After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage By Cassila K

Chapter 39

When I woke up, the faint scent of antiseptic lingered in the air.

I had been transferred to a hospital back home.

The doctor told me I had spent two full weeks in the ICU.

My internal organs were severely injured, and I had taken a bullet to the shoulder.

But by some stroke of luck,

my spleen wasn't ruptured, and the bullet hadn't caused an exit wound.

The blood loss wasn't severe, and that's how I managed to survive until the peacekeepers rescued me.

I knew clearly in my heart-it was because Joseph shielded me twice.

He saved my life.

I reached out to everyone I could, trying to find any trace of him.

But they all said the chaos at the time made it impossible to recover Joseph's body.

With casualties mounting, Doctors Without Borders had suspended its projects in North Kivu.

I had no chance to go back and look for him.

Just like that, Joseph vanished.

Every night, I woke up screaming, gripped by terror.

His dying moments replayed endlessly in my mind, refusing to fade.

The doctor diagnosed me with PTSD.

therapy sessions, even resorting to

But nothing worked.

starting anew, to

But... how could I?

He died for me.

an unshakable shadow, always hanging

myself for still being alive, hate

for not granting him

edge of a rooftop, wanting

very last moment, I

was one Joseph gave everything

had the right to

I returned

I could no longer

requesting a transfer to

day, yet I remained a walking corpse, lifeless

encouraged me to meet new people,

and only wanted to say a

then I met

I

face identical

every ounce of strength I had not to break

found out he was the brother

him as a stand-in did bring me

ordinary days were so wonderfully

cook dinner and wait for him to come

days off, we'd curl up

nights when nightmares woke

quietly beside me would let me drift