A Walk To Remember *Short Complete*

OKDeanna's Passions Fan Fiction Forum > Luis & Sheridan Stories > A Walk To Remember Short Complete
	<< Prev Topic \| Next Topic >>

Subject: A Walk To Remember *Short Complete*
Posted By: OKDeanna - ezOP
Posts: 320
Posted At: (8/23/03 6:40 am)
Reply

A Walk To Remember

Written by:

Deanna
(OKDeanna)

Email: asjfan@cox.net

Complete Short Story

There was a time when the mere mention of your name would cause me to frown. I thought because your last name was Crane that I knew all there was to know about you, but I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong. You were the best thing that ever happened to me and I have no idea what I would have done had you not come into my life.

I thought I knew exactly what I wanted and what I didn't want, but then you crashed into my cruiser and from then on my life was never the same. Everything I thought I knew about life - about myself - was thrown into question and in the end, there was only one thing left to answer. How would I ever live without you?

It's been months since the boat explosion and hurricane yet I still don’t' know the answer to that question. I'm only a shell of my former self. I'm nothing like the man that you knew. I'm nothing like the man that I knew. Nothing seems to matter to me anymore. How could it when I'm so cold and empty inside? Every bit of warmth my body possessed died out there in that ocean and I know it's never going to come back. It can't because it - along with my heart - is wherever you are and that is some place I can no longer reach.

A part of me still believes that you're out there somewhere. Trying to find your way back to me. Deep down I know that isn't logical. That there was no way you could have survived the explosion let alone the hurricane, but it doesn't stop me from hoping. From praying. From praying that somehow, someway God will grant me another miracle.

Yet I've already had two miracles in my life. The day I met you and the day I was finally able to tell you the words that will forever ring true - I love you. It was an honest to God miracle how you came out of your coma and showed up at the church on Christmas Eve. Almost a year ago.

Christmas is almost here again and I keep looking around me, hoping somehow I'll get a third miracle, but I know that's just wishful thinking. Still it doesn't stop me from hoping. From praying. From believing that somehow you're going to come back to me. That one day soon I'll hold you in my arms again and be able to whisper the words I fought for far too long - I love you.

Was it really only a year ago that I first told you those words? It seems like only yesterday. It seems like yesterday that you were right here standing right here beside me at the alter, taking my hand as we rehearsed the day we would become husband and wife, and looking into my eyes with more love than I had ever seen in my life.

Only yesterday yet tomorrow never came. How could that be? How could it be that we had a yesterday but our tomorrow disappeared before today? It doesn't make sense to me and I know it never will. I will never understand how someone so young and so beautiful could have been taken before her dreams were allowed to come true. It will forever remain a mystery to me.

"Luis?" A soft voice calls out from somewhere behind me. I turn around somehow expecting to see you standing there even though I know it isn't possible. I feel the disappointment run rampant through my system when I realize it isn't you standing in front of my, but Beth. Just like in the islands when I imagined you came to the docks. Just like when I imagined you on the phone and when I imagined you standing in my mother's kitchen telling me you love me. Love me with all of your heart and soul.

I think I may be going crazy. That's the only explanation I have for the things I've been feeling. Seeing. Hallucinating. Last year I imagined you on the wharf and it turned out to really be you, but this time you disappeared the moment I tried to wrap you in my embrace. Why does life have to be so unfair? So cruel?

"Hey." I somehow manage to croak out, trying to alleviate the worry I see building in Beth's eyes. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." She whispers, tilting her head slightly to the right as she runs her eyes over my face. "How are you? You look tired. As if you haven't been sleeping."

I shrug my shoulders at the inference then gesture toward the front doors of the church, suddenly needing to get some air. "I know it's cold out, but I could really use some air. Care to join me?"

"Sure, I only stopped in here for a few minutes to speak with Father Lonigan about something, but I think it can wait." She smiled and the smile lit up her entire face, making me question when the last time I smiled - truly smiled - was. Oh yeah, I remember now, it was when I was with you.

"Besides," Beth was saying, as I finally refocused my attention on her. "I need to head down to the wharf. Carl called me earlier and told me that Brian - the guy bringing my boat back from the islands - radioed in and said he'd be arriving in a couple of hours. It's been about that long so I was going to go down there so I could thank him for bringing the boat back. Want to walk me?"

"Yeah, I didn't get to meet him while I was down there. I was curious about him and the other guest though. Liz told me Diana lost someone too. I want to ask Brian how she's dealing with it. Maybe finding out how someone else is dealing with that kind of loss will help me deal with my own." Deep down I know it won't, but at this point I'm willing to try anything. Besides, it's not like it could hurt anything. Right?

Right, my mind answers as I begin to follow Beth out the door. Asking about how someone else is dealing with a loss so deep it cuts your heart in two might actually help. Stranger things had happened, hadn’t they?

I smirked as I realized how crazy I sounded then shook my head and buried my hands deep within my two coat pockets. As Beth and I begin to walk toward the wharf, something begins to build within my chest. I'm not sure what it is, but I know it's there. I can feel it. It's warm and it feels as if it's wrapping itself around my heart. It's strange, but I'm not scared. Somehow I know there is no reason to be scared. Yet at the same time I don't understand how I know that.

As Beth and I finally near the wharf and I see her boat already docked in the harbor, whatever wrapped itself around my heart tightened. I can feel it's power within every nerve in my body and somehow even before you walked out onto the deck of the boat I knew I you were there. That you were there and that I wasn't dreaming. Or just imaging you there. Even if I hadn't heard Beth gasp from beside me, I would have known. I would have known because the warmth inside my body could only have been caused by you.

"Sheridan." I whisper softly, my voice low and raw with emotion. I know there is no way you could hear me, but then, as you turn your head to look at me, I know you did. It's written in your eyes. You heard me and even more than that, you smiled at me. A brilliant angelic smile and it was then I knew for sure - God granted me another miracle.

Somehow I managed to get my feet to move, although I don't quite recall how, and then before I knew it you were wrapped inside my embrace and your lips were fused with mine. I heard another pair of feet shuffle nearby and somehow I knew who the feet belonged to even before I heard him whisper my name. After all, if you could come back to me then Antonio could too. Mama was right. Antonio had come home and as strange as it seems to me, he brought you with him. The brother I haven't seen in years is back and with him, he brought the love of my life. For that and that alone, I will always be grateful.

Always.

"I love you." I whispered softly as I finally found the strength to pull away from your lips. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," You whisper, tears flowing from your beautiful blue eyes. "With all of my heart and soul."

Amazing. Just days ago I imagined you saying those very words and now here you are, wrapped in my arms, telling me the words I prayed to god I would hear you say. If I hadn't already believed in miracles, I definitely would now. "Welcome home, Sheridan, welcome home."

The End

<< Prev Topic | Next Topic >>

Replies

Email This To a Friend
Topic Control Image

Topic Commands

Click to receive email notification of replies

Click to stop receiving email notification of replies