The Hopeful Kiss...

I reached next to me only to find an empty space. Usually it was met by the warmth of a body but tonight my hand fell through the cold night air and it landed on the mattress next to me with a dull thud. My eyes watered instantly. It had been months since he had left for war and I still did that as though if by a chance...a chance of magic maybe he would still be there. Mother's voice echoes in my head now as I remember the fairy tales she once told me and remembered the feeling that built up inside me when she told me that one day I would find my prince.

"And when I do I will never let him go." I would smile up at her, she would dig her fingers and my hair and ruffle it gently.

"Not forever, dear one." She would then sigh and a pained expression would take over her face as she tried to smile.

I never understood what she meant for my father died before I was born. My worst fear was that magic did not exist and my prince would never come. Images of what my father would look like flooded my head at these moments. He was truly a prince to my mother and she never told me of how he died. Not even a photograph to gaze upon when I was lonely, absolutely nothing left. If the magic she told me about at night were true maybe father would have been alive. As it always did after I was awoken by the thud in the middle of the night that horrible scene played in my head but from experience wishing it away never worked so somehow I had to bear it like I had been doing for months.



...................................................................................................................................................... ............


"Mommy!" My daughter Aurora cried as she heard the news.

"Make it stop!" She screeched as she covered her ears but I was too shocked to even hear her.

".......Your husband was shot in the chest, he is in the park down the road if you want to see him but he only has minutes left..."The man's blood-stainted hands and clothing were unsightly. His hands were scratched badly and his clothes had gaping holes and had tears running down all the way to his pants. His lips were trembling and his hands fidgeted nervously, tugging on his clothing and shaken visibly.

My mind and heart were destroyed and not even magic could heal it. The only magic I had known my whole life was when I was with him...and his body was warm next to mine.


The man must have seen something horrible to have been in the shape he was and I knew my husband was almost dead.

Aurora sobbed hysterically as she pulled on my skirt and I almost collapsed as she threw herself on the floor in despair.

"He was coming home early from the war because he was in danger and he needed to say goodbye...He did not have any permission to go but he had to because he said he had to see you...The enemy followed him and shot him only a block away in the park..."

Without another word I picked Aurora up in my arms and sluggishly tried to make it to the park. The man stayed behind at the door and sat himself down on the floor as he placed his palms on his face.

Aurora was too startled to make another sound so she dug her face in my shoulder and shut her eyes as she kept whispering to herself.


"I-don't want to see anything...." Aurora wished aloud.

"I want daddy to be ok..." She broke into a sob the second she finished and her next words were indistinguishable.

My bare feet were scratched from the rocks and the rest of the debris on the road but he might still be alive and that was all that mattered to me. Something seemed to grab my ankle and suddenly I sprawled onto the moist dirt in front of me. Aurora 's arms were jerked away drom my neck violently as she fell backwards. The blackness in front of me seemed to swallow all of me as every second passed and I kept sinking deeper. Aurora's wails grew louder every second as her little hands tried to reach for mine. Dirt covered most of her blonde hair now and her green eyes were closed shut to prevent anymore dirt to come in them. My hand blindly searched for hers until she finally placed hers in mine which was followed by a sharp tug as she used all her strength to try to lift me. I placed my elbow in front of me for support as I weakly stood up. Aurora caught my head in her lap as I lost my balance from exhaustion.

"We have to find daddy...." she whispered softly.

"I know, my dear." I managed to reply as my husband was dying without me there.

Aurora helped me up and also avoided the next tree stump in our path which was what caused me to trip. We were only a few metres away from the park now. It was a struggle to keep myself conscious at these moments and I hoped that I would get to make it to my husband before he bled himself dry and there was at least an ounce of life left inside him. Aurora breathed heavier and more rapidly as we grew nearer to the park, her hand was clutching mine tightly and she tried to compose herself before seeing him so she could say goodbye.

A gasp rang through the air as Aurora spotted the body in a field of grass. There he was....I immediately felt sick and covered my mouth to muffle a scream that escaped without warning. Blood seeped through his white shirt and into the now damp grass. His eyes were barely opened as he fought to stay conscious but I could see he was slipping into death quickly. Aurora sprinted to her dying father and I followed close behind her. She tried to hold in her cries as my husband smiled weakly at her and his eyes because more lifeless. He spotted me standing there.

"Come...." he whispered.
I obeyed solemnly and held his hand in mine while he was conscious.

"I learned that magic is real...your mother was right.....It was because of you I stayed alive this long and magic helped me say goodbye....If that is not magic then what is?" he sputtered blood out through his mouth and Aurora help up his head as she sobbed. She grabbed everything she could of him, to his hair, his clothes, his face..anything.

'Daddy please stay with me!" She sobbed.

"I-I....Love....you." he said to us as more blood forced its way up.

"I love you too..." I whispered through tears.

"Keep....telling her stories......" He whispered almost inaudibly as his head slowly turned and he became perfectly still.

'I will...I promise!" I told his dead body as I threw myself onto his damp chest, blood went into my mouth. That shirt was the same one here wore when he had left and it was very ragged. He never took it off...He promised me he wuld keep it on as long as he could so he could still smell my scent on it. hints of my musk perfume was still lingering in it and I clutched his arms tightly.

"Mommy....Let me use magic." Aurora said.

She brushed my sweaty hair away from his face and kissed him right on the lips. Aurora frowned and kissed him again.

"Daddy said magic was real..." She said desperately.

I lifted my head up and I finally knew what my mother meant when she had whispred "Not forever, dear one." My father had also been shot...I just knew it but I never knew how. i sobbed louder than ever at my realizing this.

Aurora leaned down and kissed him again.

His body never moved.