War

Chapter Thirty-Nine

A/N - here we go....

TW: this chapter contains upsetting scenes, mentions of self harm, suicide, child abuse, domestic abuse, and sexual assault

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Marco
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One month later

If there was one thing I'd had drilled into my head, engraved into my brain, for as long as I could remember, it was that life went on.

Someone could be living, breathing, smiling, one moment- then nothing but a lifeless shell of who they were the next.

And despite that, life kept moving.

The world didn't pause for your grief, as much as one would want it to, leaving you with no choice but to keep moving with it.

I'd been moving away from my grief for seventeen years and hadn't glanced over my shoulder once, but with everything changing around me as of recently, I couldn't help but wonder if now- March 23rd and what would've been my mother's fifty-first birthday- was the perfect time for closure.

Some of it anyway.

"I've never seen you stay in bed for this long", Aniyah chuckled, sauntering into the room with two mugs in her hands, "you feeling okay?". I hadn't told my wife about the importance of today's date, but I knew I'd have to enlighten her in the near, near future.

"Can you sit down for a moment?", or right now I supposed. I didn't even recognise my own tone as I asked the question, and Aniyah seemingly caught on because she perched on my side of the bed, lowering both hot drinks onto my bedside table, the scents of peppermint and coffee mixing together in the air.

"What's wrong?", she asked, reaching over and taking my left hand in hers, it'd only been four days since I'd had my splint and bandages removed but it already felt like my wrist was back to what it once was. I let my gaze stray to my wife's stomach; now at the start of her second trimester her stomach was growing more, and the knowledge that there were three children being kept safe and secure inside of her put my mind at ease, even if it were only for a moment.

"Today is our mother's birthday", I revealed, my eyes meeting hers once again, "I just, don't-". I waved a hand and hoped she could draw her own conclusion to an extent...if there was one weakness in my life that sat highly above the few others, it was the woman who had brought me into this world in the first place.

She'd attempted to shelter us from the tyranny of our father whilst facing his wrath simultaneously, had her innocence and free will stripped from her time and time again, and chosen to leave us as a result.

And I hadn't saved her, I couldn't save her.

"I understand", Aniyah thankfully nodded, squeezing my hand before placing my palm against her stomach, the faint fluttering sensation under my touch causing a small smile to tug at my lips; the triplets had been moving ever so slightly for the past week, and while we weren't yet to meet them for another six months I felt closer to them than ever, "what do you wanna do today?".

I wanted to stay in this bed with my wife beside me, feeling the small signs of life we'd created under the tips of my fingers, but I knew I had an obligation to three of the people I cared about more than myself today.