The End

The morning light woke you up to the pleasant sounds of birds chirping in the distance. Your Violet breathed calmly in your arms, her whole body pressed against yours, her cheek resting against your chest. She seemed so peaceful, so little and adorable. It felt impossible to accept that this would be the last day that you would have with her.

You carefully checked your phone, not wanting to disturb her peaceful rest but needing to know. Hoping so much that your memory was wrong, that you had counted wrong or forgotten something. Unfortunately, sure enough, you confirmed that it was the day you were going to die.

You felt her shift a little and then roll onto her back and yawn, stretching her arms out to immerse herself in the moment completely. Then her mouth closed and she looked at you sleepily, no smile on her face. Normally you would have assumed it was a bad dream or an insecurity creeping into her mind, or perhaps she just didn't want to smile despite being happy inside. Alas, the sadness in her eyes told you that she knew it was the day as well as you did.

She grabbed your hand and squeezed it, still looking into your eyes, then she let go and gently hugged you, burying her face in your chest and squeezing you tighter as the seconds passed.

You squeezed her back, surrounding her little body in your limbs and stroking her hair gently. You both closed your eyes and felt your hearts beat against one another, the closeness, the love. She knew all your darkest secrets, all your greatest weaknesses. But she, unlike all the others, understood why you were that way. What lead you to make the mistakes you made, she understood you so very deeply and accepted you despite everything.

Of course, despite what your emotions were screaming, she was no saint herself. She too had many weaknesses and flaws. But nevertheless you came to love her as she had come to love you, and you became so close. You overcame so much together, you felt like the future was bright with each other. Nothing could plausibly end something so beautiful.

Unfortunately, depression has a tendency of striking when you least expect it. Despite crying together, cuddling so close and talking about everything you could think of, the stresses of life had gotten to you both. Your emotions overcame you both, you felt so trapped and hopeless.

The topic of ending it all had come up many times for one reason or another, neither of you made much of an attempt to avoid it. However the thought of separating from one another, even if alongside all the pain of life, was a daunting proposition. The method, too, was a matter of contention. But after careful consideration and attempts to make life work, it was finally over.

You had both decided, after months of careful consideration, that life was not worth living. You had decided to live the best month you could together, and you did. You grew closer than you ever had before, but nothing had fundamentally changed. As the final days passed, you both slept more, preferring the warmth and comfort of the blankets and each other to the life outside.

The last day had come so soon, the month passed unfairly quickly and listening to your love's little heartbeat was only making it more difficult to accept. She pulled away from you and kissed you, then nuzzled your cheek. "Let's have a lot of fun today, ok?"

You squeezed her tighter and felt tears on your shoulder as she squeezed you back. "Ok."