14 Stitches
"Giving me 14 similes might bring me back to you" she said after breaking up with me. All with a special meaning to it.
Stacia Vermillion is a smart university student, and I am just a normal but lucky guy she ended up dating for 14 months.
Before breaking up, she said I should give her 14 similes that would define themselves as they would also describe our love.
"I would know you are worthy if you could give me 14, one every week. I would only accept your similes for 14 weeks." she provoked. All I have to do is to give her 14 similes.
I will have to use my brain as good or much better than she uses hers. I decided to give her one each week. One letter a week will signify one month in our relation.
First week would be about our fated encounter.
"Meeting you was like writing my own fate. I meet the most fitted girl, most perfect person, and most probably the missing piece in my heart."
Then the moments that mostly made us happy together.
"You are like my energy drink. Seeing you is my adrenaline."
The third month was us needing each other'a arms and warmth, and so I described it as this.
"Not having you here is me being a puppet without a puppeteer. I won't be able to do anything without you."
Our fourth month together is us discovering our worths in our relationships.
"Having you in my life is like engraving a map in my mind. You are my north, south, east and west. You are my direction in every situations."
On our fifth, we search for things that would likely be our comfort zones.
"Our love is like a script. We already know how it will end but we give our own adlibs to make it better."
In our sixth, we share our secrets and worries like we have never shared anything before.
"You are like a safe vault without a passcode. There is no way for me to know your secrets but you still give them all away to me."
Seventh month? This was the first time she asked me to go to the hospital with her. That was so memorable that I made it the subject of my seventh letter.
"Being in a hospital with you is like riding an extreme rollercoaster. I never knew you were so tense being in a hospital."
On our eighth, we discovered not all traits of our personalities fit for the other, but we fix it to look perfectly fine anyway.
"Our habits are like musicians who do not know any piece. They don't fit in but sounds so perfectly right."
Our ninth month together made us see the world we never saw before. I never thought she needed me the most when I am not beside her. That made me feel worthless at some point.
"I was like a doctor who cannot treat any patient. I signed up for something I wanted but never realize how it will make me feel so useless."
Tenth month of our relationship, we decided to tell the story of our most darkest nights.
"You and I are an open book. We know one another too well."
Our eleventh is a rough month for both of us. Thinking we knew each other well, we never thought of a small mistake would bring down a tough building.
"We are like a typewriter with a backspace, we keep on pressing the backspace knowing that we can't erase our mistakes."
On the twelfth, we give each other comfort in the most crucial moment that would seem impossible to solve.
"Me, going to you is like pouring rain in a desert. It might seem impossible but I will find a way to go to you."
On the thirteenth month, we spent our moments together like there is no tomorrow. She insisted on spending her everyday with me.
"Every single day with you is like spending my last days on earth. You make me feel like I can't live without you."
Sending her letters but not receiving any reply made me curious of what she was doing. Since I have not heard from her for the last three months now, I decided to go visit her home.
Upon going there, I saw her mother holding a fully packed bag, and is quickly leaving their house.
I did not get what was going on, so I tailed her, but to no avail. I could only follow her half way through. So I just finished my fourteenth letter.
For the fourteenth, and the last month, I dedicate my last letter to our last day together.
"We are like a pageless book. We don't rely on the thickness or the thinness of our story, but of course the messages between the lines."
I made up my mind, that for the last letter, I want to hand it to her personally. This time I took a taxi and followed her mother again, just to find out her destination, the hospital.
I followed her to a room. It was when I found out why Stacia has not given any reply at all.
She was sleeping peacefully in a room decorated with the things we bought together. I knocked on the door and let myself in. I greeted her mother with the most respectful form to show my concern.
I saw all of the letters I sent hanging on a wall, in order. It looked like the letters were telling a lovestory, there was a text above it saying '14 Stitches: Stacia and her lover, Dean.'
"I guess I broke my promise to Stacia. I never knew you would follow me from our home." her mother said.
I asked her what happened, but she only looked at me with sad eyes.
Then she finally talked."She told me not to tell you, but seeing you here now would only make my heart even more broken"
She then told me that Stacia who has been a weak child, has weak lungs, and has been treating it since childhood.
Her lungs gave her 14 stitches so far because of surgeries. It was suppose to improve her lungs' condition but instead her lungs begun to worsen faster four months ago. That now, she can only stay awake for a short period of time and sleep for almost a whole day, to keep her lungs from worsening.
After hearing that, I could not stop my tears from falling. I thought I knew everything about her. I thought I had everything undercontrol. I thought we would last forever...
After one month, her lungs gave up and she died after three days in the ICU.
For that month, I made my last letter for her.
"Our love is like a broken mirror. The harder we try to fix it, the more damage it will have to deal with. But I still thank you for giving me a chance to love you. Thank you for being in my life, my lovely Stacia."
