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,

and how everything was going to work out. Luke being there to hold me tight, and

savor

ONE MONTH LATER

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 reality that awaited me behind those white

machines that

yet foreign, as if he were slipping away with each passing moment. The beeping of the machines was a cruel symphony, and the rhythm of his heartbeat was

doctors came and went, their faces a mask of professionalism that did little to assuage my growing terror. Words

in the darkness a flicker of light that guided me through the long and torturous nights: 1 whispered words of encouragement and promises of better days to come, knowing deep down that I was grasping at straws, trying to hold onto a reality that was slipping away with each

that suddenly seems devoid of color

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 cruel hand fate had dealt us.

were the hardest, long and lonely stretches of darkness that seemed to stretch into eternity.

and watching the rise and fall of his chest, willing him to

fell were a silent testament to the pain that gnawed at my

at times I felt

we might never share 1 would tell him of the dreams we

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. The pain of these days and nights lingered like a scar, a reminder of the

to fight, but also ours. The pain of watching him

unbreakable, a bond that would carry us through the darkest of times and

brightest of days

we would walk

that our love was a force to be reckoned with, a beacon of hope in a

uncertainty and pain