LOVE NEVER DIES

“Help me!” The cry was strangled and small, but she heard it none the less. She glanced toward the ocean where she could see a small amount of thrashing and splashing in the water, not too far from where she stood. The woman looked around nervously for the lifeguard who was supposed to be on duty.

She spotted the lifeguard flirting with some super-model looking woman instead of paying attention to the children in the water. Everywhere she looked, the people who were supposed to be paying attention weren't. She thought about screaming for help, but the water started to become calm once more. He was almost out of time.

Without thinking much more about it, she dove into the salty ocean and toward the child she'd seen splashing around helplessly. The woman dove further and further into the dark. When she felt a small hand rest on her leg, she grabbed the tiny body of the child. She tried to swim upward, but the boy was too heavy and her lungs were void of air. She couldn't breathe anymore, but she didn't think much about it. All she thought about was getting the child to safety. She kicked and kicked until she finally broke the surface.

The tiny boy was ripped from her arms, she tried to say something, but she was helpless. She sunk back into the shadowy depths, she was alone and she was finally out of air.

***

“No. No. It's not true,” he said with tears in his light green eyes. She couldn't have been dead. He had just kissed her goodbye this morning. This morning, when she left for the beach, he told her he loved her and to come home safely. He always told her that. And she always promised that she would. Even that morning, she promised she would come home.He felt the tears roll down his cheeks. She was the only thing in the world that he loved, that he truly loved.

He curled up onto his bed and cried. There was nothing he could do. He felt as though a giant hole was ripped through his chest. A part of him, had disappeared. He felt so empty. So alone. What was his purpose in life now? He had none. She was his soul mate. And she took his soul with him when she died.

“Anthony, you can't stay in bed forever, and please eat something,” his sister pleaded. Anthony shook his matted brown hair. He barely even opened his eyes. Every time he woke up, he was reminded that she was no longer with him.

“Please Taylor, go away,” he murmured weakly. But Taylor wouldn't let him be. Instead she set a tray of his favorite food in front of him.

“Anthony, you have to get out of bed. You have to take a shower and you have to eat something.” Anthony ignored his overly pushy sister and sighed when she left the room. He closed his eyes once more and allowed himself to fall into his false world of dream land. It was his escape. But it came to a quick end when his phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Without looking at the caller ID, like he normally did, Anthony grabbed his phone and pressed it to his ear.

"Hello?" he said quietly.

"Is this Anthony Giametti?" a woman asked him in a clipped, sharp tone. Anthony nodded a yes, but remembered the woman couldn't see him.

"Uh... yes," he answered.

"The boy that your wife saved, he's asking to see you. Please come to the hospital at your earliest convenience. Sorry for your loss." The woman hung up the phone without waiting for an answer. Anthony tossed his phone onto his blankets and groaned loudly. He didn't want to see that boy. The boy who got his Gabriella killed. But... but the boy was also his last connection to his wife. She saved the boy. She wanted the boy to live. Anthony rolled out of bed and as he did, he felt his stomach churn. The emptiness that he felt was indescribable.

"Anthony! You're... you're getting out of bed!" Taylor seemed genuinely surprised at the sight. If Anthony had had the energy, he would have rolled his eyes, instead he groaned and pushed passed her. He refused to take a shower, instead he pulled on a dirty shirt and jeans. He didn't care if he smelled bad, or if his hair was greasy. None of that mattered anymore.

Anthony pushed open the door to the little boy's room. The boy with no family. All the doctors and nurses were talking about him. No one had come to see the child... Except Anthony. The child had super tanned skin and dark, greasy brown hair. He had dark green eyes and freckles dotted his nose. He was super skinny and small.

"I'm Anthony," he told the boy as he stood at the very back of the room. The boy looked at him and tears began streaming from his eyes.

"Thank you, thank you," he repeated over and over again. As Anthony stared at the child in mild confusion, he felt himself smile. Gabriella saved the little boy so that he could live. So that he could finally be shown the love that he had never before seen.

The hole in Anthony's chest remained, but he realized that Gabriella was still a part of him, because a love like theirs can never die.