SURVIVING THE HEARTBREAK
Chapter Three
Adele slammed the door shut and flopped face
down on the bed. She was still crying and felt like she could cry forever.
"I can't go on," she whispered. Her
parents were dead, she had no family, and now her locket, her only reminder and
pictures of her beloved parents, was gone. God how she missed the
heart-to-heart talks with her Mother and her Daddy taking her to go get ice
cream late at night. She sat up and wiped her eyes. She eyed the knife that was
sitting on the counter in her small kitchen. She knew what she had to do, she
had no choice. Adele slowly got up and reached for it. She turned it this way
and that, inspecting the blade. "Mother, Daddy. I am sorry for doing this.
But I have to, I can't live like this. Without you. I love you and I'll see you
soon," she said out loud. She brought the blade close to her wrist.
"God give me the strength to do this," she whispered. She put the
blade close to her skin and was about to press down, when a loud knocking came
from the door.
"Go away," she screamed.
"Adele, it's me, Luke, I have something
you may want," came Luke's voice. The door pushed open and he came in, his
hands in his pockets.
"Go away! Leave me alone," she
sobbed, crying harder by the minute. Luke looked at her, still holding the
blade toward her wrist. Immediately he pieced two and two together.
"Adele, give me this, dammit!" he
shouted, taking the blade away from her.
"Give it back. I have no other choice.
Nothing to live for," she said through clenched teeth, shaking violently.
"Adele, listen to me. This is not the
way to go. Believe me. Come here I want to tell you a story," Luke told
her gently, approaching her slowly. He took her hand and sat her down on the
bed. Crouching down next to her, he took her hands.
"Now, Adele, I know you miss your
parents. And you think you have nothing to live for, no reason to get up in the
morning. But I swear, things are going to get better. Now, when I first heard
about Kyle's death, I was so devastated. I was mad at the White Star Line, but
even madder at myself. I was supposed to be on that ship with him. But we got
into a fight about money, he left early for Paris, where we were going to go
for a month before Titanic. He took my ticket and most of my money. Saying if I
wasn't going to appreciate him and that he was making as much as he could, then
he wouldn't pay for my trip. Anyway, I didn't go after him and stayed in New
York. When I heard about Titanic sinking I was devastated. I would lay awake at
night thinking, 'what if...' over and over again. Then last June, I decided the
only way to go was to commit suicide. I was going to do the same thing you
were, but my roommate came home early and talked me out of it. He said things
could only get better. And they did." Adele stopped crying and brought her
head up. She looked at Luke.
"All right. I won't do it. God, I am
such a fool," she whispered.
"Good. Now Adele, this is not going to
be easy. But each day, you need to get up and smile. And each day it's going to
be a little bit easier to go on. And you know what, I am going to help you. I
know how to handle this, okay? But you have to let me help you. Can you agree
to that?" Luke asked.
"Yes, Luke, and thank you so much,"
she said, hugging him tightly, sniffling.
"Now, the reason I came," he said,
pulling away. Adele looked at him, wondering what was going on. He put his hand
in his pocket and pulled out Adele’s locket.
Adele lost her breath. "Where, what--where
did you get that?" she whispered, taking it from him.
"Well, I was a few blocks away and was
searching around for money in my pocket when I found this. I was confused at
first, but when I read the back, I knew it was yours. It must have fell in
there during the memorial," Luke said, smiling at her.
"Oh Luke, thank you so much," Adele
said, tears coming to her eyes. "How will I ever repay you?" Luke
looked at her.
"Well, how about you come to dinner with
me tonight. We need to get to know each other if I am going to help you." Adele
looked at him and nodded.
"Okay, Luke," she said, clasping
the shining locket shut around her neck and smiling at him for the first time.