Short Stories

Promises

"All the lights, they light up in lights of sadness telling you it's time to go."

"Psst!" she was trying her best not to laugh, "psst! you can come out now! She's gone!" he let out a breath as he crawled out from underneath the hospital bed.

"I don't get you sometimes." she mumbled, causing his eyebrows to rise in surprise.

"What do you mean?" he mumbled, grabbing her smaller hand and lacing his fingers through hers. He could feel it, she was not well. He had gotten to know her so well, he almost knew what was bothering her.

"Why are you still her? Why do you still stick around? Why don't you just leave?" she was working herself up, she knew it and she also knew that it would only shorten her life span but she couldn't help it., "I mean? Have you looked at me? How can you still love me? All of my hair is gone and I'm about as pale as a ghost. Why don't you just dump me? Wouldn't it be much easier?" A few tears had already started falling down her cheeks, " it would spare you the pain of seeing me dead." her voice was barely audible but he still heard every single word and he quickly leaned forward to wipe her tears away.

"Hey," he cupped her face, his thumb soothingly rubbing over her prominent cheekbones, "I already told you, I'll be here till the very end. You're not getting rid of me, sweetheart. Stop working yourself up." she let out a sigh as she grasped his hand, looking at her smaller hand being engulfed by his, at the little arrow he had gotten tattooed on his wrist; she had always been fond of that arrow.

"Come lie with me." she whispered, tugging at his hand, "I'm cold." He complied, slipping off his shoes before settling down beside her. His hand reached up, pulling the blue scarf from her head before she could complain. She opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her before she could utter a word.

"You look much prettier without it." he kissed her forehead as she nuzzled in his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist, lightly fisting his sweatshirt.

"Do you think I'm going to die?" she asked. She already knew the answer, everyone knew. She just wanted him to comfort her.

"No." he spoke, "You're my strong and brave girl, right? And I believe you are going to kick cancer's ass." His words made her chuckle. It felt nice to laugh, to smile, " And when you're going to get out of this shithole of a hospital, we're going to go to the tattoo parlor and you're going to get your first tattoo, okay?"

"And my nose pierced as well, right?" she smiled expectantly.

"And your nose pierced." he lightly tapped her nose with a smile before hugging her to his chest. He made her forget all the things that troubled her. He always made her laugh even though he wanted to cry. He loved her so much, loved her with all his heart and he was so scared to lose her. He didn't believe in God, always saying that God wasn't present for him when he was going through hard times but for her, only for her, he prayed. He prayed for her life, he prayed for God to cure her, to give her the happiness that she deserved. He cried, shouted, yelled, punched a wall, cried again until he was exhausted. Truth be told, he was silently breaking on the inside but one of them had to be strong. He decided that he was goingto make her laugh as much as he could, to keep her happy for the time that she had left. Everyone had given up, saying the sooner she resigned herself to her fate, the better but they didn't know shit about love. He had always been the optimistic one, a trait of character she had always found endearing.

"I love you." she muttered and he looked down at her.

"I love you too sweetheart."

"If I die tonight, can you promise me something?" He almost scolded her for talking about dying but then decided against it and simply nodded,

"Anything."

"Promise me that you're not going to forget about me?" the uncertainty in her voice made his heart swell and he instinctively clutched her closer.

"I can't forget you, I will never forget you." his voice was raw with emotion as he held his tears back.

"You'll move on though, right?" she asked. His heart clenched just at the thought and he remained slient, his breathing heavy.

"Promise me." she grasped his hand, making him look at her, "I need to know."

"What if I don't want to move on?" he retorted.

"You can't do that." her hand lightly brushed his cheek, "you can't stay like this all your life." When he still remained silent, she pressed, "I don't want you to mourn over my death, I want you to move on, okay? You'll find someone who loves you, maybe not as much as I did but you will. You'll love her the way you loved me and you'll carry on with your life." He could not picture himself with another girl after evrything they had both been through. He had everything planned in his head, he wanted to marry her, build a house for her, father her kids, he had the world to yet offer to her. She was too young to die, too rare to die. He did not mean it but she could be so convincing at times that he found himself nodding to her words and leaning down to kiss the top of her head. She let out a content sigh at his nod and cuddled him closer, she was not sure if she would still be there to see tomorrow's sun but one thing that she was certain of, was that he would be just fine without her. He was stubborn and reckless, he stuck to his decisions even if that meant him getting himself into a ton of trouble but underneath all, he was a lovely man.

-----------------------------------------------------