A Fostered Love

Prologue: Kyle

I was in love with her.

There's no way I could deny that fact to myself any longer. Of course I hadn't realized it in the beginning, but as the days grew longer and we grew closer, I couldn't help myself. The amount of love I had for her grew each day, managing to be so great that I didn't think it was possible to love her more than I already did, until I was proven wrong once again and made another space in my heart to have it filled with more feelings for her.

But that's the way they were kept. Just feelings, nothing more. No matter how many times I tried to say how I truly felt, something got in the way. The three words would sit on the tip of my tongue, waiting to be released from their prison of self doubt and fear.

Fear.

That was it, the thing that was holding me back from a complete change, a complete turn-around. Fear of rejection and fear of the pain brought by it. That's what guys like me do. We build ourselves up with fake confidence and cover ourselves in cheap armor that we can only pray lessens the blow we get from rejection. But, then again, that's what everyone does, right? They shield themselves from pain they aren't sure they are going to receive.

Fear is the simple thing that keeps us from living life the way we want to, and I was tired of living like that. I was tired of hiding.

So as I lay there, staring into her warm eyes and holding her hand for probably the last time, I found myself once again holding back those three words, only this time I wanted to release them.

So I did.

Forgetting about the fresh blood escaping my veins, forgetting about the feeling of loosing consciousness, forgetting the feeling of fire scorching every part of me, and remembering this moment. My last moment.

I whispered those three words to her, knowing that I could finally live in peace. But oh, did I wish I could have stayed there a bit longer, just long enough to hear an answer.