The Secrets of Cedar Creek

59 : Legendary

I hate her. She's so f*cking stupid. She's so...

I hate her.

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ONE WEEK LATER

I am slow to put on the suit. The same suit I wore to Paige's funeral. I remember telling Dad that I won't need to buy a suit. I can rent a suit. I won't be needing a suit for anything.

But here I am.

It's crazy that I outlived Rose. It makes no sense.

I'm the one that fights, I'm the one getting a concussion once a month, I'm the one who got choked out by a fire.

But I outlived her.

I should've known she wasn't telling me everything – when she broke up whatever we were. When she said we need to stop this. I should've known she wasn't just moody. I should've known there was more to the story.

How did I not see that she was sick? I saw the weight loss. I saw her hair thinning. I saw her paleness. She even sounded sick. But I ignored it. I blamed stress.

I'm stupid.

Maybe I'm cursed. Maybe it's just the women I love are bound to die.

I'll be late if I don't leave now.

I walk down the stairs. Everything is an effort – even this f*cking ugly staircase is too much.

Kath and Dad are both dressed in black. They're fighting again and they haven't stopped since Rose died.

Dad's getting closer to her and I can tell what he's going to do. He apologises, says he will never do it again, then he does it again. He will wait a week. He will wait a month. Then he snaps.

He did it to Mum and I did nothing. I was smaller and weaker. Then she snapped. She couldn't take it so she killed herself. 

I step between Dad and Kath and instead of waiting for him to break, I throw a punch.

He stumbles backward and Kath gasps. "Sylv!" she chastises me.

"If you have any respect for yourself, you would leave him. He's already killed one woman."

My Dad looks up at me with blood pouring from his nose. He seems shocked more than anything. He doesn't know what to say – so I leave.

I take Cheryl to Rose's funeral.

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It's a bad coincidence that the final fight of the season is tonight, the night of Rose's funeral. I'm exhausted from it. I'm sick of seeing people crying – people who act like they knew her. But no one knew her like I did.

She told me everything – her every thought, her every dream, her every nightmare. I should've noticed that as she got older, her dreams got smaller. The whole time she's knew she was dying. She had known since we broke up.

Riccardo is in front of me. He's ready. He's awake. He's here.

My final competitor – the difference between me being an average fighter, and being a legendary fighter.

But all I see is Rose.

All I see is her ashy brown hair. All I see is her smile. All I see is her tears. I see her eyes puffy after we fought, I see her wet hair after a swim, I see her lips.

Riccardo is winning.

He throws the perfect punch – one I know how to dodge. But I'm ready to give up.

I'm ready to let him win.

I'm ready to let him kill me.

The collision throws me down to the floor. Like in slow motion, my head hits the ground and everything goes dark.

I know I must be dreaming. There's a big house in front of me. One of those picket fence, big houses. The ones you see in movies with the perfect families.

There's two kids running around, both with dark brown hair like mine. One turns around and I freeze. She's got Rose's eyes.

The kids run up to me and hug me. It's like I'm in a movie. They call me Dad. I know their names.

I walk up to the porch and there's a big dog. One of those Labradors that Rose and I always wanted.

Then there she is.

She opens the door. She's got flour on her face like she's been cooking.

There's a ring on her finger. She smiles.

"Rose?"

And I snap awake just as I hear the countdown. I'm not dead yet.

Something stirs within me. I'm going to smash this mother f*cker.

I couldn't save Rose. But I can fight for her.

And if it's for Rose, then I have to win.