had been yesterday. It has been engraved in my memory forever. The emotions always pull me back to the last 5 seconds of her life...

​I look up at the sky when I hear her voice. I don't know how she got up there, I am just glad she is alive. I hear her call my name, and then she shouts the three words that made this whole endeavor worth it. "I love you", she shouts, and then everything goes to hell.
​A huge explosion erupts above me and the building crashes down around us. A cloud of smoke covers where the top of the building should be, where Desiree was just standing. "No!" I shout, and the next thing I know, I am flying through the sky. An earthquake shakes the ground of where I stood just moments before, and I cannot put together what is happening around me. Earth is going into the sky, metal covering the sun. My brain can only process what is going on right in front of me. Murphy is running towards me, grief right in his eyes.
The ground has stopped rumbling and I can stand straight. I look around me, and the earth is in shambles. What was the Empire State Building is now just a deep hole in the ground, littered with metal and wire. Police roam the ground, and I can see that Danny has been found. He is laying in the mass of metal and steel pillars, body impaled on one of them. He doesn't look like he knew what hit him. Lifeless eyes meet mine as I nod in satisfaction. The police haven't yet figured out a way to get to him, but I don't really care. I look around for one person, and that person is nowhere to be found.
Grief and shock rack through my body as I crumble to the ground. I cannot process what happens after that, the world seems to be enveloped in a massive fog that I cannot break out of. I know one thing; my Desiree is gone, she sacrificed herself so that I could live, and I owe my life to her.
In the weeks that followed the explosion, a memorial was in the works. I still can feel her presence when I go and visit her in that place. Everyone was in shock after the whole thing. Sometimes I think that I will see her when I go to work, and then reality sets in and I realize that I will never see her again.
Murphy awarded her the greatest role a Private Investigator can receive while being in service. She is awarded the Freemans award for Bravery, and a metal hangs above the memorial. A large arc crosses over the whole left by the building, and another arch crosses that, marking the last place that Desiree Hunt stood while on this earth.
I have tried to move on from that fateful week, but it has changed me forever. I lost a dear friend and my soulmate from this earth. The time I spent with her is cherished in my heart, and I look forward to the day that I can join her in death and see her again.
As I walk towards the memorial in the middle of New York City, I feel her presence fill me from the inside out. I am here, she speaks to me, and I feel her hands moving me forward. It hasn't been an easy road, and it never will be, but I will always have her with me, and that is all a guy can ask for as we walk through the aftermath.











The End