New short story

I don't know, I guess I've been in the mood for short stories. I want to spend time to write a novel, but I wouldn't know where to put it for people to read... So I think it's easier and more convenient to write short stories. Here it is!


It's an old love story, one that kept on playing, even into the late hours of the night. A young man, unable to sleep, wishes that the world around him would crumble. His "I need you" and his "Please don't leave me" are drowned out as the god's answer his wishes, and the young man is thrown into a displaced void. With the peace of mind he's only dreamed of, the young man finally set's his weary eyes to rest. After all he knows that even in this void, the woman he loves cannot possibly exist, and that all he once knew has come to an end, he finally had his peace. Suddenly the black world around him shrinks and it's replaced with a hospital room he's unfamiliar with. He's surrounded by people he could call his friends, and people he can call family. They're all weeping around a bed with someone whom he cannot see. He draws closer to the bed to see his own body lying amongst the rumpled sheets. Dazed and confused, the young man tries to shake his father, hug his mother only to have them slip through his fingers. The young man slumps to the floor, unable to do anything but let his world become as unstable as before. As the people leave, and his parents return home, he's left alone in a room with his body, and the soft beeping of his slow pulse on the machine next to its bed. The young man screams as the night begins to set in and sobs as he slides down the wall in a helpless lump. After all, no one cared when he was alive, he couldn't reach the cold hearts of his "friends" nor come to understanding with his "family", and the only one he had loved didn’t, no he wouldn't go there. His moment is interrupted by someone entering the room, `Must be a nurse` he thought as he sat in the corner. He's disrupted by a strong voice, one that filled his ears to the brim, causing him to cringe for a second. The voice tells him to look twice at the one who entered his room, for sometimes his mistakes can cause him to become blind to the truth. He looks disbelievingly towards the bed at the young woman next to his body. Even he cannot hide the surprise behind his depression as he recognizes his first and last love. She pulled up the chair his mother had been sitting in at the time of her visit and sits next to his body. He sees the confusion on her face, her gaze locked on his face. She begins to speak, softly as not to alert the nurses of her presence this late at night.


“I don’t exactly know why I couldn’t visit you earlier, when I got a phone message saying that you were in a coma in the hospital, with unknown causes on top of that, I just couldn’t believe it, my mind just kept telling me that… it just couldn’t be you” she whispered as she drew closer to the bed.


“You know, I’ve had people I liked before, people I felt I couldn’t live without, people that my heart grew attached to before I knew what was going on. I couldn’t, at the time of your confession, say the same about you, the way you made me feel, the things you said to me, all of it was so inspiring, and it kept me going. I couldn’t make the connection.” My head dropped as she said this, the young man knew, even in his dreams he couldn’t win her love.


“But I thought about it, the night after you said those things to me… I couldn’t pin it down, but when I thought about you, and your words, I felt like the world was new, and for once in my life, my heart leapt and flew” She smiled, sadness hidden deep in her eyes.


“I know I can’t quite take back the words I already said, and I don’t quite know if you can hear me. But I lied to myself when I told you that day, that there wasn’t any way for me to see you like that. I didn’t understand what my heart was trying to tell me, or what you were giving me, I didn’t understand anything at all” She whispered as she wrapped her hand around mine.


The young man felt his hand grow warm, and he continued watched over her as she stayed like that until morning.


Even the young man didn’t understand what had happened that night, but as the black void began to replace itself around him, the young man found his voice raising as he extended his hand to keep hold of that warm world he had stumbled into. The strong voice echoed through his head again, rivaling the young man’s screams. The voice commanded him to silence himself, rather he miss something in the last moments of his time here in this moment. The young man silenced himself, only to hear the young woman whisper.


“I know I can’t take the words back, but please wake up, so I can make it up to you, and maybe you’d forgive me… I lost the smile you gave me, and I’m ashamed to face you, the smile I happily showed others is gone now, and only you know where it is” as he sunk into the abyss, the young man’s last vision was of her leaning over his bodies chest, sobbing and clutching the small pendant around his neck.


A black depth surrounded his vision, something that only hours ago was comforting him. It was his turn to cry now. He had misunderstood her until the very end, and he had hurt her in the worst possible way. He clutched the pendant that hung around his neck as the tears fell. It felt warm to his touch, and he could feel her by his side in this desolate land. The voice that had commanded him echoed softly around him, in contrast to before, the young man had almost missed it completely. It spoke in a comforting warmth as it asked him, `Did you have a nice dream?`. The young man was furious when he had heard this, but he held his tongue when the stranger spoke again.


`Many people make mistakes, and your was one of many in an ocean we listen to everyday.` The voice materialized in front of the young man, it took the shape of an older man, graying but stout.


`I won’t say that your life was an impressive one, or one that deserved to be redeemed. But rather, your heart told us a tale that shook even the mightiest of us. It told us of a love surpassing love, one that couldn’t be counted in days or months, but rather years of a life. It told us of days ending in defeat, one after another, but the heart’s owner never stopped believing in love. What will you tell us about your life, what do you want?` He smiled, almost as if knowing what was to come.


The young man gritted his teeth, the tears flowing down his face as he looked at the old man. Somewhere in his heart, he felt the words flow into him, and he felt her warmth on his chest.


I only want a tomorrow with her, because with all my heart, I wish I could laugh with you once more even if it’s a dream that could never come true. I can see a tomorrow with you and I, and our meeting can’t have been coincidence.


The old man smiled, `Well said, we’ll see you soon`.


The young man sat up quickly still holding his warm pendant, a small gasp reaching his ears. The young woman hadn’t left his side since he had seen her. She grappled him and cried heavily into his shoulder, causing his shirt to become wet.


It wasn’t a dream, I saw your face, and heard your words, and felt your warmth…


“I can’t believe you’re awake, they said you wouldn’t… I never had the chance to say what I had meant to say that day…” She cried, gripping my shirt.


The young man pushed his fingers to the young girl’s lips. He hugged her close and silently cried on her shoulder, he didn’t need anything more, to be alive was something he had taken for granted.


I’m here, and I’ll never leave you again.


Well, as always, I'm not so sure about the flow of it, but I hope it's readable. I've had this reoccurring dream of being in a hospital watching my own body, and seeing people around me waste away as they grieve over my condition. I had always taken this as a sign to never give up on anything, life or love, or maybe I'm overestimating my presence on people. I always thought that if you can't find a reason to live for yourself, then you should live for other people around you, because you never know who might be missing you if you were to leave. Anyways, as always, Happy Reading!