Love Will End

“I love you, Ella,” I smile gently, taking her hand in mine, and looking into her carefree emerald green eyes. This is the best day of my life, I think as I sit here, my partner by my side, watching the sun slowly set in the park.

“I love you too, Jazz,” she hums back, resting her head on my shoulder. I lean against her, smiling, holding her close. Oh, how I wish this moment could last forever. We sit in silence, holding each other close. This moment slowly etched itself into my soul. As the sun sets, we pack up our tiny picnic and start heading back to her apartment. Hand in hand, we walk along the quiet, shadow-covered streets. She clings to my arm as I pull off my jacket, placing it over her shoulders. She smiles up at me, a wide, beautiful grin on her face.

I walk her back to her apartment and watch her walk inside, taking my jacket with her. I smile, turning away. God, how I love that girl. I wander back to my apartment, falling into my bed as soon as I arrive. While I love her dearly, she is tiring sometimes. Within a few seconds, I’m out like a light. The next morning, I woke peacefully, messaging my partner, no reply as usual. I smile; she’s probably still asleep. I hum to myself while preparing my morning coffee. I change into my work clothes and jump into my car, coffee in hand.

On the drive, I overhear my radio’s new channel.

“A horrible car accident has occurred this morning. one victim in critical condition in hospital, the other is stable and recovering.” MY eyebrows raise slightly; that doesn’t sound good. The broadcast is soon forgotten, though, as I rock up to work. I walk into work with a smile on my face, as always.

“Morning,” I call out to no one in particular, taking my place behind the front counter. I take a sip of my coffee, placing it beside me. I opened up my laptop behind the counter and checked my schedule; there weren’t many appointments today. Good. My boss walks over and sits beside me.

“Morning, Jazz,” they say in a sing-song voice. I smile.

“Morning,”

My boss and I sit in silence, working through our daily tasks and showing people where to go, when I get a call on my phone. I answered, seeing there was no one around.

“Hello?” I say into the phone.

“Is this Jazz Parker?” the other line asks.

“Yes?”

“Do you know Ella Thomas?”

“Yes,” I answer, slightly worried.

“Your partner is in hospital, She was in a car accident.”

“What!?” I stand up in my chair “Is she ok?”

“She is in critical condition. I suggest you come over, now,” the person on the other lines says. My eyes widened.

“ok,” I said. My phone hangs up, and I turn to my boss " I have to go…”

“Go,” they say without a second thought. I ran out of the building, jumped into my car and headed straight to the hospital, praying to the gods that my partner would be ok.

I swerved into a car park and ran to the hospital, to the reception desk.

“I-I need to see Ella Thomas,” I huff to the receptionist. She points to a room, and I run in. My eyes widened, seeing tubes and monitors all hooked up to an almost lifeless body.

“Ella?” I walk over shakily. I look down at the face of the person hooked up to the hundreds of monitors. “Oh, Ella.” I collapse onto my knees by her bed. I look up at her scared face, I reach up stroking my hand through her hair. Her body remains motionless at my touch. I feel tears bloom in my eyes, slipping down my cheeks. I stand shakily, taking her still hand in mine. I grasp it tightly, but her hand remains loose in mine.

“Wake up, Ella, please,” I whisper, leaning down and pressing a kiss on her motionless face. I look down at her, almost expediting to see her sweet, childish smile. The same smile I saw every time I saw her, but now, her face remained empty, her eyes closed and her lips slightly ajar. My tears fall, landing on her chest.

“Baby, Ella-bella,” I cried quietly. She hated that nickname, but there was no response. I sit by her bed. What am I supposed to do?

Suddenly, one of the machines attached to my partner started beeping. I stood up quickly, hearing the noise. Doctors quickly rush into the room. They push me to the side, running over to my partner. I try to get a glimpse of my partner as the doctors yell and run around with different tools, trying to help her. Suddenly, they stop, and the doctor calls it.

“Time of death… 17:32.” The doctors stopped rushing and switched off the beeping machines, their faces full of sorrow as they walked over to me. I stand there silent as they place their hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” they sigh. “We’ll give you some time to say goodbye.”

I walk slowly up to my partner. Her eyes are closed like she is just asleep, but the steady rise and fall of her chest has stopped.

“Ella?” I say, reaching for her still, cold hand, “Come back.” Her face remains still, empty, dead.

I slowly kneel down beside her still body. I cry quietly, begging the gods, to tell me this was all a dream, that I could wake up already. What am I supposed to do now? What do I do without her? My tears fall, as I place a final gentle kiss on my sweet Ella’s head. I look up at her closed eyes and broken lips, wishing I could see her, emerald eyes and soft gentle smile, just one more time. I want to see her smile at me one last time.

“I love you, Ella,”