Remember Us This Way

by Sheridan Anne

To those who’ve had to fight like hell, but never got to see the sunrise. We love you.

Our souls formed an impenetrable bond the day we first met, and since then, it’s only gotten stronger. The more he tries to deny it, the more he hurts us both. But something tells me it’s that pain he craves. Right now, feeling the pain is the only thing keeping him breathing.

I’m so fucking lost in the dark. There’s no way back for me now, no way to save myself.

“I’m beautiful,” she breathes. “Every prince in the kingdom is gonna want a piece of this ass.”

I always knew she was it for me, but there was something about the way the sun lit her face and the way she smiled at me. “I told you that you were the greatest love of my life,” I tell her, the words so hard to say out loud, but I know I meant every fucking word, maybe I still do. “That I would make you the happiest girl in the world and protect you with my life.”

We’re two halves of the same whole, and no matter how much I try to pull us apart and burn that tether between us, we’ll always be forced back together. It’s inevitable.”

He remembers it all just as deeply as I do, and despite that, he’s still capable of denying that I mean a damn thing to him, and I think that’s what hurts the most. Had he forgotten it all or buried it so deep that it was impossible to recall, I might be able to understand how he could so easily push me away. But it’s right there for him, tormenting his mind in the same way it does mine, yet I need him now more than ever.

“I think the day you died, I died right along with you. Only I was stuck here, living like a fucking ghost, barely going through the motions.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else, sir,” I tell him. “From the day I first met her, I knew I was going to walk my life right beside her. If she’s happy, I’m happy, and if she’s suffering, then I’m suffering too. We’re two halves of the same whole, and I know I’ve told you that before, but it doesn’t make it any less true. She’s my world, and if being here every day to hold her hand is what she needs, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”