My Hero

Tears slid down my cheeks as I paced back and forth across the living room of the small condo that I shared with my fiancé. He was supposed to meet me here over an hour ago, promising that he wouldn’t work over-time for tonight. We were supposed to be going over wedding plans with the date only getting closer and closer and I really needed him here, but of course he was away.

Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Isabella Maria Rossi, and if all goes as planned, I will be Isabella Maria Marino in a matter of months. I’m a young twenty-one years old and live in Dallas, Texas where I work as a sound-tech at a big recording studio in Dallas that is used by everyone from Hollywood Records to Def Jams. I graduated from high school at an early age of sixteen and went straight to Full Sail University where I studied music. This is also where I met my fiancé.

His name is Daniel Jacob Marino, he is a muralist and an art teacher at a community center here in Dallas that I met while I was out one night with some girlfriends. I was only seventeen at the time while he was nineteen, but we hit it off great and we started dating instantly. Now three years later, a year after I finished school, we are planning our wedding. Well, that’s if he ever decides to come home and do some work.

My thoughts were interrupted when my cell phone began to violently vibrate on our glass coffee table while blasting I Caught Myself. Instantly I rushed over and checked the caller I.D. and I couldn’t help but be a little shocked with I noticed who it was.

“Hello?” I asked into the small device, taking a seat on the lonely armchair in the corner of the room. I nervously began to tap my foot as I waited for the person to speak.

“Isabella, Danny was in an accident while he was leaving the center today,” his father explained. “I am sending Nathan” -Daniel’s older brother- “to come and get you. From what we were told, this looks serious.”

“What kind of accident are we speaking of specifically?” I questioned.

I heard the man sigh over the line before saying, “How about I explain when you get here? I’d much rather have someone tell you in person, you deserve that much.”

“Is it that bad?”

“I’m afraid so.” He paused before saying, “Nathan is almost there. He is going to call you when he pulls up, alright?”

I sighed and let out a shaky, “Okay.”

“Bye Isabella,” and before I could reply, the call had ended.

I rose from my seat on the armchair and walked to the bedroom that I shared with Daniel. Just last night we made love to each other for the first time and now he is in danger, it was so cliché.

I walked to my closet and pulled out a pair of flip flops and a pull-over sweatshirt. I pulled on the warm article of clothing and moved to the mirror. My normally lively ocean blue-green eyes looked dull and weak as they were drenched in worry and pain. My auburn hair that was usually bright and shiny looked dark and dead due to the multiple times I had run my fingers through the curly locks. I looked like I was sick, but that’s what extreme worry does to you.

I pulled my dull hair into a messy bun on top of my head, leaving short curled and waved strands loose and falling into my face. My feet slid into my flip flops and as if on queue, Nathan rang my doorbell.

I quickly picked up my handbag, cell phone, and keys before I rushed out of the small condo.

“What happened?” I asked as soon as I was in the old Ford Explorer that belonged to Nat. “You’re dad refused to tell me anything when I talked to him on the phone.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, Daniel is, more likely than none, going to be okay,” my fiancé’s brother explained. “He is going to have a few broken bones and bruises, but he’ll be fine.”

“Why wouldn’t your dad tell me this over the phone?”

“That’s something you should talk to Daniel about.”

The remainder of the ride was silent as I just waited to get to the hospital to see the love of my life. I had given him my all over the past few years and I needed him to be okay, I needed him to continue to receive my love, and vice-versa. Daniel was a strong guy and I knew that he was going to be fine. We would be married in a short few months, just as planned, and everything was going to work out. Right?

Oh boy was I wrong…

“Babe, I’m so sorry,” Daniel cried as soon as I set foot into his hospital room.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I asked, “What happened? I need the truth. Obviously, it is something that’s going to hurt; everyone is walking on eggshells around me. What did you do?”

“I’m sorry. I really am, I should have told you sooner,” he whispered, avoiding eye contact with me. “I’m seeing someone else.”

I had the slightest care as to what came after that. If I could, I would have given a shit as to why he was sitting in a hospital bed, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. I couldn’t even look at the man that I had given up so much for, the man that I loved so much. I gave my virginity to a man that spent his spare time cheating on me. I couldn’t keep my composure in a room with suck a massive jerk, so with nothing else being said, I left the room.

That’s when I lost everything and it all came crumbling down.

This is the storm.