Even In Death

It was on this night that I would see my beloved for the last time... alive.

We’d stopped in the middle of the street, there was nobody else insight. The moon was full and the night was too beautiful to not take advantage of. I’d held her hands, smiling and trying to hold back the tears. Biting my lip looking down, I looked up and asked her the words I’d been so desperate to ask her since the night began.

“Nia, will you marry me?”

Her eyes lit up and she smiled at me, tears rolling softly down her rough cheeks as she leaned up and kissed me deeply. That was all the answer I needed. With my arms around her waist, holding her body to mine and her arms around my neck, it was in that moment that I knew true happiness. It had started to rain and we just laughed. We’d always wanted to kiss each other in the rain. After we’d milked every moment of her acceptance we loosened our grip on each other, going back to looking into each other’s eyes and souls. Then, in less than an instant, she was swept away. A loud thud of body against metal accompanied the spatter of blood that hit me, as I watched her pulled from my vision by a barreling car. She had been hit.

I dropped to my knees, looking down at the blood; her blood, on my hands. I couldn't breathe. I tried to scream but couldn't produce it. After what seemed like eternity, I was able to turn my head to see her body behind the abandoned smoking wreck. I slowly stumbled over to her body, the rain washing away most of the blood that had covered her. I held her body in my arms, holding her cheek and brushing the hair from her still-beautiful face. I don’t know how long I was there sobbing over her lifeless form, I never saw another car pass by. I picked up her body and put it in my car, running back to collect the pieces that had been flung from her. I picked up an arm and a leg from the side of the road, placing them in the car with the rest of Nia’s body. I backed out and began speeding home, scared and breathing hard. I reached over to hold Nia’s hand as I was used to, forgetting that she wasn't there in the passenger seat smiling at me, but in the trunk slowly decaying.

I got her home and did my best to sew her back together in the basement. I quickly pulled out a book on ancient elixirs and spells that had been passed down in my family. I didn't believe in any of it, but I was desperate. My baby isn't dead, no no she couldn't be dead! She’s my reason for getting up in the morning, my reason for making it through the toughest of times, my reason for living!

I turned to the page with instructions on how to make an elixir that will reanimate the dead. After mixing all the ingredients together, I stood for a moment over her body contemplating whether I should follow through with it. I decided to try it. I didn’t believe in it, but I figured the peace of mind would help me lay her to rest knowing that I did everything I could for her. I slowly poured the concoction into her mouth, gently wiping away the drop that ran down her lips. I waited for hours standing over her. She still looked beautiful, even in death, even with the black stitches in her pale skin. I leaned down, for one last time, kissing her forehead. I covered her with my jacket, walking slowly out of the basement closing the door and straight to bed.

As I arose the next morning, I slowly turned to the other side, hoping that last night had been a dream. There on the other side of the bed laid my Nia, sleeping peacefully. I wanted to see her gorgeous face but I didn't want to wake her from her rest, I was just happy that the horrors of last night were mere dreams; figments. I quietly crept downstairs to the kitchen to make coffee for us. While waiting at the counter I was startled to feel her arms wrap around my torso from behind, hugging me and resting her head on the back of my shoulder. Her skin was cold and I reached down to feel it, and that’s when I found the stitches; the stitches in the exact same place that I’d sewed them in my dream. The realization came to me all at once as her icy breath hit me when whispering, “good morning handsome.” I quickly flung around, spilling the coffee and backing up slowly against the all. I couldn't speak, I could only produce scared stuttered breathing.

It worked. I don’t know how, but the elixir had worked. There she stood, holding the bloodstained bed sheet up to cover herself smiling at me with red irises in her eyes, she spoke more softly and slowly than before. In a strange way it sounded… beautiful. “N-Nia….. how?” I said trembling. She walked slowly towards me, placing her finger gently on my lip, hushing me.

“You already know how,” she said, smiling and holding up the empty bottle of elixir. Before I could say anything else, she kissed me. As a tear rolled down my face I closed my eyes kissing her back and bringing her closer to me. Her lips were cold, yet I could still feel all the warmth of her love still there. This was still Nia. This was still my love.

We knew this new life couldn't last forever. She had no pulse, she’d been drained of blood, her body was deceased, but her soul was still intact. Her body would slowly decay and she would eventually cease to be, but we didn't like to think about that. We could only focus on what little time we had left together, and we were going to enjoy it. We spent every moment together, and even under the circumstances these were the happiest days of our lives. Sometimes her arm or her leg would fall off, but we would just look at each other and laugh while sewing it tenderly back on. With the inevitable rigor mortis slowly setting in, it became increasingly harder for her to walk, so she was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life, but neither of us cared. We were happy to be in each other’s company.

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