listen to the adele cover of make you feel my love while reading this. i had water brimming my eyes :-)
She could look with her eyes now, but she wished she couldn't. She had already seen everything there was to see with Louis. He was the only light she ever knew.
Louis had gotten the call the next morning.
He knew breathing easily was never consistent when he was with Violet, but this was much worse. It was as if a wave came crashing in, but you were already under water, struggling to survive. Every muscle shut down, and he was helpless. She was the only light he ever knew.
Numerous tears clouded his eyes, but there was no use to wipe them. The wind did it for him, almost out of sympathy.
He had lost his heart. How he wished he could give it to her.
He already did, she thought, looking down.
One item he did find, though, was the notebook. Its binding and pages had been tattered, and a specific place was marked by her now cracked glasses. His thumb grazed over smeared ink as he read the title on the cover aloud.
“Him.”
For the first time in a while, he felt something. It wasn't the sadness deceptively asking for entrance, but happiness. His happiness. Violet wouldn't want him to be sad.
He pushed the ideas of mourning processes back, and thought of her smile. He couldn't help but reciprocate. It was like a secret game they could play together.
Page one mentioned her first visit to the old, quiet bookstore, and how she had managed to stay there for hours because of someone that sat across the room.
He skimmed through, promising he would go back later and read them word-for-word some other time. They all mentioned him.
She had been too nervous to speak for weeks, and bought glasses to try and get a compliment or two to start the conversation. It seemed brilliant at the time. She just wanted to be noticed.
In the far corner of page seven, there was a small scribble that looked insignificant, but he needed to see it. It read, 'Ever since you got here, this is a better place.'
The warmth in the hollows of him stomach fluttered up to his cheeks. A million different places tied in knots. The state of homeliness he had only felt with her returned.
The rest of the notebook was filled with short, scribbly lines that stretched for a century. It was headed in one word that summed them up.
“Sunshine.”
Tallies of him, and how many times he made her happy.
In the very back, a section was dedicated to their oh so important conversations. She had written down every bad joke he had ever told her, and marked it with countless smily faces. The last line ever written by those beautiful hands of hers stated, “I know he loves me.”
This was the turning point for Louis. She knew. She died loved.
He rolled his lips and looked in the sky for a minute or two, breathing. It was in uneven shifts, but it was still breathing, and that's something we should all be proud of.
“I lost you, my dearest Violet. But somewhere along the way, I found myself.”
And he did. He saw the light.
author's note:
the end. WHERE DID THE TIME GO.
man, i wish i had like a speech or something, but i don't, so...
THANK YOU ALL. THIS HAS BEEN SUCH A JOY TO WRITE.
YOU GUYS ARE SUCH A POSSITIVE ASPECT IN MY LIFE THAT NEVER LET ME DOWN. EVER. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. YES, L O V E. (in a weird way.)
CELEBRATION TIME. WHO HAS THE CHAMPAGNE