Short Stories

My Sunshine (𝕤𝕒𝕕)

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"What are you humming?" he asked, coming up behind me and resting his chin on my shoulder as I washed the dishes.

I smiled and began singing the words aloud. We swayed to the soft music, a song my mother used to sing me to sleep with:

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you, so please don't take me sunshine away..."

The last few notes hung in the air as he continued to hold me.

"You truly are my sunshine." he whispered.

I paused while scrubbing a plate. Leaning back into him, I looked up into his loving eyes.

"And you are mine." I smiled.

He pressed a quick kiss into my lips before breaking away so I could continue my work.

וו×

"You're such a baby."

I let out a breathy laugh as he coughed dramatically and readjusted the cold washcloth on his forehead.

"I can't help it." he grinned, followed by another loud cough "I think I'm dying."

"Here, have some more medicine." I urged, suppressing an eye roll as I picked up the half empty bottle of cough syrup and held it out to him.

"Nah, I'm good. But do you know what would really make me feel better?" he asked.

"Accepting that it's just a little cough and you're not dying of lung cancer or something?" I asked with a cheeky smile.

"Where's the fun is that?" he asked in a playful yet husky voice "No, I think the cure to my ailment is actually your voice. Will you sing me a song, dear? Please?"

The pleading look in his eyes and the way he says 'dear' is enough to make me give in. His face lit up like a little kid's on Christmas as I settle on the edge of the bed and begin singing softly to him:

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine..."

וו×

Tears were streaming down my face and my breaths were coming out in choked sobs as I desperately searched the wreckage for any sign of him.

When the apartment building had gone up in flames, he had run inside to save our disabled neighbor, while the firefighters did nothing to help him. They had arrived too late and said it was too dangerous for anyone to go inside now but that didn't stop him.

"M'am! M'am! Please come back here, it's not safe!" called a police officer but I ignored him.

I had to find him. I just had to. I couldn't live without him. The hope that I might find him alive in the rubble of the burned down building was all that was keeping me from breaking down right then and there.

Then, I saw him. Laying amidst the broken planks and cement, half berried in the rubble but maybe, just maybe, alive.

I shouted his name and stumbled toward him as fast as my shaky legs would allow.

I fell next to him and frantically checked for any signs of life. Over the blaring of sirens and shouts of police officers and civilians, I heard his shallow breaths. He was alive! But just barely.

"Don't cry, dear." he whispered and I could hear the ill-disguised pain in his voice.

His shaky hand reached up and brushed the hot tears from my cheek.

"You'll be ok." I managed through whatever was constricting my throat.

He smiled sadly and slowly shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, dear. This beam is crushing most of my vital organs and half my bones are broken. It's a miracle I'm still alive." he said quietly.

I wiped at the tears streaming down my face and grasped his hand.

"No, you'll be ok! You have to be! Please..."

A sob escaped my lips as I stared into his eyes, which were slowly loosing their focus.

"Listen, dear." he said sternly "I love you very much and am eternally grateful that I get to spend my last minutes on this earth with you. Can you do me one more favor before I pass?" he asked, his voice becoming weaker and breaths more shallow the longer he spoke.

I somehow managed to nod and he smiled weakly.

"Thank you. Will you sing me to sleep, dear? One last time?"

I knew exactly what song he wanted me to sing. I took a deep breath and between sobs and ragged breaths, I sang quietly to him:

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you, so please don't take my sunshine away..."

His eyes lost their spark and his hand fell limply out of my grasp. A faint smile still lingered on his lips.

I gave a heart-wrenching scream as my soul seemed to rip itself in two.

He was gone.

My Sunshine was gone.

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