A Second Chance.

Mistakes Teach.

~The next morning, Luisa's POV~

The light was blinding and my head pounded. What time is it? When my eyes adjusted, I realised where I was. My room? The night before was....foggy, to say the least. I had woken up in my car, barely was able to drive to my house. I know I had a bit too much to drink after Rafael called. But then I remembered. Rose.
Her face, we kissed. Didn't we? Or was it another nightmare. Another hallucination. I couldn't tell the difference anymore. The drinking and late nights, everything combined has led me to see her in other people's faces, hear her voice on call with someone else and feel her touch as I fell asleep. I hate to admit it, I looked forward to those hallucinations. It made me drink more and feel less. I missed her. Her touch. Her scent. Her smile and those penetrating blue eyes. I miss her.
I opened my apartment door lazily, fumbling with my keys. The door creaked open and I shut it quickly, collapsing against it. I held my head and rubbed my temple, feeling a migraine coming on. I dragged myself to my feet and into the living room to make sure I had closed my windows. Good thing I did because I seemed to have forgotten a window open. I shut and locked it and turned to go to my room.
I froze.
I could've sworn I saw red hair pass my window. But then again, the beginnings of my hangover were just getting started, and Rose always seemed to come up when they did.
So I brushed it off and lay in my bed. I shut my eyes, and tried to prepare myself to sleep, awaiting the torturous dreams I knew would come. I began drifting.
"Hello Luisa." It was her voice again. I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended she wasn't there. I wasn't in the mood for this tonight.
"Go....go away please." I begged it. "You're in my mind. You're just in my mind. You're not real. Please, please, please. Go away."
"I'm real Luisa. Take a look. Open your eyes my love."
My eyes shot open. She was standing over me. A small smile on her lips but the tears welling behind her eyes spoke differently.
"You. Are. Not. Real. You're not real! YOU'RE ANOTHER ONE OF MY HALLUCINATIONS AND I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. PLEASE. I KNOW WHAT I DID, I KNOW HOW I HURT YOU. I CAN NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF. IF I COULD GO BACK I'D CHANGE IT. I HATE MYSELF, I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT ME. YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO MADE ME FEEL LIKE A PERSON, LIKE I WAS WANTED AND I KILLED YOU AND NOW I HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT BUT PLEASE STOP DOING THIS TO ME. STOP TORTURING ME! JUST GO AWAY!" I cried out. I felt hot tears burning at my eyes. I knew this wasn't Rose. It couldn't be. I watched her die. I heard her scream as she fell. For god's fucking sake I'm the bitch who pushed her.
But then. She touched me.
In my drea- hallucinations, she never touched me.
Instantly I knew. But it couldn't be. This couldn't be real. It's not possible. After so long....she couldn't have just come back, could she?
Her cold hand chilled my skin as it travelled up and down my leg. A sort of calm washed over me when I felt her touch. I missed this. But part of me still couldn't accept it.
I stood, facing her, new tears streaming down my face.
She tentatively brushed a strand of hair away from my eyes and cupped my face in her hands.
"You're still as beautiful as ever." She almost whispered.
It was like we were in our own world at that moment. Like the slightest move or sound could send it crashing down on us.
I tried to smile but the tears couldn't stop coming. I couldn't accept that she was still alive. The guilt I felt was more overwhelming than ever before. As I looked into her sapphire eyes, I couldn't help but remember our last moments. And that's what crushed me.
I pushed past her and ran to the bathroom, my shaky legs crashing me into walls as I did.
This isn't real. This isn't real.
I splashed water onto my face and took some of my pills.
This is just another hallucination. I refused to believe she was alive.
But when I turned around, she was there, pity in her eyes.
"Luisa. I am real. I'm alive. The Rose you pushed off that ledge...it was one of my Charlie's Angels. It wasn't me Lu. It wasn't me."
And that's when the last bit of me finally crumbled into that ever growing pit.
I sank to my knees and screamed, the tears creating a puddle on the floor.

I felt helpless. I felt horrible. I felt like I deserved nothing. I deserve nothing. I deserve to die. Die. Die. Die.
I was curled into a fetal position and I began pulling at my hair. My thoughts became too loud and my senses were overwhelmed by them. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I couldn't.

But then I felt her.
I felt those chilled hands scoop me up and soon I was off the floor. And I was placed on my bed.
A warm presence curled around me, hugging me from behind.
She always had a way of her hands being ice cold, but her body was warm and inviting. My breathing slowed and I finally took a shaky breath,
"You're...real?"
"I'm real."
"Wh-why are you here? Why would you come back to me?"
"Luisa," she turned me and soon I was staring into the sea again, her eyes were intent and sincere. "I love you. I can't live without you. Luisa I have never felt this way about anyone. You made me better, you made me want to be better. If it weren't for you, I would've been gone long long ago."
My lips trembled and I grazed my fingers past her smooth lips.
"Can-can I?" I asked. Rose's eyes softened.
"Has it really been so long that you think you must ask? Come here."
Our lips collided I felt like I was home. I felt the pieces of me slowly fitting back together. But it was nowhere complete. My lips began trembling. My eyes were bloodshot from the tears and they burned like there was salt in them.
Rose pulled back.
"Why are you crying? I'm okay baby."
"Rose...it doesn't change," I sniffled, trying to gather myself. "It doesn't change what I did to you." My mouth opened in a silent scream. My heart was breaking all over again. Many people wish for those they lost to come back to them. But for me, with her return, the guilt, the shame I felt was ten fold. She knew what I did, what I tried to do. She knew I had the intent of killing her. But she still came back. She would never hurt me, but I hurt her.
"You were there for me. You were always there for me. And I killed you. I killed you." The tears in my eyes started welling again. I just wanted to stop. To go. I wished I had fallen off the roof with her. I wish I died on that statue.
"Luisa, I knew you were working with the police. That's why I didn't come and I sent one of my agents. I knew what was going to happen." Rose explained. "Everyone and everything was just too messy. I needed to be able to start over. To plan it right this time with you. For you. Before, you weren't part of the plan. Everything that happened was altered because I fell in love with you and I didn't think when it came to you. I acted impulsively. This time, it's going to be different. I had organised to have my Charlie's angel's face be completely modified, it wasn't a mask, just the work of a very skilful surgeon. If it weren't for you pushing that Angel off the ledge and to her death, I wouldn't be able to be here."
"You're saying, me pushing y-the angel off the roof is what you wanted?" I asked. This was all so much. And I could feel my voice shaking as I spoke.
"Precisely. Luisa I know how much you love your brother. I know how much he means to you. Part of me even is a bit jealous of that need you have to be with him. But I understand the choice the Angel gave you." She smiled softly. "But now, you have another choice. You can come with me, to one of my submarines, and I'll see to it that we live happily ever after. Or, you can stay here, with your brother and his family, and never see me again. I won't kill or hurt anyone if you choose to leave. But know, it'll be the end of the greatest love story ever told."
My head began spinning. If I go, I'll never see Raf or Mateo or anyone I love ever again. If I don't go, I'll go through what I went through before, knowing I let the only one who's ever truly cared go, again. And I don't know if I'd be able to come back from that.
I shut my eyes. And when I opened them once more, the certainty of my decision was evident.
"I'm going to come with you Rose. I won't let you go again."
Rose beamed, and I fell in love with her all over again.
"Pack your things, it's already later than I thought it'd be. We leave at sunrise."

Thank you for reading my book! It's honestly an old work that I've been wayyyy to shy to post but thanks to Sangria_Sally  I've found enough confidence! Also thank you tasty_kami for the book cover! I absolutely love it!
By the way, next chapter brings angst!