Sunkissed Love [ON HOLD]

fortify, ambrose

a m b r o s e

Winnie was a handful that night. I could've sworn she was bouncing off the walls up until the time I put her into bed. I plopped myself down onto the worn sofa in my small living room. I knew it would be hard but god, this was hard.

I opened up my laptop, pulling up my school work and dreading the next hours that would have me missing my sleep. A little alert from some newspaper I followed popped up on my screen. My blood ran cold as I read and reread the headline for the article, slowly clicking on the alert before a window popped up on my screen.

Couple found in critical condition this evening in the downtown area when neighbors found the door to the house open and no one in sight.

When police arrived at the scene, they found the two unidentified bodies in the center of the house. The police are currently in the process of identifying the two bodies and are launching an investigation on the case. The police are suspecting murder but have yet to release an official announcement on this matter.

My heart dropped when I saw the picture in the middle of the article, showing off Anastasia's house. No, this couldn't have been what she was planning. There was no way. She had to make it through. I snapped out of my haze when I felt something wet running down my cheeks. I slowly brought my hand up to my cheek, wondering what it was.

I laughed to myself quietly, almost in disbelief. "I'm crying..." My throat closed up and I closed my eyes. My hands gripped my hair harshly and I curled into myself, the tears now running freely down my face.

This couldn't be true. Anastasia had to be alive. I clasped a hand over my mouth to muffle the sounds of my sobs as they racked mercilessly through my body. I stayed curled up, my laptop discarded to the floor as my heart wrenched in grief.

I didn't do my work that night. I stayed in that fetal position until my eyes tired and I fell asleep in the midst of my distress.

When morning came and Winnie came bounding out of her room, hopping onto the couch and yelling in my ear that it was time for school, I didn't feel like my usual self. My eyes were insanely puffy, appearing boldly on my pale face as the lasting signs of my grieving the night before, and my body was tired. I laid on the couch, staring up at the slightly stained ceiling in a daze, before I rolled off the couch and threw on a change of clothes.

I walked Winnie to her bus in a daze and entered the library in a trance. I had a pre-recorded lecture from my teacher who had caught a case of the sniffles and sent us a nasally sounding lecture that I couldn't bear to watch and listen to in the quiet library. Instead, I distractedly did my work that remained uncompleted from the night before. My grade would probably suffer from the shit I was spitting out onto the paper, but at that point, I could care less.

In the midst of my daze, another notification from the same newspaper company yesterday popped up on my laptop.

The male from yesterday's incident has now been identified as Greg Taylor who has passed from his injuries at 3:26 AM this morning after emergency care workers tried to resuscitate him several times. The woman who was found with him has now been identified as Anastasia Taylor. Hospital workers claim that she is in the ICU at the moment, still trying to recover from critical condition as her own condition continues to fluctuate.

The police department has made an announcement earlier today that they will be handling this case as a murder. Progress of Anastasia's condition has yet to be updated and reported by police and hospital workers. Until Anastasia has been stabilized and wakes from her current state, the investigators await her testimony.