Battling the Loss You Live For.

Frank’s Point of View
I ran up the stairs as fast as I could, taking them two at a time. I scanned over all the heads, until I saw the shine of a silver thermal blanket, right in the corner of the room. I walked over carefully, stopping at a fair distance. She had her head down, and she was shaking a little. Cold, maybe? Or crying…? I couldn’t take that.
I walked over, sitting right next to her and wrapping an arm around her frail form, pulling her into my side.
“Frank!” she gasped, her voice shaky and uneasy, her eyes wide with fear. She grabbed the top of my shirt, pulling me into her, nestling her head in my chest.
“Oh my god, Frank, I-”
“Shh. It’s okay babe,” I whispered, twisting my arms around her.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I muttered into her ear, stroking her hair. She looked up at me, her eyes wide with concern instead of fear.
“I love you,” she mumbled, leaning up to my face. My lips tugged up into a small smile, like they always did when I heard those three words escape her mouth. Though this time, I could feel something more, something a lot stronger.
“I love you, too. So much,” I replied in a small voice, leaning down and kissing her softly on the lips. It was unlike any other kiss we shared; softer instead of hungry, passion rather than lust.
“Tell me what happened,” I demanded, catching my breath quickly after pulling away.
“I… it was about two hours ago. I went into the back; where you were before… and Luke, my boss told me that if I get a bunch of white hoodies for the front, I could go off to my break. So when I was out back, I got out my phone and was about to text you when I heard Sam and Kayla, my co-workers running down the stairs, really fast. I was really confused, and I…” her voice got strained, her eyes watery. She clung to me, blinking frantically. I pulled her into me even more, eliminating the space that was left in between us.
“I heard a crackling. Sam looked so scared… he told me to get out, and he threw me my jacket, and he dragged me out, Kayla ran out into the front, and the whole wall just burst into fire. I was so scared, Frank, I thought I was going to die,” she uttered, choking back on her tears, her hands latching into my hair, and I squeezed her to me, my eyes prickling with hot salty tears.
“Sam dragged me o-out… and Luke and Kayla were already out of the shop, shouting at us to get out. When we got to the entrance, the back blew up, a-and I saw everything… e-everything was on fire… fuck.”
I rubbed her back, sniffing. I could not cry now. She looked up at me, her eyes rimmed with tears and red, puffy. She reached up, placing a hand on my cheek, my eyes fluttering closed.
“You’re so drained,” she whispered, her voice cracking. My eyes snapped open, and I trailed my hand from her back, cupping her chin.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“It’s hard not to,” she replied, smiling pitifully. She sighed, wiping at her eyes on my chest.
“When Sam and I got to the doors, we tried pulling them open, but the heat… we think they got melted together, the metal pieces. It was so hot, and the doors weren’t budging. We couldn’t cross over to get to the other doors, the fire blocked us up. So Luke smashed the glass with his fist, and we climbed out, just as the fire brigade came,” she finished, her hand still placed on my cheek. I nodded, kissing her forehead. I pulled her into a hug, her breath hitting my neck, her tear-stained face dampening my neck and shoulder.
“I’m just so glad you’re alive,” I whispered, kissing her on the neck, “I dunno what I’d do without you.”
I felt her smile slowly, and lift her head off my neck, her eyes locking on mine. Her eyes were so beautiful.
“Me neither. I can’t live without you.”