~Levi~
My eyes felt heavy but I kept them awake.
My hands were shaking but I kept them steady, held in my lap.
My back was tight and hunched, but I slouched as far possible as I could to be near to her.
My breathing continued to be laboured, but I just made sure it didn't stop- I had to breathe for her.
I'd been sat here for the past 3 days, only leaving to shower. I had food brought in.
The evening before, I'd heard one of the nurses say, "I think validation is one of the most beautiful gifts you can give the grieving." I'd recognised the quote from somewhere, but I wasn't sure where.
And it had only then just struck me that that's what I was doing- grieving. To grieve is to understand and mourn the loss of a person.
I hadn't realised that's what I was doing. Even though it wasn't death, I knew I still grieved for the part of herself and myself that we'd lost.
I knew what happened with her mother. The police told me.
The evening of the morning she'd left, I'd got a call from Luna. "I don't want to worry you, but I think something's wrong with Laken."
I'd stopped breathing. "What do you mean?"
"I heard a lot of shuffling and someone talking as I came up the steps, but she won't answer now. Her apartments silent. I dunno, maybe I'm just overreacting but I thought..."
"You thought what... Luna?"
"I thought I heard, like, crying- no, screaming, as I was coming up. But, I don't know... What should I do?"
"Call 911, I'll be right there." And I was.
We'd found her and her mother, Jesslyn Bennet, laying in a pool of their own blood beside eachother.
The knife that had been used to attack My Laken was removed from her stomach, and the blood loss was almost too fatal to save.
But she'd made it, just about. She was alive, growing stronger and healthy.
She'd suffered minor internal bleeding, needed stitches on her forehead from a large gash, and would probably have some trouble remembering the last couple days before she was attacked.
But none of that mattered- as long as my heart beat, it would beat for her. There would be no death.
On the fourth day, she finally woke up. With a flutter of her beautiful lashes, her eyes opened, her crusted lips opened to speak, and she'd whispered, "Am I dead?"
I'd told her "Not yet, beautiful. You're still here.", smiling wider than I thought possible, and she'd smiled, too. After everything, all the things she'd been through, she was still happy to be living.
"Good." She replied. Then, with a frown, "Levi?"
I squeezed her hand. "Yes, sweetheart."
"You're not gonna leave, right?"
I pressed my lips to her forehead. "Of course not."
And barely, she'd whispered, "Good, because I might just need someone to take care of me." She just smiled. My heart swelled. "For like, ever. As long as you want me." She joked.
I'd felt pain at her words, a good pain, like a healing pain. "I'll never stop wanting you."
"So forever then?"
I brushed her cheek with the tip of my finger. "Forever."
She'd grown far more than she'd realised. I'd make sure she knew just how amazing she was.
She was alive, I was alive, and together, we'd live.
And I'd thought, the most beautiful gift to give the grieving is in fact nothing more to grieve.
