The Love From Vengeance

341: HOLDING ON

ARIEL’S POV

Janice furrowed her brows, concern etched across her features. “Mom, you shouldn’t be pushing yourself like this. You’re hurt.”

“I know, sweetheart,” I sighed, wincing as I adjusted myself on the bed. “But I had to make sure your dad

was okay.”

“But the doctors are taking care of him, right?”

“Yes, they are.” I nodded, reaching out to gently stroke her hair. “But I just needed to see him for myself, you know?”

Janice nodded, her eyes filled with understanding. “I get it, Mom. But please, promise me you’ll take it easy. You need to focus on getting better too.”

“I promise,” I replied, offering her a weak smile. “Now, how about we both try to get some rest? We could

use it.”

Janice nodded, leaning against my shoulder. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

As we settled into the quiet room, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of gratitude wash over me. Together, we would confront numerous challenges, yet our unwavering unity would be the only thing that mattered.

L

Storms could come and chaos might unfold, but with my blood by my side, those terrors would be so

bootless,

out. Luke being there to hold me tight, and Janice supporting the both

savor

ONE MONTH LATER

seemed endless, each step echoing the cacophony of emotions raging within me.

a burden I could barely carry. The sterile smell permeated the air, a constant reminder of the stark

up to machines that whispered tales

there, so still and pale, was a dagger to my soul. His once vibrant eyes dulled, mirroring the agony I felt within. I reached out to hold his hand, the touch so familiar yet foreign, as if he were slipping away with each passing

professionalism that did little to assuage my growing terror. Words like “critical–condition” and “uncertain prognosis hung in the air like a curse, a constant reminder of the fragility of life and the powerlessness of my

torturous nights: 1 whispered words of encouragement and promises of better days to come, knowing deep down that I was grasping at straws,

and leaves you gasping for breath in a world that suddenly seems

of life. I clung to those moments like a drowning soul to a life raft, holding onto the hope that They would be sufficient to rescue her from the abyss. But deep down, I knew that love alone was not always a match for the

and lonely stretches of darkness that seemed to

hand and watching the rise and fall of his

just a little longer. The tears that fell were a silent

at times I felt it would swallow me whole.

the machines, I would whisper words of love and devotion, promises of a future we might never share 1 would tell him of the dreams we had woven together and the plans we had made, hoping that somewhere in the recesses of his unconscious mind, he would hear me and find the strength to hold on

miracles in the making I knew for a fact that we would go through it all, clinging to each other–two souls bound by a love that had weathered the storm and emerged stronger on the other side.

fight, but also ours. The pain of

that would carry us through the darkest of times

brightest of days

feeling, being optimistic, that any day soon we would walk hand in hand into the light of a new

love was a force to be reckoned

uncertainty and pain