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“Stay.”
That’s all she had said, that was all she wanted from Michael. Lindsay just wanted her fiancé to stay home with her and hang out, he was always rushing around with work lately and she understood (she really did, working at the same company and all). She understood that he had work to do, that he wanted to stay home and snuggle with her but couldn’t.
So he pressed a kiss to her forehead, whispered an ‘I love you,’ and went off to run a final errand with a promise of bringing Homeslice back to her. She smiled and told him she loved him as well and to hurry back to her.
He departed with a half smile and the word always.
He was tapping his foot impatiently in the back of the cab, desperate to get back home. It turned out that the text that Geoff had sent to Michael was sent to the wrong person, so Michael went to grab some pizza and then hailed a cab so he could get back home to his red haired beauty. He checked the time on his phone and smiled at the picture of her beaming at him. God, he loved her. He loved her more than the earth needed the trees and more than anything he had ever loved before.
The cab pulled up at a red light and Michael hummed along to the song on the radio, one of the new pop songs that were played to death. He swore he only closed his eyes for a second, but when he opened them again, the driver-side front window was smashed and the driver was unconscious. Then the culprit of these doings noticed Michael and they stared at each other for a moment.
“Stay.” He demanded to Michael. Michael stayed. The man opened the driver seat and took a side step as the unconscious cabby fell out the car. He grabbed the car keys and fumbled through the cabs front, taking all the money and important documents. He climbed out of the car and yanked Michaels’ door open and demanded for him to get out and kneel in front of him. Michael did what he was told and prayed that he’d get home to Lindsay.
Lindsay tried her best not to panic. She’d fallen asleep in front of the electric heater and while she was sleeping blissfully, the rug had caught alight and started a fire. The flames danced everywhere around her and she was stuck in the corner with no path towards a window or door. This was it.
“Stay,” Her mind commanded. Her brain knew that the safest thing to do was wrap whatever fabric she could over her face to stop smoke inhalation and try and stay as far from the fire as she could until help arrived (and it was arriving, she could hear the sirens) but the flames were licking at her feet and she could feel her skin melting under the extreme heat. She was getting light headed and was struggling to breath past the harsh burning in her lungs but she had to do this. She had to get through this for Michael, she had to leave this building to hold him and laugh the whole accident off, laughing about how she hated that apartment anyway. They’d stay with the Ramseys’ until they’d get back on their feet.
Michael knew what was going to happen, he knew as soon as the thief had noticed him in the car. It was unavoidable so he closed his eyes, smiled and thought about how good of a run his life had been so far. Twenty six years of life and nearly all of them had been fantastic. He thought about the love of his life and gave a moment for the sadness to wash over him. He loved her and he knew that she knew that.
She tried to hang on for as long as she could, but she could breathe less and less as time passed and her moments were numbered. She gave a moment to think about she loved Michael – her goofy grinned fiancé who loved to shout and play video games, who she was merely months away from marrying. She loved him more than she had ever loved before. So she let the darkness take her under.
They both woke up lying in a field of flowers; Michael in a well-tailored suit and Lindsay in a wedding gown. They looked at each other and kissed. They both knew what had happened to the other but they didn’t care, because even if they were miles apart, they’d gone out together. Just how they’d always planned, even if the plan was another sixty years in the future. And now, they could see their alter with the red and gold ribbons swaying gently in the wind, waiting for them.
“Stay,” Michael whispered as he embraced her. She smiled and nodded into his chest.
“I’ll stay.”