Lost at Sea || Shawmila [Completed]

did I leave you hanging every single day?

Peggy looked at him, impressed. "We've got ourselves an intellectual, then."

Shawn chuckled. "I wouldn't say that. Camila was my girlfriend."

Peggy adjusted another pillow behind his back and tucked the blankets in. "You must have been very much in love. Do you want to call her?"

He shook his head. "I don't think she knows I'm here. She left, started a new life in New York." Shawn looked away. "But can I call home?"

The phone call to his parents was the strangest of his life. His father's voice seemed to have aged at least twenty years, and Shawn could only imagine what he and his mother had been through during that time. Sure, he was the one who had almost died, but at least he hadn't had to face it fully conscious.

Before he hung up the receiver, his parents had promised that they would be there with him within a couple of hours.

They didn't exchange many words; none of the three knew what to say. Yet the silence was comforting, filled with relief. Their visit lasted a long time, and when they were finally forced to leave, they promised they would be back the following day.

Left alone in the hospital room again, Shawn experienced a sense of both peace and unease. The silence of that ward was eerie, and the darkness was too dense. He had never liked hospitals, and having to spend the night there felt like a nightmare. Eventually, he discovered that closing his eyes was even worse. The nightmares had returned, making him relive his accident and playing with his fears. He woke up with the image of Camila turning away from him and walking hand in hand with a man who wasn't him.

Nurse Peggy entered the room, carrying a basin of lukewarm water and shaving soap. Shawn raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to shave me, are you?" he asked with a skeptical look. "No offense," he added.

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Man, all so distrustful. You're much easier to deal with when you're asleep." She placed the basin down and left the room, only to return a minute later with a razor and a mirror in her hands. "You'll be happy to know that no, I won't be your barber today. But we still can't get you out of bed, so if you need a hand, I'm here."

Shawn adjusted himself on the bed, arranging the pillows behind him, then glanced at the mirror Peggy was holding in front of his face. His appearance was worse than he had imagined. He had dark circles under his eyes, which stood out on a gaunt and sickly face. His hair was longer than usual and terribly disheveled, and the beard on his cheeks was rough and untamed. He wanted to look away from that image that, somehow, had made him ashamed of himself. His reflection seemed to mock him with a sly, knowing grin, suggesting that this appearance was another reason why Camila would never choose him.

He gripped the razor and tried to steady his trembling hand. He ran the blade over his cheek, and with each pass, he saw the man he knew emerge from beneath all that hair. He was still a weaker, paler version of the Shawn he had always been, but he reminded himself to take it one step at a time.

"My oh my, what an handsome man we have here," Peggy exclaimed, almost cooing and praising him as if he were a child. "If I weren't already officially engaged, I'd totally go for you," she admitted with a playful wink.

Shawn laughed, a movement that caused a few twinges in his side. "You're wicked, Peggy," he complained groaning but still smiling. "You're supposed to make sure your patients are well, not make them die of laughter. This goes completely against hospital regulations." Their banter continued for a few more minutes. Shawn liked Peggy; she was friendly and straightforward, a great antidote to that depressing place. Having someone treat him normally made him feel more alive than he actually was.

It was not yet ten in the morning when he heard unusual commotion coming from the corridor. Soon after, his parents peered into the room, just as they had promised. They greeted each other with smiles, and his mother handed him a bundle of cinnamon cookies. He didn't have the courage to take a bite. With a sigh and without raising his eyes, he asked a question he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to. "Does she know?"

His mother smiled tenderly at him, passing a hand through his hair just like she used to do when he was a child. "Who do you think baked those?"

Shawn's gaze shot up, and that was when he noticed the small, frightened figure at the doorway. His world stopped, as did his breath. Every ache was forgotten as the room filled only with her. He didn't even realize his parents had left.

With a choked and incredulous voice, he called out, "Camila?" She was at his side in an instant. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and her nails were bitten. "What are you doing here?"

She burst into tears that sounded like laughter. "I came to make sure my prayers were really heard." She sat beside him, sinking the old mattress slightly. She looked at him for a moment, then threw herself onto him, sobbing against his sore chest. Shawn didn't care about the pain; he held her as if his life depended on it. "Everyone thought you were dead, Shawn. Everyone thought so. Except me. I knew you were still out there somewhere."

He kissed her head, inhaling that sweet scent that had brought him a sense of peace and completion for years. "I'm sorry I left you hanging every single day."

She pulled back to look him in the eyes. "I don't want to live another day without you, Shawn."

"You'll always have me, Camila."

She clenched her fists around his hospital gown. "I mean it. I don't care about New York, my job, the plans my mother had for me. All I want, all I've ever wanted, is you."

"Camila—"

"I love you, Shawn." His breath caught yet again. "I loved you when we were kids, I kept on loving you even miles away. I was stupid to leave, but if you still want me, I'll stay by your side forever."

He kissed her, tears streaking his gaunt face, and his pounding heart filled with all the love he had tried to set aside for years. "Marry me."