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After the fight with Ellie, Abby returned to the aquarium. Her steps were slow and she felt dizzy. Lev walked beside her, also in silence. Neither of them had comfort. The emotions were so strong that they could barely think of anything other than continuing to walk. She felt her knees weaken for several moments, but she only concentrated on getting to the aquarium.
The rain did not accompany those feelings that hit her chest either. Abby took a couple of breaths before entering the aquarium. Once inside, the rain could still be heard. She entered through the back door and stood in the hall. Lev watched her for a few seconds.
"Do you want me to...?"
"No," Abby answered quickly, although she didn't really even know what Lev was going to ask.
Lev nodded and sat on the couch. He also had to mourn Yara's death, something he had to do it alone. Abby took a deep breath and approached the entrance. The first thing she did was pick up Alice's body and left it outside the aquarium. She didn't have the strength to dig a hole, so she left her body next to the fountain.
Then he returned to the aquarium, the pool of blood reaching the hallway. She took a breath before coming inside
She covered Mel's body with a sheet and also left her outside the aquarium, next to Alice. She hoped they would at least be together wherever they were. And her baby with them. She didn't want to leave Mel in the aquarium, she knew Mel hated the aquarium. She always talked about how she hated that Owen spent so many hours there. She didn't deserve her body to stay there. Abby wasn't superstitious. But she wanted to do things right.
Again, she took a deep breath and walked towards the aquarium.
She stood in the doorway and took a deep breath before moving forward. She had saved the hardest for last.
She hadn't seen him yet, and she felt hot tears running down her cheeks. She cried for a few minutes before wiping away her tears and going inside. But seeing him only made things worse. She walked a couple of steps before collapsing in front of him again.
"Owen..." she sobbed as if he could still hear her.
Abby crawled over to him and closed her eyes at his posture. She was just glad she didn't see the wound on his chest. With her eyes closed she stretched her hand up to his face to close his eyelids. He was cold.
Abby shook her head and placed another sheet over his body. She took a deep breath before taking him into her arms as if he were a bride. He was heavy and she was weak. But she managed to bring him up to where they found the dead captain of the boat. Now, Owen was the captain who deserved to rest in that chair.
She left his body there and placed the sheet over his body again.
She sat next to him and looked at the ground. Before she knew it she was crying. She bit her lip and wiped away her tears.
"I guess it's over," she tried to joke.
How was it possible that in just two days she had lost everything she loved? Everything and everyone.
Manny, Nora, Owen...
They were all dead, she had never felt so alone.
She hated himself for having wasted time, for not having taken advantage of every last second at his side. She got up from that stool in the cafeteria and screamed. She screamed so much that she felt her throat burn. She was furious.
She kicked a couple of pieces of furniture and hit the wall. Still with her hand on the wall, she brought her forehead to her hand. And she started crying like a girl. Her knees fell and she hugged them, leaving her head buried between her legs.
Finally, she got up and sat back down on the stool sighing.
"You're gone," she said, although in reality she was just talking to herself. "You're gone..." she repeated.
She looked down at the floor and put her hands in her pocket to see the photos she had stolen from the theater. She looked at her polaroid with Owen. She caressed the photograph with her thumb.
"I remember this photo," she said.
She flipped through the photographs, also fondling Manny's photo and Leah and Jordan's one. She stopped to look at the one he had with Mel. Mel was hugging him but his hand was closed and his eyes were looking to the side. She chuckled.
"You didn't like that bitch." she said and instantly shook her head. "You don't speak ill of the dead, Abby," she said to herself.
She sighed once more and looked down at the sheet. She could still see Owen's hair and the shape of his body. She felt the tears on her cheek again.
"I remember when I met you," she began, leaving the photographs aside. "You were very small. I was too." Abby took a breath and looked at the sheet. "I was hiding behind my father's legs and you were next to Marlene."
She smiled a little when she remembered it.
"You were Marlene's spoiled child. No matter what trouble you got into, she always came out to defend you."
Abby looked at the ground and scratched the back of her neck.
"Everyone loved you Owen... You didn't deserve to die like that..." she murmured, looking again at the sheets, as if at some point Owen could answer. "Without knowing your baby... Without finding the fireflie. .. Fuck."
She cursed when she felt the crying was cutting off her voice again. She cleared her throat before speaking again.
"I remember when we started dating. When my father let me stay with you longer. He stayed calm if you were there. He liked you. I remember when you went on patrol and you and Manny came back with alcohol you stole from bars. We got drunk and laughed."
An even bigger smile spread across her face.
"We had a good time, we were kids..." she murmured. "Then you and I started dating... We kept it a secret as long as we could. You called me little and I called you a goober to annoy you. Manny told me you only did that to get my attention..."
Her smile disappeared. Manny...
"He told me many things about you. He always told me I was stupid for breaking up with you. I'm sure he told you the same thing. That was until you started dating Mel. There he gave up. But he was always our biggest fan," she said while looking to the side.
Abby sighed. She let her emotions leave her body, more tears fell down her eyes and she felt goosebumps rise on her skin.
"You are the love of my life, Owen. And I never told you. But... I think I will never love anyone the way I love you. I loved you... I love you," she whispered and looked at the ground.
After a few minutes of silence she stood up and walked towards Owen's small closet. She opened the doors and looked at the few clothes he had. A sweatshirt and a couple of t-shirts. She grabbed the sweatshirt and put it on. It was starting to get cold. She grabbed the cloth and brought it to her nose.
It still smelled like him.
And that broke her heart even more.
She approached the small mattress that was lying on the floor. She pulled up her hood and put her hands in the pockets.
"I told you that I didn't care about that night. But it wasn't true," she said while looking at the ceiling. "I said it because I got angry when I saw Mel. Eventhough I know I couldn't get angry. I had no right. It is normal that you would like to rebuild your life with someone else. Someone easier and more affectionate than me," she murmured, placing a hand on her chest.
She curled up on the mattress, feeling the warmth of the sweatshirt.
"But I missed you, I missed you and you were three rooms away. I don't know what I'm going to do now without you," she murmured and put her hands on her face. "I remember when we had... I hate calling it that. But when we had our first date."
A small smile settled on Abby's lips.
"We went for a walk outside the hospital. You took me to the square and we saw the giraffes. We also watched the sunset and you told me you liked me. I laughed and turned very red, but it was because I liked you too. A lot."
Abby felt her eyes fill with tears again.
"Being with you... Was the only thing that made me forget that we lived at the end of the world. We have many memories together" she said and sighed. "We have lived a lot. Most of the things we have experienced are ugly and hard... But... I have experienced more beautiful things with you than with anyone else in the world. I wish we had given ourselves another chance... I wish you had come with me to the island of the sc.. Seraphites" she said, correcting herself. "Although perhaps we would have died anyway."
Abby sighed and looked out the window, it was still raining.
"I like the rain," she said. "You liked it too."
She surprised herself when she spoke about Owen in the past tense. As if her mind had accepted that he was already gone. She swallowed hard and gasped for air.
"I remember the day... We pretended we were sick. It was when he joined the WLF. There was a flu outbreak and we pretended we had it..." he remembered and smiled."It was your idea, of course. We spent the whole day in bed while it was raining outside. I never told you... But it was the best day of my life," she whispered.
Abby stood up again and walked towards Owen. She looked at the shape of his body under the sheet. She reached out to grab his hand. He was cold and had lost his strength, but he was still him. His skin remained the same. Almost all of his skin had burns from that Molotov cocktail that almost killed him.
"I really like your hands," she said. "And your burns. I never told you because I know you wouldn't have believed me. You always said your burns were disgusting and that your hands were too long. But I like them..." she murmured. "Actually...I can't think of anything about you that I don't like." the young woman whispered.
After a few seconds she brought her hand up to her lips and kissed his knuckles.
She felt two burning tears falling from her eyes again.
"I'm going to miss you so much that I don't know how I'm going to live without you. Owen," she said and sighed.
She let go of his hand and took a couple of steps. She looked at the clock. 04:07 AM. It wasn't too long before dawn. She needed sleep. Her whole head was spinning non-stop. Once he heard the small hand of the clock it couldn't stop.
Tap
Tap
Tap
Tap
She looked out the window to watch the moon. It was almost full and shone a lot. Its white light was the only thing that brought some light to that dark day.
Abby turned to look at Owen's body, the white sheet shone thanks to the moonlight and brought clarity to that room.
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴... 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.
A small smile appeared on her face. She had to look for the light.
She looked at the moon again, back at Owen. She lay down on the mattress, feeling almost defeated. She sighed as she felt her entire body calm and lying down.
"I love you, Uber Goober. I will always love you," she murmured before closing her eyes.
She turned on her side, snuggling into her sweatshirt.
"Good night, Owen," she said with her eyes closed.
The next day, Abby took everything that was useful from the cafeteria and close the door with the keys and threw the keys into the sea.
ＯＷＥＮ ＭＯＯＲＥ
𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟮 - 𝟮𝟬𝟯𝟳
She wrote on the door with some paint that Owen had there. The aquarium was his home. Now it will be his home forever.