| A Day or Two |
| I was so relieved to get away from work. This vacation was exactly what I needed, work was killing me. Also, it was that... "Kuro, my friend. How are you my good friend, enjoying your vacation?" my friend Batsu asked sitting in one of those striped lounge chairs. He caught me off guard, but I just smiled back at him and replied, "Rather well, Batsu. Rather well." Suddenly I heard drums beating and a couple of girls heading our way. Batsu just had this big sneakish grin on his face, "Here comes the entertainment for the night..." he said changing the subject. "What entertainment? Batsu, you've been-" I was going to say 'acting strange' when one of the girls lightly pushed me into my chair and said, "Thank you for coming to our island," with the sweetest smile. "Now it's time for a dance!" one girl said. "Yeah!" the other girl agreed. They started dancing just blowing Batsu completely away. I sat there watching not really interested until one of the girl's fell down suddenly in the middle of the dance. I was about to stand up when the other girls helped her. I sat back down as Batsu continued to be in utter awe of them. "Aren't they all just beautiful beyond your wildest fantasies? Someone tipped off that they'll do [U]anything[/U] for money, so the're ours for the night if you know what I mean. Which one do you want?" Batsu whispered with the most perverted look on his face. "I can't do that Batsu, I have my promis to my deceased wife," I whispered back in a serious manner. "You have the clumsy one, alright? Besides, Ilana's not here to see you mess up," Batsu said quickly grabbing two of the girls by the waist's and running off before I could answer him. "I suppose you're mine tonight?" I said to the girl left behind quirking my brow. "Yes..." she said in a sad tone, "all yours." I wasn't sure what that was about, but she was getting paid, so maybe I could make a deal with her at the hotel or something. I'm not going to betray Ilana, but I can't let this girl go without getting the money for whatever she needs it for. "Let's go then," I said with a slight sigh and taking her by the hand. ~ The hotel room was quiet as I started to remove my shirt I heard her crying behind me. Did I look bad to her? I was only taking it off, because it was so damn hot in there. "What's wrong?" I said looking at her in a sort of curious manner. "It's nothing, it's just a stupid thing...never mind," she said turning a bright red. "...It's-your first time isn't it?" She sniffled a couple times and nodded. It surprises me everyday I hear it that girls give themselves to people they don't know like me for money now-a-days, but I've never heard of girl doing that for her first time. I looked at her now with concern. "You shouldn't be doing this...go home." "No, no, I have to get the money!" "Why? Is it that important?" "My parents, they've done so much for me and they're in debt. I have to help them however I can." "To be honest, I really had no intention on doing anything with you. How old are you anyways?" "23..." "You look too young to be that age. Really you should go..." "But I won't get paid if-" "...You lie on the bed, I'll take the floor. In the morning I'll tell my friend I had a "great" time with you and you get paid. "Wh-why would you do that?" "You remind me of my late wife, Ilana. The way you're so clumsy." "Your wife? How did she-" she said this blushing. I knew what she was going to ask next, it wasn't any of her business. I was so tired then. I took up a blanket, sat on the floor, and quickly said yawning, "I'm too tired for more conversation." After that she lied down in the bed and went to sleep. ~ This girl reminds me of you Ilana. In fact we met the same way, remember? I was on vacation. Don't be jealous, I'll never betray your love. ^-^ ~ That morning I met Batsu in front of the hotel. It seems that girl had already left by the time I woke up. I wonder if she ever got paid. Is she okay? What was her name anyway? Batsu informed me that the two other girls stole his money so even though he has an account here on the islands he's not going to pay the girl who spent last night with me. He can be such a greedy jerk sometimes. That's when I saw her...it was Ilena! I swear it was her! I ran so fast that I didn't even bother to say 'sorry' to the people I bumped in my path. The crowd starting moving in front of me covering her up from my view. "Keep running," I told myself, "You can't lose her again." "Ilana!" I cried out to her. She was standing at the dock now about to board a ship. This couldn't happen again. "Ilana, don't go on that ship!" I yelled louder now. She turned around and as she did I wrapped my arms around her. She was real, she was really there. "Don't go, I beg you. Ilana...please," I said now out of breathe and breathing all over her. "Ilana?" she said blushing, "Wh-who are you?" She looked at me now with bewilderment. How could she not know me? How? I let go of her appauled by what she said. "You're the man from last night aren't you?" she asked now with a curious look in her eyes. She looked exactly like Ilana, but how could that be? Ilana's dead. So this was the girl from last night? "Your hair...it changed," I stated. "I was wearing a wig, silly. Now I have to get on this ship or I'll have to wait a week to get home, since I lost the money from your friend I only have enough to get home and that's it," she said beginning to board. I grabbed her quickly. I had such a bad feeling about this, I didn't want to let her go. "Please. Don't leave. You're Ilana, you're my wife! I can tell." This all sounded so rash, but I was desperate to see if she really was her. If she really was the woman I fell in love with. "I don't know you and you can honestly say that?" she questioned as the ship horn blew. "Stay a day or two with me here and if you don't remember me by then, I'll buy you a ticket to you home myself," I offered my hand outstretched to her. Sighing she agreed. "What's your name by the way?" "Yuna...yours?" "Kuro, does it sound familiar?" "Maybe it will..." ~ We spent a week together, talking, laughing, just being with her was all the happiness I could know. If she wasn't you Ilana, then why am I so in love? I was never in love with anyone else before, and this time it feels so familar in every way. ~ We were at the dock again. Ilana stood there as the wind blew her long hair across her face. The ship horn blew again, why did things have to move so quickly in our lives that we hardly know their gone until it's over. "Kuro, I'm going home..." she said with solemn eyes. "Please, just a little longer," I pleaded. "I can't stay here in paradise forever," she said now looking so sad as if she almost didn't mean what she just spoke. "Then...I'm coming with you." "But you don't have a-" I waved a ticker in her face playfully, she laughed and hugged me. Whatever would happen next, I would be there with her to make sure she got home in one peice. ~ We took the ship, I was so scared the whole time for her, Ilana. I can't bear to lose her like you. I guess I really have moved on. I'm sorry... ~ It was night on board in our room. The ship was bobbing gently up and down in a steady motion. I was standing at the window while Yuna was lying in her bed. "It's so peaceful..." I said to myself in a calming manner,"just like that night." Yuna came out of her covers to hold my hand as if to comfort me before I started to blurt out everything about that day. "The night..." she paused,"your wife died?" "The night before..." I said. "Will you tell me?" "Yes..." "Illana, she fell off the ship when we hit the rocks. Why was she standing on the dock, I'll still never know. It was such a storm and the rain clouded my view to her. I threw the livesaver out, but it went in the wrong direction. That wind, damn that wind. I threw it over and over, but the wind caught it everytime as if I wasn't supposed to be able to save her. The crew was fast asleep and if I had taken the time to wake them up it still would have been too late. She couldn't hold herself up anymore, she was drowning. I dove in after her and tried to grab her, but once in the water I saw nothing around me but darkness. Every direction, nothing. Finally the crew was up and saved me. She was nowhere, the police searched and no body was found. Why-why did I live and she die?" Yuna seemed so full of sorrow at that moment then she said, "I'm sorry, I can't remember anything." I held her in my arms so tight and kissed her. I couldn't help but cry, and she continued to let me hold her and kiss her and she held and kissed me back. ~ I found myself on top of her in her bed. Her shirt was unbuttoned and we were both blushing unbearably. I got off of her and the bed and looked away. "I can't do this, we're not married. At least as far as I know. My wife, what if she's still out there somewhere. I can't betray her love for me." "I understand..." she said with a sweet smile buttoning her shirt back up. As she was getting off the bed she found something that fell out of my pants. She gasped suddenly picking it up. "This picture! You saved this!" "What did you say?" "Didn't we get a picture taken together. You said it made us look too young, didn't you?" "That picture was of me and Ilana, how could you remember that?" "We-we were on the beach, and you asked a man to take our picture and you said the sweetest thing in my ear and he clicked and the flash went off, 'I love you, and I'll never love anyone else.' I suddenly couldn't look away from her anymore. Turning to her I saw her, I saw Ilana looking back at me. Was it Ilana? "Kuro, I think I remember," she said as she started crying. Yuna hugged me then and buried her head in my chest. ~ She cried herself to sleep for some reason. The next morning we arrived at Yuna's home town. But since she started remembering things she's been have times where she would cry. I wondered if her "parents" who she had been saving money to help would know something. Ilana, I still don't know if she's you. All I can do is guess, I want to believe. Just a day or two more and I should know by then. ~ "Yuna!" her mother said as she opened the door for her daughter. "Mother..." Yuna said seemingly serious, "I need to know. I need to know what happened to my memories of this man." I stood next to her the whole time holding her hand. ~ "Yuna...we're so glad you're home. Why didn't you come home sooner?" her mother asked. "Kuro wanted to spend time with me. Mother, I love him. Please, I want to know what happened," Yuna pleaded with her mother. "Yuna..." she said now knowing that her daughter was truely serious, "We never wanted to tell you, but we found you washed up on shore years ago." "So the dreams of being in the water and not moving..." she said now going into a deep thought. Her father who had been silent this whole time suddenly spoke, "Yuna, we didn't want you to remember, because it hurt you." "What do you mean? I'm so happy with Kuro," she stated. "That it exactly, once you started remembering you couldn't stop wanting to see him, but we couldn't afford money to help you post flyers, or look so you became very depressed." "You kept getting worse, so we finally took you to a psychiatrist who said he could hypnotize you so you could forget." "We knew how much you loved him and wanted to see him, but I guess we were selfish and just wanted you to stay and be happy. We need you to know how sorry we are." Yuna gave them a forgiving smile then said, "It's alright, I forgive you. If thing's didn't go the way they went I might have never met Kuro again." "So you're Kuro?" her father said turning to me. "Yes, sir," I replied. "No need to be polite to me, I'm not her real father." he said. "You still took care of her for me. I thank you for that with all my heart," I said deeply. "Yuna, since you're here, can you help me in the garden?" her mother said out of the blue. Yuna, caught off guard, agreed to this and both of the women left through the back door leaving me and Yuna's 'father' to speak with each other. ~ "Kuro, I'm sorry. What I'm about to tell you will make you very upset, but please listen." "..." "Yuna's ill..." "Ill? How?" "When she washed up on shore she consumed so much sea water with toxins it poisened her, I'm sure she didn't tell you because she didn't want you to worry. She only has a couple more days to live." "How many?" "3...3 days. I'm sorry." "Damn! ...I'm sorry. Sir, I promise I'll make her last 3 days the happiest. It's my fault this is happening." "...Thank you." ~ Now we were back at my home sitting in the living room. All I could think was "1 more day, Yuna..." "Kuro, I don't want to leave." she stated,"You know that, right?" "I know. This is out last ngiht so I want to spend it with you beneath the stars," I said smiling at her. She smiled with tears forming in her eyes, "Kuro..." she said. ~ Moments later we were lying there together our nude bodies so close. I ran my fingers through Yuna's bangs, then she turned away from me. "Yuna, are you alright?" "I wish that hadn't felt like the first time with you," she said turning back. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault," I said kissing her neck, "Yuna..." "Please, call my Ilana for the rest of the time we know each other." "Yes...Ilana," I said starting to weep. "Don't cry..." she said smiling. How can she always be so strong? Even when she's dying, she keeps her head up in the clouds and looks on the brighter side. "I can't bear it alone, Ilana. I love you too much." "Kuro, I love you too," she said placing my head against her chest that was covered with the blanket, "But if you can hear my heart then you must know, even if I die at least I got to see you one mor etime." "Yes, but if only a doay or two more. I would give anything for that," I said now as my tears stopped. "So would I," she said closing her eyes. ~ The next day went past so quickly because we slept through most of it just lying there next to each other. It was just like our honeymoon. Now we both sat on the porch, because Yuna had suddenly said she wanted to see the sunset. This is the last day, I'm so scared, but I think I'm ready for the worst. "It's the sunset," she said in awe, "I've never seen it brighter." She coughed a couple times almost falling over. I held her from behind thinking I couldn't let her go, not for a minute or she would disapear into thin air. She made me take her hands off of her suddenly. "...You need to let go. You need to move on and love again." "I swore to only love you though, Ilana." "I want you to be happy. Even when I'm not there," she said turning to me with her sweet smile. Could I seriously just forget about her and move on? It sounded impossible. Wouldn't I go mad before then? Finally I think I gave in, "Ilana, you're right. I love you, and I'll live on and mover on, because of that." "I love you too Kuro," she said leaning onto my shoulder. Her weight was heavy, but she was so warm, so full of life. "Ilana..." "Ilana, I love that name. Yuna sounded so plain. Yes, my name is Ilana. I know it is now," she said with the most convidence in her voice I've ever heard. "Yes, you are Ilana," I agreed. "The sunset is fading..." "Yes, it is..." "..." "Yuna?...Ilana? Ilana??" ~ Surely I did try to move on, I even went out on blind dates, but nothing could satisfy the love I had with you. Then I was dying from what I wasn't sure. Soon I would die too. Never moved on, did I? I'm sorry Ilana, I'm sorry Yuna. I'm sorry... Knew I was going to move on. Never had the time. Now I can't feel my legs, they're gone. Is this why you wanted to sit with me so suddenly? As I write this I need you to know Ilana, if you had lived we might have a child by now. You were just beginning to be pregnant the day you died. Isn't that wonderful? When I die I hope maybe my son or daughter will be there with you in heaven or wherever we all go when this life ends. Just wait a little a little longer. My hand seems to be slipping. I'm coming, I'm coming to save you. See? Can't you see? I'm here. I'm here for more than a day or two with you. How does forever sound? ~The End~ |