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SUMMARY: this is the first short story i ever completed!

I watch her from the doorway, curled up on a chair reading a magazine. She really is beautiful, more so than I remember. I sigh. If only it didn't have to be this way.

It has been 6 months since I saw her last. 6 months since I'd been reflected in those tear filled eyes. 6 months since I had been able to brush away the loose strands of her honey hair; stroke the soft skin of her face; hear the whisper of "I love you". And now here she is, My Love, alone on Christmas Eve, wishing I was with her.

I feel the regret beating at me like the strong wings of an eagle. Anger, sorrow and guilt well up inside of me. But it is too late to go back now, my life is long over. All I can do is set things right and hope for the best. This is my final chance for freedom...

I had been feeling sick many months before the doctors diagnosed me with a tumour. It was aggressive – too aggressive to treat so I had to compile the many years of my "expected" life into a few short months.

I remember the intense feeling of shock followed by a supernova of questions all beginning with "why?" Then, before I knew it, the apathy set in and nothing mattered to me anymore.

She changed that. Like a pearl of hope My Love cast out the shadows in my soul and gave me a life instead of just a bleak existence. For hours she would sit and talk to me, telling me that it wasn't my fault my promises of "together forever" would be broken, saying she would stay with me until the very end.

In return I promised her that if I could I would come back to give her new hope and happiness. She simply used to laugh then while looking at me with pained eyes, but now during these cold winter nights she waits for a sign that I'm there.

And today is the day to fulfil that promise.

I conjure a gust of wind to rattle a window, causing the lid from a shoebox resting on the ledge to topple over. My Love tries to ignore it, knowing that the previously hidden items within the box are bittersweet to her, but a compelling urge forces her to rise from the comfort of the chair.

Silence. A heartbeat. A step. Slowly she reaches out and lifts the shoebox from the ledge onto the safety of the floor beside its lid.

More silence. Another heartbeat. And then something else. My Love waits, frozen in time, before taking an unopened letter from the box of my keepsakes and gently tearing the envelope to reveal a folded piece of paper.

So many thoughts run through her vast mind: When did he write this? Why did he write it? What does it say? She hesitates, knowing that while the message is unknown she can imagine it to be whatever she wants. But finally, she can't bear it any longer and reveals my last words to her.

'My Love, take another chance at happiness'

The overwhelming emotions invading her senses leave her unprepared for the piercing tone of the doorbell. She waits, momentarily stunned, before pushing all feelings away and going to greet her visitor.

Chase, my closest friend, almost a brother to me, stands completely still as the door opens.