moments // l.h
Moments. It was their thing, something he’d say to her, to remember every moment that meant something to her so at the end, she’d have little memories to think of and smile that beautiful smile he loved so much. Sunlight gazed in making every single dust particle sparkle as if a fairy had lightened the room. Light formed lines across blind-shaped lines across Luke’s face and bare chest as he slept soundly in the now-lit room. She was watching him, admiring every breath he took. She wasn’t over his beauty. She would never be over his beauty. Every blink of his eyelashes made her fall in love with him all over again, even though she knew it was an unlikely case for her to fall out of love with the boy who had stolen her heart. It was moments like this she cherished in her heart; saving in the back of her head for days when her heart ached for him. Rolling over in his sleep, his lips parted as he now faced her knelt figure beside the bedframe. Deep down she wished his eyes would open, just so she could catch a glimpse of the blue that sent a warmth radiating throughout her body and reminded her of home. The necklace hung from around his neck too, a reminder of being young and in love. Luke had her ring and she had his. “A piece of you will always be with me now” he’d joked as she fastened the chain around his neck. Maybe running off at a tender age and marrying was a crazy idea, but it was a crazy idea she’d never regret. She still stood by him when it came to him being a best man. Who’d of thought it, Michael Clifford getting married? He’d spent what seemed like hours in front of the mirror this morning making sure every single piece of stubble was shaved off and not a single hair was out of place. His speech was memorised word for word. Heck, even she remembered it he’d repeated it that much! She’d sat by him at the night-do, her smile almost beaming as she remembered every moment he brought up. Afterwards, he’d slumped home and dug through every box in the house to find the cream leather photo album. Luke ran his fingers across her loopy handwriting, tracing it ever so gently with the tip of his finger as if he was scared he would smudge it after all these years. The first page he opened was the selfies they’d taken themselves. That day he’d loved her hair more than any other time, the way the braids wrapped around her head and how soft, curled strands fell around her face. When she’d walked down the aisle alone with just a few of both their friends around, Luke swore he’d never been as in love with her. A teardrop hit the book, snapping him from his mind and back into reality. Without a doubt, that was Luke’s favourite moment. Ashton’s kids ran around the living room, chasing one another with their toys. They both had the curly hair Ashton had once had and his hazel eyes that you got lost in. Luke was sat on the floor, his long legs surrounded with small Lego bricks as they ran in circles around him. She still was present here, remembering the day Ashton’s daughter had been brought home and how Luke had held her like she was the most precious thing he had ever seen. “Uncle Luke” she asked him, sitting on his knee. “Where’s your wife?” “She’s right here…” he’d mumbled, pausing as he used the hand that wasn’t holding him on his lap to pull the necklace out from under his top. She took the ring between her fingers, fascination dancing in her young eyes as she looked at the diamond. “Is she pretty?” he toyed with one of her curls as she slid the ring onto one of her still tiny fingers. Luke looked down and let out a small laugh before meeting her eye. “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on” he ran his thumb down her soft cheek as she still played with his necklace. “Can I see her, Uncle Luke? I want to see how pretty she is!” She bounced up and down on his knee until Luke had brought his phone out, scrolling to the very top and finding his favourite photo of her. It was the day they’d gone out walking. She was walking through a field and the sun was setting behind her and she’d closed her eyes, her hair blowing in the breeze. Luke was infatuated, hence why he’d taken this photo and why it was his favourite to show of her. Ashton’s little girl had rested her head on his shoulder as he’d shown her numerous photos, her thumb between her lips as she began to drift away. “She’s pretty, Uncle Luke. More pretty than you ever described” He’d picked her up then, turning to see her brother asleep curled up on the settee before placing her on the opposite end. She blinked a few times as Luke placed a blanket over the both of them before sitting on the floor facing her. “What you should do is, pay attention to little moments in your life. Even if you don’t think they mean anything, they will in the long run and when you’re older, you’ll remember so much more! It’ll be like you’re superhuman!” The little girl let out a laugh, reaching for Luke’s hand with her small, stubby one. Luke’s heart melted as she sat up to place a kiss against his cheek before crawling back under the blanket and drifting into her dreams. Old age was now upon Luke. Michael and Ashton’s families were now starting families and she’d watched Luke begin to be introduced to them before being taking into a care home, his health deteriorating. She’d watched as his golden blonde hair had faded to grey and painfully sat by as he decided to get rid of the quiff. His gangly legs she’d always joked about had finally given up on him and she stood by as he was pushed into the graveyard by one of the carers. The grave he stopped in front of had a grey headstone, the engraved letters reading ‘Calum Thomas Hood’. His carer took his silence as a sign he wanted to be left along and she did just that, wandering back to the car and telling Luke to shout her when he was finished. “Hey mate” Luke spoke. “No time long see.” He’d laughed at his dash of humour before realising his surroundings. “I know you probably can’t see me, or even hear me, but I just wanted to see you one more time. We had the best times us lot. You know, me, you, Michael and Ashton? You guys were the best friends I could have asked for and were more like brothers to me. I miss you, y’know? I wish you were here with me now, calling me stupid and soppy for talking to a headstone of someone who once was” Luke paused, swallowing the lump that was building in his throat. “Everyone’s doing ok really, families expanding. I’m next, Cal. I know it’s going to happen and I have no clue whether I’ll see you up there or not but it’s been a good ride, and I just wish I had the chance to do it all over again. I’ll see you one day, buddy.” Luke wiped the tears from his eyes before turning in his chair to look at the car he’d arrived in, the carer on her phone probably playing a game. There was one more place he wanted to go. Pushing himself out of the god-forbidden chair, he took a few shaky steps towards the next grave he needed to go to where was still a red rose alive on it, reassuring Luke that someone out there was still taking care of her. He sat on the grassy ground, resting his head again the tombstone and reaching his hand around to dance across the engravings. He knew her name off by heart; he knew the young age she’d been taken from him more than anything. “Beloved daughter, sister and wife” it read below her name, making Luke’s heart ache. “Hey you” he whispered gently, gripping the ring on the necklace in the palm of his hand. “You probably heard me talking to Calum didn’t you? Making a complete tit of myself” he wiped the tears from his cheeks. “God, how can it be over fifty years since that day you were ripped from me? It doesn’t seem like two minutes. I haven’t loved anybody since then. I didn’t want to. No-one could ever replace you or the love I felt for you so I never even tried to find someone else. You were my world. My complete and utter world” he hiccupped as the tears fell, drawing the carers attention to him slumped on the floor. “I wish you were here now, reassuring me everything’s going to be ok and holding my hand. All I want is to just hold you to me and prove how much I still love you. Because I do, I still love you more than anything. Soon, we’ll be together again, I promise you that.” Luke was taken back to the home after that and to his room, being asked if he wanted anything and if he was in any pain, to which he shook his head to both. The door closed and she decided to move from her place in the corner of the room to sit on the bed beside Luke. He watched out the window and she watched every blink and breath he took, intoxicating herself with them. Reaching her hand out, she reached for his hand and gripped it beneath the duvet. “You never aged, did you?” Luke turned to ask her, his home filled eyes gazing into hers. She shook her head as the tears began to fall from her eyes and Luke gripped her hand tighter, taking in every feature he knew too well of her still 24 year-old body. “How long have you known I was here?” her breath catching in her throat as she asked him. “Since the day you were taken” he smiled gently as she sniffled, shuffling down in the bed so her body was encased in Luke’s arms. “Why didn’t you say, Luke?” Her voice was merely a whisper as he wrapped her hair around his fingers. “I thought I was going crazy. You were gone yet I could see you. And hear you. And smell you, goddammit!” a teardrop fell on her head as they clung to one another. “D-did you see Calum?” She shook her head into his chest. “Calum just…went. I was stuck here, in the middle of life and death. I was waiting for you, Luke.” A sobbed racked through Luke’s chest, causing her to cling onto him tighter than she could ever have imagined. “I’m here now” he whispered, tears dripping down both of their cheeks. “You’ve done your waiting and I’ve done mine. We’ll be together, I promise. I’ll get you away from this middle; I’ll do whatever it takes. Even if I have to fight a demon or a god, I won’t leave you and I won’t let you be ripped away from me again.” Reaching up, she placed a hand on his wet cheek and brushed her lips against his. Their foreheads rested against one another, tears cascading down both of their cheeks. “I love you. I love you so much” she mumbled against his lips through her tears before sinking down the bed, wrapping her arms around Luke and falling into her oblivion with him. Luke’s mind was flashing with moments. Every single one he’d told himself to remember, from the first date they ever had to the way she looked wrapped up in his arms. They played in his brain like an old home movie and Luke knew he was smiling throughout it. It was his life made up of hundreds of moments. And that night, the waiting they had both suffered finally came to an end.