Post by Michael on Feb 6, 2009 0:18:07 GMT -5
This is the only short story I have ever written, and my very first romance.
So without further ado:
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A woman walked into the hospital. She was about fifteen, beautiful and strong. She was practically running, but tried her best not to look like it. At Visitor Admittance, it was obvious that she wanted to get through as fast as she could. The girl ran through the hospital, moving as fast as she could down the relatively narrow hallways without hitting anything or anyone. She burst into the ICU, sprinted a couple feet down the hall until she came to a sliding door, and threw it open.
There was a young man on the bed before her. He was swathed in bandages, and totally unconscious. The beeps from the Heart Rate Monitor were steady, but well-spaced. His breaths were laborious and ragged. Half of his skin was missing or badly burnt. But the face she knew. The face was one she would know anywhere, anytime, no matter what happened. The one that wrenched her heart out of her chest every time she saw it.
She scanned the end table by the Heart Rate Monitor, on her side of the bed. She turned on the light so she could see better, because the moonlight from the window overlooking the lake was not enough, as beautiful as it was. There were vases of flowers, and get-well-soon cards. But the most prominent feature was the photos. All of them were framed, and they were all of different things. There was one of him on a soccer field, one of him at a book signing, some portraits. There was one of him and his family, but it was small and well hidden. But the foremost and largest one was the one that hit her the hardest. It was one of the boy and the girl, after the school dance. It was staged, in front of a night sky background, but that didn’t mean the emotions there were real. They both looked so happy. Her in her dark red dress, and him in his rented tuxedo.
The pictures brought back memories. First locking eyes before school started. Him asking her to the school dance. Them dancing, the balconies. Their first kiss had been then and there, on the school balcony during the Spring Dance Seminar. Their world had turned up-side down, and for better rather than worse.
He’d decided to run away from home after that, because his parents were holding him down. She’d tracked him and followed his every footprint. They ran away together, and then bought a place in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They’d been dating for about a year when he proposed. She remembered it clearly, because it had only been a couple hours ago.
They were having a picnic on a small bluff, watching the sun set onto the ocean. Then he asked her to get up for a second, and got on one knee and pulled out a ring. He proposed right then and there, with the sun setting between them. But her head had been spinning so fast, she didn’t know what to say. Before she even knew what was happening, he was watching him cry for the first time, and running off. He took the ring with him.
Later, she came running as fast as she could when she learned that he’d been in an accident. He’d gone bouncing down the road in a piece of crap after hitting a bus head-on. And now, here she was. Staring at him, knowing she caused this mess. The doctor said he might not live out the night.
She stayed by his side for at least an hour, watching the first rays of sunlight peek over the horizon. Then she took his hand. It still had the ring in it. She took it out of his hand, and stared at it. It was relatively plain, just silver with a little diamond blinking up at her. But what it meant was more beautiful than any ring in the world. She had just been too overwhelmed to see it, and now she might not see it again.
She took the ring and slipped it onto her finger. Then she bent over him and kissed his pale blue lips. When she pulled away, his lips were now in one of those little calm smiles of his. The thing she’d always thought was so cute, now held a deeper meaning than she would ever know. But it still looked the same, and as the line on the monitor went flat, he fell back onto his pillow and let the sun shine onto him. It made him look alive and happy, like he used to do so many years ago. It did that just for her.
One last time…
So without further ado:
-------------------------------------------------------------
A woman walked into the hospital. She was about fifteen, beautiful and strong. She was practically running, but tried her best not to look like it. At Visitor Admittance, it was obvious that she wanted to get through as fast as she could. The girl ran through the hospital, moving as fast as she could down the relatively narrow hallways without hitting anything or anyone. She burst into the ICU, sprinted a couple feet down the hall until she came to a sliding door, and threw it open.
There was a young man on the bed before her. He was swathed in bandages, and totally unconscious. The beeps from the Heart Rate Monitor were steady, but well-spaced. His breaths were laborious and ragged. Half of his skin was missing or badly burnt. But the face she knew. The face was one she would know anywhere, anytime, no matter what happened. The one that wrenched her heart out of her chest every time she saw it.
She scanned the end table by the Heart Rate Monitor, on her side of the bed. She turned on the light so she could see better, because the moonlight from the window overlooking the lake was not enough, as beautiful as it was. There were vases of flowers, and get-well-soon cards. But the most prominent feature was the photos. All of them were framed, and they were all of different things. There was one of him on a soccer field, one of him at a book signing, some portraits. There was one of him and his family, but it was small and well hidden. But the foremost and largest one was the one that hit her the hardest. It was one of the boy and the girl, after the school dance. It was staged, in front of a night sky background, but that didn’t mean the emotions there were real. They both looked so happy. Her in her dark red dress, and him in his rented tuxedo.
The pictures brought back memories. First locking eyes before school started. Him asking her to the school dance. Them dancing, the balconies. Their first kiss had been then and there, on the school balcony during the Spring Dance Seminar. Their world had turned up-side down, and for better rather than worse.
He’d decided to run away from home after that, because his parents were holding him down. She’d tracked him and followed his every footprint. They ran away together, and then bought a place in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They’d been dating for about a year when he proposed. She remembered it clearly, because it had only been a couple hours ago.
They were having a picnic on a small bluff, watching the sun set onto the ocean. Then he asked her to get up for a second, and got on one knee and pulled out a ring. He proposed right then and there, with the sun setting between them. But her head had been spinning so fast, she didn’t know what to say. Before she even knew what was happening, he was watching him cry for the first time, and running off. He took the ring with him.
Later, she came running as fast as she could when she learned that he’d been in an accident. He’d gone bouncing down the road in a piece of crap after hitting a bus head-on. And now, here she was. Staring at him, knowing she caused this mess. The doctor said he might not live out the night.
She stayed by his side for at least an hour, watching the first rays of sunlight peek over the horizon. Then she took his hand. It still had the ring in it. She took it out of his hand, and stared at it. It was relatively plain, just silver with a little diamond blinking up at her. But what it meant was more beautiful than any ring in the world. She had just been too overwhelmed to see it, and now she might not see it again.
She took the ring and slipped it onto her finger. Then she bent over him and kissed his pale blue lips. When she pulled away, his lips were now in one of those little calm smiles of his. The thing she’d always thought was so cute, now held a deeper meaning than she would ever know. But it still looked the same, and as the line on the monitor went flat, he fell back onto his pillow and let the sun shine onto him. It made him look alive and happy, like he used to do so many years ago. It did that just for her.
One last time…
