The World You Never Expected

Sarah: Part 6

The small drops of mist drizzled down from the dull gray sky, settling on the cracks and potholes left behind on the worn, glossy asphalt street.  Her feet sloshed with every step she took across the slick concrete sidewalk, leaving behind the imprint of the elegant satin red heels she wore to match the silken dress.  She felt her now messy hair clinging to her forehead. Each breath she took in chilled her lungs, freezing them to the point where she felt like she couldn't speak, until she let out a silent sigh and realized words were still capable of being created.

"Sarah!" an eerily familiar voice called across the empty park. She stopped walking, but didn't turn around. She knew who it was. "Sarah wait up!" he shouted again. She heard the quickening of sloshing footprints and a gentle arm was set on her shoulder.

"Shawn, you can't just do that to a girl!" Sarah shouted, whirling around in anger. He seemed saddened, and in the glistening amber light from the street lamp she could see his once golden eye was now a deep, dark blue.

"I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry! That's what you have to say, you're sorry! I had to walk out on the man who proposed to me in front of a whole room of people! My fiancé of all men-" she stopped herself, realizing what she had said.

"Your fiancé?" He seemed a little hopeful.

"You know what I meant," she said dryly, and she sat down on a soaked park bench, mist still drizzling down from above her. He sighed angrily, and his deep blue eye turned red.

"No, Sarah, I don't know!" he shouted, and he stepped a little closer to her. "Do you love me?" he asked. She didn't reply. "Do you love me?" he asserted once more.

"Yes."

"Well then? Am I your fiancé?"

"Look, Shawn, just because I love you doesn't mean I'm ready to marry you!" she shouted back in response. He shook his head and sat down next to her.

"Well I can be ready enough for the both of us." He grabbed her hands and laced them with his. "Sarah, I've been ready for three years, and with all this chaos going on, I just- I can't let myself leave this world without you knowing how much I love you." His one scarred eye went a deep blue once more.

"I love you too, Shawn. More than anyone I've ever met before." He leaned in and kissed her. "You know what?" she asked. "I think I've loved you for three years also. I- we dated for another year, in the coma world, before we went separate ways for college. And I can't remember much from it now, it feels like so long ago, but I can remember myself, lying in the bed of my dorm room crying because I hadn't seen you that day. And sometimes, just instinctively while I had my study sessions, I would go to my phone to call you to drop off some coffee. Then I'd remember you weren't there, and I'd have to stop reading for a while because it made me too sad. Or, whenever someone walked down the street wearing a shirt with your college on it, I'd begin to cry a little. It was so horrible, and I think I fell in love with you all over again when you were there to greet me as I woke up. My fiancé..." He looked up at her.

"You did it again. You called me your fiancé."

"Yes, but that time it was on purpose." His gloomy blue eye lit up bright gold.

"What?"

"Shawn, let's do it. Let's get married." He smiled, then leaped off the park bench.

"This- no, wait," he said. He pulled the same golden ring out from his pocket. "Sarah Aubade Littlier, will you make me the luckiest man alive, and be my wife?" he asked. She felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"Yes, Shawn Mitchel Sewman, I'd be honored to call you my husband." He took the ring and set it over her finger. Then he grabbed her by the waist and threw her up in the air. He set her down and for just a moment, and they stared into each other's eyes. His eye had become a deep, velvet pink. She laughed a little.

"What is it, Sarah?" She laughed once more.

"Your eye's been changing colors this whole time. Blue when your sad, gold when your happy, red when your angry." He laughed a little.

"What a weird side affect," he said. "What color is it right now?" She stared deep into his eyes.

"It's a beautiful, silky pink," she said, leaning up on her tip-toes to get a little closer to him.

"Well, pink must mean I'm staring at the most talented, smartest, most beautiful person in the world," he said, and he leaned in a little more too.

"My fiancé, Shawn Sewman. You'll be keeping my last name, right?" she teased. He laughed.

"You can call yourself whatever you want, as long as I get to call you mine." And right there, under the white moonlight and foggy evening air, they shared a kiss.

Sarah Sewman... it has a nice ring to it.