Chapter
29
Late that afternoon, as the sun streamed brightly into their open
windows, Nick whispered, “I love you.”
Tears filled Angela’s eyes, just at the tone of his voice, knowing
that in just minutes, he would be gone.
She could sense it, and so could he.
“I love you too, Nick,” she whispered back. She felt his arms come around her, as he
hugged her for the last time. She
gripped him tightly, as if that would stop him from dying, as if it would keep
his soul on the Earth with her. But it
did not.
Moments later, Nick took one final, shuddering breath, and his
eyes closed for the final time. His body
relaxed in Angela’s arms, as life left him.
Angela eased his body back onto the seat. She gently caressed his still face with her
fingertips, outlining the shape of his slightly parted lips. Then, Angela bent and pressed her mouth to
his, giving him one final kiss. “I love
you,” she whispered, tears rising in her eyes.
“You were my soulmate. We were
brought together by fate, and we were meant to be together, even if our
families didn’t want us to be.”
These words brought back memories to Angela’s mind. The one that stuck out the most was the night
of their first kiss…
Nick let his instincts take over, letting his arms slide
gently around her waist and his face lower towards hers. He felt her arms come around him, her body
drawing close to his. He saw her eyes
close and her face tilt up to meet his.
And then, their lips touched.
The kiss was like magic.
It was as if there was an explosion when their lips brushed against each
other. It felt perfect, as if it was
meant to be. And maybe it was.
“Oh, Nick,” Angela murmured, as they gently pulled away
from one another. She looked up at him,
smiling. “That… that was wonderful.”
Nick returned her smile and nodded in agreement. “Angela, this may sound… sudden…, but I like
you… a lot. Actually, I think I love
you. Does that sound stupid?”
Angela shook her head slowly. “No, it doesn’t sound stupid at all, Nick,”
she said softly. “Because I feel the
same way.”
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” Nick asked.
“I think I do now,” Angela replied, a smile spreading
across her face. “Maybe we’re a pair of
star crossed lovers.”
“Huh?”
“Star crossed lovers.
Like in Romeo and Juliet,” Angela replied, smiling shyly. “Maybe fate brought us together.”
Angela knew now that she had been right, for they had been
real-life star crossed lovers, brought together by fate. It was like a modern day Romeo and Juliet,
indeed.
Just thinking about Nick, Angela began to tremble, and tears
spilled uncontrollably from her eyes.
And then, suddenly, she remembered something. A bottle of aspirin. She kept one in her purse, in case of a
sudden headache or any other ailment that it could cure. Why had she not remembered it until now? She could have used to ease the horrible pain
in her leg, or in Nick’s ankle. But
then, she was glad she didn’t. For now,
she needed it for more important things.
She needed the whole bottle.
Once again ignoring her pain, Angela leaned forward, reaching into
the front seat to grab her purse from beneath the dashboard. She pulled it into the backseat with her and
dug furiously through it, triumphantly pulling out the full bottle of
aspirin.
Angela’s hands shook as she opened the child-proof lid. She dumped a handful of the small, round
pills into her trembling hand, and without second thoughts, shoved them into
her mouth.
Unable to force them down her parched throat without water, she
bit into them, not caring about the consequences. She wanted them to kill her. She wanted to die. She knew she could never go on living
without Nick. Never. The rest of her family, the people she loved,
was dead, and now so was Nick, the only one she had had left in the world. She had wanted them to be together forever,
and now they would, in Heaven. Just as
their romance had been like Romeo and Juliet’s, it’s ending would be the same
as well.
Shaking out more pills into her hand, Angela gulped them down as
well. She took nearly the whole bottle,
then leaned back against the seat to wait for them to take her life and bring
her back to Nick.
Angela felt her heartbeat increase, and a cold sweat broke out on
her forehead. She began to feel weak,
dizzy, and extremely tired. As her body
slowly shut down, she sobbed, unable to do anything else. And soon, she could not keep her eyes open
any longer. Her weakness and dizziness
taking over, Angela slumped over, falling limply up against Nick’s motionless
body. Her heartbeat pounded irregularly
in her ears. Her breathing turned into
quick, gasping pants, then slowed, and finally, stopped. Her shuddering body stopped trembling and
rested motionless against Nick’s.
The scene was just as it had been in Nick’s dream, those many
months ago, before he had been released from the hospital. He hadn’t known it at the time, but that
dream had been an accurate premonition of what had just happened.
***
