'Seize my hand, and we'll rise up high, Love, let this be our anthem until we die.'

'Let this evening be the longest among all, Be with me, we'll stand when all kingdoms fall.' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Do you love me?",with distinguished dread Mark said. "Of course babe.I know you certainly know that I love you.",Stephanie boldly answered. "If I needed to be gone for long,will you miss me?",Mark asked. "Is there something wrong babe?You act so strange.You're starting to scare me.",Stephanie said in a fed-up voice. Mark grabbed Stephanie's hand and kissed it as an answer. "I'm here-nothing to worry about my love.",Stephanie assured Mark. Stephanie then fell asleep on top of Mark's chest as they lie down on a picnic carpet under the starry night. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That night was different among all.Glittering star-filled skies as the full moon shows itself over the extensive horizon of the never-ending universe.The coldness of the gust of every wind-it chills Mark's spine as Stephanie is in her deepest slumber. As Mark stares at a cluster of stars to the west from his eye-sight a meteorite caught his attention. "Hey,hey babe,wake up,look,a meteorite.",Mark said as he wakes up Stephanie. Then Stephanie woke up wanting to know what Mark has waked her up for. "Oh,it's so beautiful babe.",Stephanie said in bewilderment. Silence held up the panorama for about a minute or two as they watched the meteorite meander over the dim heavens. Stephanie cracked the silence and said,"You know what babe,meteorites are known to grant wishes of the people who sees it.I was a little child then since I first made my wish to a meteorite." "What did you wish for?",Mark asked. "Uh-mm,I forgot.You know,Its been so many years,Stephanie answered. "You?If you were to make a wish,what would it be?",Stephanie added. "I don't believe in wishes babe.",Mark said with a thwarted voice. "C'mon Mark,just try it,nothing would be gone if you do so.",Stephanie said as she grabbed Mark's left arm. Mark just continued staring at the meteorite as it slowly fades out. "Never mind it babe.It's gone.I just wanted you to make a wish,what is so hard with that?",Stephanie said in disappointment. "Yeah.You won.I made a wish before it's gone.",Mark said. "Oh really?!Thank you babe!See,I told you,nothing is gone,its not that hard right?",Stephanie said with a delighted face. "Uh-mm,so what did you wish for?",Stephanie added. "Nothing.I'll just let you know when it came true.I mean,if ever by any chance it came true",Mark said in doubt. "So unfair.Just forget about it babe.It's 4 hours before sunlight,we should get enough sleep by-then.",with a saddened voice,Stephanie said. Mark never answered back,he just continued staring at the skies as Stephanie fell asleep by his side. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Silence once again roofed the whole atmosphere.As the night gets deeper,the colder and more burly the breeze of wind gusts that dried leaves from a fig tree,about few steps away from where they laze,falls and creeps over the grasses of the wide spacious garden. 'If only you knew what I wished for.In doubt,I prayed and begged for that yearning,that one wish I always hoped for,that I would readily do anything for that to come to pass.If only you knew.',Mark's heart cried out. And Mark got a blanket,covered the two of them,so that they would keep warm.Using his arms Mark,grabbed Stephanie close to him,kissed her in the forehead and said,"I love you.I loved you yesterday,today,and until forever I will love you." Then Mark closed his eyes and fell asleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sunshine were as white as doves spreads their wings as their first light greetings to Mark and Stephanie.They soared up high in the skies and flew from coast-to-coast.The heavens are as ashen as last night's darkness in the other hand. "Babe,wake up.It's daybreak.C'mon let's roast our prepared hot dog and toast the sand which.",Mark said,trying to wake Stephanie up. "Good morning babe.Did you slept well last night?",Stephanie asked Mark as she woked up. "Yeah.Pretty well babe.Come here,breakfast is ready.",Mark answered. "Here you go.Oh be careful it's hot.",Mark said as he handed-over the food. "Wow,thanks babe.Have your breakfast as well.",Stephanie thanked Mark. "Uh babe,I'm going to check out our car.You just stay right here and wait for me.Ok?",Mark said. "Sure babe.Just don't be gone so long.",Stephanie answered. As Mark was walking and about to eat,he felt real dizzy,loosen his grip to the food and it fell.He putted his right hand to his forehead trying to give himself a massage as a relief. "Babe?Is everything ok?",Stephanie asked in concern as she walks towards Mark to check out on him. "Yeah,yeah babe,everything is...",just before Mark finished talking he fell from where he was standing and fainted. "Babe!",Stephanie shouted as she run towards Mark. Stephanie got Mark on her laps and tried waking him up. "Babe!Wake up!C'mon end of the joke,it's not funny anymore Mark!You're making me worry!",Stephanie shouted as she wants to wake Mark up. And still nothing.Mark's face started to pale,his hand as Stephanie held it was never giving a response,his body had given away its weight,making it hard for Stephanie to carry him.Stephanie then,got the car-key from Mark's pocket,carried him to the rigth passenger seat and drove to the nearest hospital about 6 miles away. Minutes have passed and still nothing from Mark.He never woke up,not a single movement From him. "Oh please hold on babe!Were already near the hospital.Everything's going to be fine.",Stephanie cries as she tries to talk to Mark. Time passed by as fast as wind,running after Mark's every heartbeat.Every moment was as precious as a single golden coin in a unfathomable jar full of corroded silver ones.Hours became minutes as minutes became seconds.Stephanie is literary driving in a car race against the undertaker. --------------------------------------------------------------- "What happened to him?",a nurse asked Stephanie as she rushed Mark to the emergency room. "I don't know.He just fainted and I…I don't know!",Stephanie tried to explain. "Ok,We'll take care of him.",the nurse assured. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stephanie then sat on a sofa just outside the emergency room.She was crying for almost more than an hour.While Mark is inside the emergency room,she can not do anything,but wait,and wait. "How is he Doc?Yeah,I know he's getting well.He used to prank me since then.When is he going home?",Stephanie asked the doctor assertively. "Your boyfriend's condition is serious Stephanie.",the doctor said. "What?!I mean,h-h-how can that be?A while ago we where just...",Stephanie started to cry. "Based on Mark's records,he has stage 3 leukemia.His former personal doctor gave prescriptions and scheduled therapies.Though his family would be that able to handle the given medications,he was the one who refused it.That is why the disease grown and his body collapsed.I would not want to give false hopes for you and Mark's family Stephanie,that is why I wanted you to be ready for anything that may happen.I need to go now Steph and check out on Mark.You better take a rest first.",the doctor explained. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every color faded away.As Stephanie slowly sits on the corridor's floor,her heart was weeping in so much pain.For every tear that fell,dreams flew outside the window,into the skies and were lost forever.She looked at her left hand and saw the ring. "I give you this ring as a sign of my ever-lasting love,that as its shape,you will never know where it began and when will it end." She remembered that moment,the most romantic scene,where the two of them was Romeo and Juliet.Loves moves in a way that it binds Mark and Stephanie's heart as one.Stephanie gave everything to Mark that night,as a sign of fully devoting herself to her future beloved husband,as Mark offered everything he has,as a sign of full support for his beloved future wife.In a way that blissful moment brought hope,but in the other hand in made her feel more wasted and broken. ------------------------------------------------------------------- As hours of Stephanie's waiting outside Mark's room passed by. "Stephanie,come but do make so much noise.",the doctor called up Stephanie. She hurried like she never got tired of waiting to see him. Stephanie opened the door and slowly walked towards Mark's bed,sat beside him,and held his hand. "Hey babe it's me.Everything is going to be fine.I'm here,I'll stay by your side.",Stephanie whispered. Suddenly,Mark moved his hand as a sign of response to Stephanie's voice. Mark woke up and gave a smile to Stephanie.Even though the pain due to his illness is eminent in Mark's face,that smile made him look better than ever. "B-B-Babe...Remember that wish I made last night that I told you I will tell you when it came true?",Mark said in a anguish voice. A tear fell from Stephanie's eye,hampering her to answer Mark's question.She nodded instead in agree to Mark. "I really hoped that dream to come true.I really prayed for that since the day that I found you Steph.",Mark said. "But babe,why didn't you tell me anything about your condition?Do I not have the right to know it?I'm your girlfriend.Sooner or later I'll be your wife.Why have you not told me?",Stephanie asked Mark. "It's because of my love for you Steph.I didn't want you to worry and to fear.I didn't want us to be bothered by my condition and yet know to ourselves that we can not do anything about it.I wanted us to have relationship that focuses to us,to just you and me,and nothing more.",Mark explained. "But Mark..." "Shh.Stop babe.Last night,what I wished for is that you'll be with me,until the end.",Mark said. Stephanie cried like a river.Heart was almost tearing apart.She held Mark's hand so tight,like she never did before.Every moment that they had together refreshed itself to Stephanie's mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------ She remembered,the scenery was just like that night.The cold breeze of every gust of wind.The view of the heavens and the ashen skies as birds flew freely.She remembered. "Its been 3 years babe,but it always feels like yesterday.",a tear dropped from Stephanie's eyes,never different from that day.The same old tear. "I would always look at my hand whenever I miss you,for there,I see your everlasting love,that as its shape I won't know the beginning and the end.It is so hard Mark,yet I needed to learn how to accept the reality of our love story,beyond our dreams and our plans,never a happy ending.Every night I can't sleep,hoping that one day I would wake up with you by my side,that everything that had happened was just a nightmare.Every night I get cold and longed for your warm arms holding me close to you.I feels so fresh even though its been quite sometimes.Remember that night when I told you I forgot that wish I asked for to a meteorite when I was a child?That wish was to be with the man who would love me for the rest of his life as I lie down my bed until the last breath I take.Meteorites are sometimes unfair it would not always grant wishes for everyone. It's been 3 years babe,and nothing has changed.",Stephanie said as she sits on the grass and looks up in the skies. "Mom! Aren't you done yet? Will you please help fly my kite mom?",Mark called his mom. "He's growing so fast Mark.He is starting to learn new things,how to play the guitar,how make friends with other kids.He looks like you babe,even more every day.It's just you Mark.Every time I look to him,it's just,I see nothing but you babe.The way he talks,the way he cracks a joke,the way he runs,and plays,and laugh,it's just you Mark.I know one day when he finds the girl for him,he will be just like his father,who loved the girl of his life wholeheartedly,and then spent the rest of his life devoting it to loving only that girl.",Stephanie continued taking. "Hey mom!C'mon!Please help me!I don't know how to fly this kite.",Mark shouted as he runs and holds the string of his kite. "Yes dear,I'm coming.",Stephanie stood up,walked towards Mark and they played. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- END. ---------------------------------------------------------------