The smell was getting fainter with each moment that passed. The scent of expensive Italian cologne suddenly fading from the space around her, the warm touch on her flesh suddenly void of heat. He was gone. Her heart sank in her chest and straight down to her stomach. What had she done wrong this time? What words had she uttered? What demand had she made?
"You're an idiot Reina... you ruin everything you touch. You're toxic. You're vile...."
Her own words cracked in her throat as she spoke to herself, desperately searched the house for her husband. Doors opened and every room was empty. Every trace of him gone, missing. It was like he had simply been deleted from her life without warning. A lifetime of love, or strength, all of it gone in the blink of an eye. If this was a taste of what death felt like, she rather it embrace her now than let it linger any further.
"Everett please.. please I'm sorry...."
For what she wasn't certain. She was what every wife was meant to be. Loving. Caring. In need of the touch that stirred her soul. If that was a demand that was too much, then perhaps she was just a fool for love, a fool for falling for a man and giving him her heart. Legs that weighed her down carried her down the stairs, her mind telling her that maybe he hadn't left. Maybe he was still packing up the car and readying himself to drive off. A single hand grabbed for the door, only for her vision to be flooded with light, a brightness that blocked out anything else in front of her.
....
From the hospital bed Reina sat up, her eyes wide as tears streamed down. Confusion on her face as she tugged at the wires that linked to her veins, "Everett? Where is Everett?" A panic on her face as she desperately looked around the room, and then down to her hand, her finger naked, only for he to whimper out, "Where's my ring? What in the f*** happened to my ring?"
From the corner of the room Kia rushed to her side, hands on her shoulders as she eased Reina to lay back, her voice soft, gentle, a rare twist for the young assassin, "Shhh, Reina... Everett isnt here, neither is Nate. They... they haven't been here for a really long time." The look in her own eyes reflected how the hope of their return was starting to dwindle from her heart. "You don't have a ring...listen you've..."
But her voice was cut short by Reina's protest, her head shaking rapidly as the tears continued to fall, "No... no we got married. He married me on New Years. We were going to start a new year together. We were going to be happy. We had it all planned. We were happy. You and Nate.. you were both happy. You wanted another baby. You..."
Pain echoed in Kia's heart as she sat beside her friend, fingers lacing gently with Reina's, giving it a squeeze, "No..." Her voice cracked in a rare show of emotion, "Reina, they've been gone since the summer, probably longer...its only been us, Reina." She did her best to comfort her, to calm the pain she saw in the others heart. "You.. you had an accident in the beginning of December. You've been in a coma..."
Reina struggled trying to take in the words, only to shake her head in refusal of the truth. "No.. no we got married. We were happy. In love. I swear to you Kia, it was all real. All of it." Or was it? Her eyes moved down to her hands, the bareness of her ring finger only to swallow hard, a lump in her throat that wouldnt go down no matter how hard she tried. "So none of it was real? The wedding? The beautiful ring? The dress? How happy our babies were?"
Kia eased to sit directly beside her, an arm around her shoulder pulling her in close, lips pressed to her temple in comfort. "You're alive, Reina. You're awake and you have three beautiful little ones who are waiting for their mother to come home. /That/ is real. /That/ is beautiful and /that/ is the only thing that really matters. Now, lets see what we can do about getting you home...."
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