Heart Beat

"Don't worry," he whispered, as he wiped away her tears. "Everything's going to be alright."

And with that, the young man's eyes slowly closed, and his hand slipped from her face, shattering the lady's world. Each moment with him replayed in her mind like a cruel montage of what could have been. "Someday we will run away from here! I promise you that!" he happily said, smiling ear to ear, showing his deep dimples.

"We're still going to the place where we will be happy and free, right? You promise me that." The promises they made under the rising sun felt like fragile whispers lost in the wind.

"Hey, wake up now, it's already late. The sun's shining, you see? It's cold to sleep here." She clung to him, hoping against hope that he would open his eyes again, that his warm embrace would return. But reality, cold and unforgiving, held her tightly.

"Wake up," she sweetly said, slowly stroked the young man's cheek. Tracing the lines of his face, memorizing every detail, unwilling to let go of the memory of his sweet smile, now forever frozen in time. "Your warmth, why is it fading?"

Silence enveloped them both, suffocating the hope that had flickered within her heart. "Can't you still hear me?"

"Please, wake up." Her pleas echoed through the empty space, bouncing off of her despair. She cradled his lifeless form.

The realization of his departure hit her like a tidal wave, washing away the remnants of their dreams. She pressed her ear to his chest, desperate to hear the melody of his heartbeat once more, but all she found was the deafening silence of loss. "Your heartbeat, why can't I hear it?"

In the midst of her anguish, she whispered to him, "Please, wake up." Her voice trembling with sorrow, her tears mingling with the stains of his blood and mud. Yet, in the stillness of that moment, the only response she received was the haunting echo of her own grief.

"Wake up!"

"Please!"

She desperately cried those words as her tears kept dripping down from her face.