𝕲𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖊𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝕭𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘 ⤞ 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡

1 | ... 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

❝The sad truth is the truth is sad.❞

- Lemony Snicket

       Penelope remembered the late nights they spent together, and how he would hold her like she was one of those porcelain dolls her Grandmother used to collect. His pink lips would drag across her freckled neck, leaving feather-like kisses on every inch of skin he could find. The purple splotches that would appear the next morning, and that signature smirk that was too smug to handle. His fingers traced lazy patterns on her skin as they stayed sprawled across his unmade mattress, limbs tangled and bodies oozing satisfaction.

       "I love you, Penny," he would whisper as she drifted off into slumber, that Southern twang he was born with soothing her restless nerves. "I'll love you 'til the sun explodes, and even after that."

       Messy, tangled hair would be brushed away from her face, and a gentle kiss would be pressed onto her damp forehead. The feeling of his lips locked itself into a titanium box, securing it's place there in her vast amount of cherished memories. She felt sheltered and undamaged when his arms surrounded her, a feeling she would grow desperate for later on.

       His brilliant smile was the most contagious thing Penelope had ever witnessed, along with his infectious laugh. The brilliance and heartiness would overwhelm her at times, and she would find herself staring at him with a dopey look on her face. Though, that was one of his favorite things about her, Penelope despised when he would catch her off guard. He managed to snap a few photos of her with his mother's old polaroid, ending with her chasing him around trying to destroy the evidence.

      𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐭𝐨𝐨.

      It was the first time she had attended one of his races. His incredibly dangerous, and illegal hobby always made Penelope uneasy whenever it was brought up. Drag racing was one of the most idiotic things she'd ever heard of, but the way he would light up at the mere utter of it made her bit her tongue. His happiness meant more to her than her sanity, and that was why she accompanied him that fatal evening.

       Penelope remembered the last kiss they shared, it being chaste yet passionate, and the words he mumbled against her mouth imprinted into her brain's softest tissues, "Who's my girl?"

       "I am," She recalled bashfully answering as that familiar warmth spreading from her core.

       The last smile he ever gave was filled with the greatest amount of adoration, "Til the sun explodes, and even after that."

       Penelope remembered watching him strut over to his vehicle, a dated car she had watched him slave over for hours on end, and the roar of the engine covered the ringing in her ears from the crowd's cheers. It was sound resonated in the deepest depths of her soul, rummaging around noisily before finally settling. By the time she blinked, the flag had been waved and the racers were heading towards the first turn of the course.

       The screeching of tires and the scent of burning rubber bombarded her, jolting not only her, but everyone who had shown up as witnesses. The heart wrenching groan that was produced when metal grounded against a hard, unmoving surface hit the air soon after. Penelope heard the gasps of horror, and she didn't have to contemplate who's vehicle had crashed.

       "Tex!" Her lungs burned as she sprinted towards the wreckage, her friends close on her heels, and her eyes became blurred by tears that refused to fall. She continued to scream his name during the journey, and could've sworn that she tasted blood.

       A strangled cry hit the air when Penelope saw the damage done to his car. The front end was split down the middle from the telephone pole forcing it to stop. Glass that made up the wind shield covered every inch of the interior, and a large, jagged shard was lodged into his chest. Blood trickled down the sides of his mouth as well as the gashes that found their home across his face. She begged for those sparkling, brown eyes to open, but they had closed for the last time.

       A familiar feminine voice called out to her frantically while a pair of arms pulled her away from the lifeless body that once contained her other half. The smell of peaches filled her nose as she buried her face in the chest of the person holding her, and her sobs continued to rip themselves from her body.

       The other driver in the race, stumbled out of the darkness, a terrified look covering his face. He moved towards the spot where Penelope was falling apart, but Lily, the girl clutching onto her dearest friend, glared at him through her tears. The young man swallowed his obvious sorrow, and regretful babbled,  "I - I was only trying to get ahead of him, and I clipped him -"

       The ringing in Penelope's ears drowned out all other sounds. The cries of agony, the screaming sirens and the comforting words were all pushed out of her mind. All she could focus on as she soaked her friend's t-shirt with her tears were the words Tex had said to her - his last words.

       "Til the sun explodes, and even after that."

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THIS REALLY HURT MY HEART TO WRITE, HONESTLY. I ALMOST CRIED WHILE WRITING THE ENDING. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK? HEARTBREAKING ENOUGH?