“Hey, sweetheart. It’s okay, you’re okay,” her voice cracks as she attempts to soothe him. She’s tried to stop the bleeding, oh, how she’s tried; but there’s too much, the wound is too deep. Even though she can taste the bile in the depths of her throat, she remains by his side, still smiling at him through her tears. There’s so much blood, and she can see it, smell it, and worst of all, she has to feel it. She sniffles and takes a deep breath before speaking again. “It’s okay to let go. I love you, it’s okay.” It’s then that she realizes she hasn’t said that to him enough, so she has to make up for it now. “I love you so much, you know that. I —— I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you, and I probably never will.” She’s really crying, now, and it feels like her whole body is burning. Right now, she kind of wishes it was, she doesn’t want to see a world without him. But, alas, she has to be strong right now, for him. There’ll be plenty of time for her to wish it was her instead of him.
Gently, she holds his head in her lap, one hand stroking his hair and the other settled on the wound, still attempting to stop the bleeding. She doesn’t want to lose him, and in her mind, she’s not going to. She thinks there’s a chance she can still save him; call it denial. “Adrian,” she mumbles, after the long pause. He’s still with her, for now, but she still had to make sure. “I think —— I think I knew I loved you on our third date. We’d already been dating, but I’d still been counting ——” she pauses to chuckle. “It was the way you looked at me, no one’s ever looked at me like that before and —— and I was like ‘wow, I hope that means he loves me too.’” Only for a moment will she take her hand off his head, just to wipe her tears. Immediately after, she moves to hold the side of his face, thumb stroking his cheek.
“You’re my favorite person in the entire world. That sounds really stupid and cheesy, but it’s true. You’ve always been there for me, and I hope I’ve done the same for you. Probably not. You’re too good for me, I don’t deserve you.” Far too soon, his eyes flutter shut, for good this time, and she moves to hold him close to her. A loud sob escapes her, and it’s like she can’t breathe; his life is gone, that means hers is too. She rocks back and forth, the way you would with a child, just screaming and crying. Quickly, her throat grows sore, and the that thing she’ll mumble is a quiet ‘I love you’. Once more, for good measure.
