Soulmates in any universe or time 《 Wattys 2018 》

You'll be staying with us for a while

We were pulling back up to the house when I seen the police on the doorstep, before walking up the steps toward them I instructed Leonard to stay put, because I knew, well I had a feeling about what they were there for before even speaking to them, "Mr. Lance?" The taller officer addressed me as I was walking toward the porch "Yea, come back up here to talk." They both followed me back up to the porch where they broke the news,"Your daughters have been in a fatal car accident," "Oh god." I felt my heart break.

The officer spoke "Laurel was pronounced dead at the scene, and Sara is now at Starling General in a coma." I felt my face fall into a frown and a felt a knot in my throat, "What about Lewis and his daughter Lisa?" The second officer stepped toward me "A witness seen Lewis drag Sara from the passenger seat, Lewis died while trying to save Lisa and Laurel from the back seat, they became trapped inside as the car caught flames." The first officer started to talk as tears were about to well up in my eyes, "The legal documents say you are his sons god father, is that correct?" I nodded yes, "You will now have legal custody of him since his mother is not reachable, do you want us to be with you when you break the news to him?" "Yes please officers." The two followed me down off the porch.

I seen the look on Leonard's face as we approached, he had an idea of what could be wrong, I could see from the fear in his eyes, I leaned down so I was eye level with him, "Leonard these men came to tell us that your dad was in an accident," I glanced up to the officers, "Your sister didn't make it, neither did your dad, he was trying to save Laurel and Lisa, he gave his life trying to save them." The tall one said after leaning down to meet his eye level too, "So you'll be staying with us for a while Leonard." I could almost see his heart shattering, tears were filling his eyes, "Is Sara okay?" I was shocked that he asked so wholeheartedly, "She's in a coma for now." I seen a bit of relief in his face when he heard me say that.

The officers soon left and I asked Leonard if he wanted to come with me to see Sara and get some fast food for dinner, he agreed so we were about to get back in the car when Leonard told me to hold on and ran back toward the house, he came back with Sara's favorite stuffed animal, a white bird, looked like a dove to me but she always called it Canary, "How'd you know this was her favorite?" I asked him as I took it from him and examined it.

He smiled before he replied "She has two just like it, they're both always on her bed ever since we both bought her one on her tenth birthday, for the longest time she even carried them both with her, remember that?" I let out a little laugh at the memory he caused to surface, Sara walking all through the house with two stuffed animals, one under each arm, "Plus, she told me they were her favorite."  he continued and I just laughed at him a bit as we both got into the car to leave.

At the hospital Leonard was carrying Sara's plush bird as I led the way to the room Sara was admitted into, before we got to the room I turned around and hunched down to meet Leonard's eyes, "Sara might not look anything like she usually does so don't worry if she looks a little, well, different." He just nodded so we walked the rest of the way to her room, at the door I froze for a minute until Leonard put his hand on my shoulder and walked in beside me.

Sara was laying there lifelessly, cuts and bruises all over her face and arms, the sight nearly broke my heart, the machines hooked up to her beeping and humming, it all just crushed my heart, she was my only daughter now, she didn't deserve to be in that position, "If only I wasn't too busy to be with them this wouldn't have happened." I must've said that out loud because Leonard patted my back and told me it wasn't my fault and that I shouldn't blame myself, but it honestly was my fault and I knew that internally.