Photograph

CHAPTER SIX / THE END

My hands roamed around the soft fabric, I felt the way they were wrapped around my small hands. My eyes were closed and I trusted my senses to actually lead me to what was happening. Everything else was deafening. The sounds of beeping, the loud talks from around me. I couldn't open my eyes..or at least I didn't want to. My heart was thumping rapidly against my chest and it caused the beeping sound to quicken. A hand held onto mine, I was scared but I still couldn't open my eyes.

I heard someone whisper from my ear. 

"Hold on. Don't leave them. They need you." Suddenly light was all I saw, then a silhouette of a man coming towards me. I shielded my arms in front of my face. My eyes watered once I saw who it was.

Luke.

He offered me his hand and I took it. He smiled and I, back. Slowly, he raised my hand towards his lips and kissed it.

"You--you're here." he nodded but smiled sadly.

"I am. But you can't be. You shouldn't." 

"NO! We're finally together. You and me. I won't leave you alone. Please, don't..leave me." he shook his head and wrapped his long fingers around my hand.

"Your family needs you. Someday we'll be together. Actually be together. But not now. Someday, we'll be married and have kids..but not now. Someday, I'll find you and we'll be back together. But for now, you can't. Someday Lara."

Tears escaped from my eyes and his face morphed into concern and sadness. His hands caressed my face and slowly he kissed my tears away. My chest tightened and my eyes won't stop. My lips were quivering, my knees were feeling weak. 

Luke slowly backed away. I tried to reach for him but he shook his head.

"Someday Lara." and with that, he was gone.

"LUKE!?" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my knees buckled and I fell to the floor. My heart was pounding and it hurts in some way. My chest was suffocating me. It was painful. Is this what they meant about pain demanding  to be felt? If it is then this is no joke.

My vision became blurry, my mind was out of its sane state. Slowly, my surroundings were changing and suddenly I found myself in a white room, with a heart monitor by the side, and my family around me.

"She's awake."

"She's back!" 

They all said in unison and I just stared at them in confusion.

"Sweetie! You're alive."

"Of course I'm alive mom."

They hugged me but I couldn't hug them back. Instead I leaned my head against them trying to show them that I've missed them.

"How long have I been out?"

"Three weeks or so."

"Oh."

Silence continued. I knew that they wanted to ask me questions but they didn't want to stress me out.

"How exactly did I end up here?"

"Don't you remember? You were out in the rain, drenched. You had a high fever yet you still stayed underneath that tree. But when we finally found you, you just fell to the ground and you hit your head against a rock. You almost cracked your skull but you've been knocked into comma."

I blinked, trying to process everything they said. Simply, I nodded.

"I saw him"

"Luke?"

"Yes."

They gasped and I continued, "He told me to come back. I protested but he insisted. He knocked some sense into me. I was feeling a bit suicidal."

"He's always been good. Thinking about other people before himself." I heard my father whisper.

"Sadly he isn't with us anymore though." said my mother.

"OH! I'll call the doctor!" said my Blondie of a best friend.

The rest of the day consisted of me sleeping..chatting away with them and telling them all about my dreams or should I say me reliving every moment I had with Luke. Everything was all in a blur. But somehow I was glad that I was actually back..in reality.

**

Her hands caressed the smooth surface of the tombstone. She sat down slowly.

"Hey Luke." Lara started.

"People are actually walking by and thinking I'm crazy." She said as she noticed a few people walking by thinking that she was crazy talking to herself. She shook her head and continued with a smile.

"I'm actually quite thankful that you didn't let me die to my own accord." she chuckled then suddenly she somehow felt him around her. With his arms around her. Which actually was. He was with her in spirit, as he watched her chuckle.

His chest hurt as she saw her smile. God, he missed that smile. But suddenly, her face morphed from a smile to a depressed one. She was silently crying. 

"I miss you" she whispered as she wiped her tears away.

"I miss you too" he whispered back.

"God, you don't know how much I miss you! I do, every f*cking day that it actually hurts." she sobbed. "I miss your smile, the way your eyes sparkled, the way you held on to my hand, the way you hugged me..the way your lips were against mine. The way your hair is just naturally messy and you don't care if you look like sh*t. You made me feel special and I thank you for actually making me feel that. I miss you..All of you."

He was also crying. He felt her pain and somehow she also felt his. In some twisted way, they felt each other beside one another. Slowly she leaned towards where his spirit was. She closed her eyes. She imagined him with her. He stared at her.

Her fair complexion, her pointy nose, her pink lips, her long lashes caressing her cheekbones. He loved it. And it pained him to think that he can no longer hold it, feel it. But can only look at it and just admire it from afar.

"I love you Luke." she said and he smiled.

"I love you Lara." he whispered back.

With a smile, she opened her eyes and for a split second, she saw him in front of her. But like reality, his once vivid image in front of her became blurry until it disappeared. 

Her heart ached but it was time to face reality. 

"This isn't goodbye." they said in unison and she kissed her palm and touched his tombstone. Grabbing an identical photograph she once had of her and Luke, she kissed it's smooth surface and placed it on top of his grave. Slowly she stood up and walked away. When she reached the gates, she spared one last glance towards his grave and smiled. Step after step, she accepted fate and looked forward to that someday that's bound to come..

THE END.