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Kris Allen walked down a street in Conway, Arkansas. It was an average street. One he'd walked a thousand times before. But this was no average day. Today, Kris was contemplating something that would completely change the course of his life. Today, he was planning to ask his high school sweetheart, Katy, to marry him.
It felt like the right thing to do. They'd been together long enough that Kris felt it was the next natural and logical step to take. So why was he thinking about it so much?
It should be a done deal for him. He had the ring in his pocket, the proposal planned - location and all. Everything was ready. So why wasn't he?
He kept walking, thinking over his decision. Should he go through with his plans? Or should he wait? Was it too soon in his life? Should he finish college first? Were they even meant to be? Did he…
…did he even truly love her?
He had just turned back to head the other way, mind still uncertain, when a familiar voice spoke.
“Don’t do it, Kris.”
He stopped.
“Don’t lose what time you could have together.”
He frowned and turned back the way he’d been heading. Upon seeing the man now standing in front of him he stopped short.
The man looked very familiar. He was a bit older than Kris, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. His brown hair was cropped short, much like Kris’ and was about the same height.
But there was something off about this man.
Something other than the bloody hand print smeared down his face and neck; as though the hand had been held tenderly to his cheek and lost the strength stay there… something other than the blood that came from the wound on his face and the tears that trailed down his cheeks.
It was something in his brown eyes, something hollow and shattered.
“Don’t do it,” the stranger shook his head sadly.
Kris found his voice. “Don’t do what?”
“Don’t regret this day,” the stranger turned and walked away.
“Who are you?” Kris called after the man, who had just turned a corner. He received no answer. Kris shook his head and turned to go back home.
He shoved his hands in his pocket and felt the ring box. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was a simple, dainty little ring with only a tiny stone set into it. Katy would love it.
The man’s voice echoed in his head: “Don’t lose what time you could have together.”
It happened in the blink of an eye.
They were smiling, and happy, and together as they had been for several, eventful years. They were driving down the highway and singing along to a song on the radio – surprisingly badly, especially with all the interrupting and infectious giggles from the beauty in the passenger’s seat, but that was half the fun. The CD case had dropped and he watched as his love unlocked the passenger seatbelt to reach for it.
Then the car was bathed in light.
He swerved to avoid the oncoming car that had switched into the wrong lane, but it was too late. The oncoming car swiped the back of theirs, sending it into a wild spin. Kris slammed on the breaks, trying to stop. They were struck on the passenger side and the car rolled off the side of the road.
When it stopped Kris had a cut on his right cheek and what would be plenty of bruises on his body. He looked to the passenger seat and found himself staring at an empty chair; the door had been ripped out.
He managed to get himself out of the car before it burst into flames and started searching. He screamed into the night and looked wildly about. About forty feet from the car he finally found the one he was looking for, clinging onto life and Kris could tell the battle wouldn’t last much longer.
He knelt beside the battered body. Even in its bloody and broken state, he could still see its perfection. Every line, every curve in it had been long since committed to memory.
Memories of their life together ran through his mind. Their first meeting, the first time he saw that breathtakingly beautiful smile, the first time they held hands, their first kiss… the first time they made love… the day they got married…
“Baby, I’m here,” Kris spoke in a shaking voice. “Please, hold on.”
“I do- don’t think I c-can,” the weak voice replied before a cough caused blood to spatter the perfect, full lips. With his thumb he wiped it off and leaned in to press an almost desperate kiss to them. Both begging the one below him to stay and letting them know he understood why they could not. He poured all his heart and soul into the kiss. He pulled back and leaned his cheek into the hand that now rest against it. He stared lovingly into the pain filled eyes of the one he’d fallen so deeply in love with years ago.
“I love you, Kris,” whispered the emotion filled voice that always made his heart skip a beat one last time. The tender hand resting on his cheek slipped down his neck and dropped to the settle in the grass, leaving behind a blood-smeared print as the only proof of its contact.
Kris let his unshed tears finally escape as the one person he’d ever truly loved took their last breath.
He remembered back, all those years ago, and remembered the day that he’d planned to propose to Katy. He remembered the broken man whose cryptic words had wisely advised him.
He knew now that, somehow, someway, it had been himself that had been talking to him – his older self. And he finally understood his older self’s full meaning.
While nothing could have stopped the accident from happening, nothing could have changed his love’s fate, there was one thing he’d been able to stop from losing: time.
He leaned forward and pressed a gentle last kiss to his lost love’s still lips. Pulling back he whispered into the night:
“I love you Adam. I always will, and I’ll always cherish the time we had together.”
He held his husband’s left hand in his, the light from the flaming remains of the car glinting off their red stained wedding bands.
—30—