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Cinders and ash filled the air, as the wood cracked and burned above them, threatening to break from the flames and descend upon him and his beloved, but for now, it held, gifting all the time it had to give them, even if it wasn’t much. He held her closer, her beauty still being what takes his breath away even in such circumstances, even as her limp and cold body lay still in his arms, her own breath having been taken away forevermore.
His hands quivered, despite the rising temperatures, despite their home being turned into beautiful smoking rubble all around them, all he could feel was how cold she felt. He swore he could feel frostbite nipping at his fingers as he trembled, unable to stop and steady them.
Careful not to disturb his paramour’s eternal slumber, he lifted a hand to her pale face, it somehow paler than it always had been. He rested his hand on her cheek, feeling the biting cold seep into his fingers and palm. “Cara Mia…” His voice shook, in a way he learned would always earn him a loving kiss from his beloved wife, looking down at her darling husband with all the affection and adoration her dark and gorgeous eyes could hold.
But not this time, no matter how much he wanted her to, she didn’t so much as blink, she couldn’t. Her empty and lifeless eyes looked into his, her undying love seeping out of her, trickling down her chin in a deep shade of blood red. She always looked so enchanting in the fierce color, it almost matched her lipstick, almost...
He could hear them outside, creatures of violence yelling and chanting, a symphony of hatred overlapping with itself, only brought together to unite against what they deemed to be their common enemy. He didn’t understand, he loved the abstract and unfathomable, but just this once he wouldn’t mind an exception, an explanation, any valid reason they could have, for the fear that would rise in their eyes whenever his delightful family would cross paths with them.
He hoped to cross paths with his children again, with his brother, his family. Fester had taken the children as soon as the smoke, fire and pitchforks had shown themselves over the horizon. His love had told him to evacuate the others, just in case her plight for them to cease didn’t reach them. He’d begged her to let him go in her stead, the image of her being on the frontlines of their hatred making his heart ache and burn. She wouldn’t listen, simply sealing her fate as she sealed her final kiss on his lips.
Her love endlessly leaked out of her. It stained her dress, although one wouldn’t think so at first glance, the colors seemingly indistinguishable to the untrained eye. His hand fell from her face, finding the rift those creatures had torn into her, as he tried to stop it all from running out. The love stained his hand, undeterred and unstopping, mocking him as it escaped his wife’s body, running away from them both. His eyes burned, he couldn’t tell if it was from the smoke and cinders, the tears slowly threatening to fall, or the sight of his failure to protect his darling wife like he’d promised.
They’d tried to stop him, voices yelling with desperation as he charged back in, more desperate than all of them combined to get her out. He’d promised- sworn on his life that if she didn’t join them, he’d come back for her. He’d waltz through the fire, suffer at the pitchforks and die a thousand torturous deaths, all for his love. And yet… she was the one who ended up giving her life for their children and family, for him.
He failed her. He’d failed as a husband, a lover and as her partner in this life.
His hand was slow and listless as he lifted it, away from his futile attempt to keep her essence inside her. He looked at it, feebly shaking, shaking and stained with the blood of the one he had failed. He faltered as he took her hand, staining her unblemished skin with her own love, bringing it to his lips and kissing her frozen knuckles. He choked on a sob, holding her delicate hand tight, his own pitifully trembling. “I’m sorry my darling… my love, my life… I’m so sorry… I failed you…” He brought her hand to his cheek, closing his eyes as he let himself pretend. He felt shame for daring to let himself do so, pretending that his wife looked up at him with love, cupping his face with warmth as she stroked his cheek, wiping his tears away and calling him a hopeless lovesick fool, her hopeless lovesick fool that she fell head over heels in love with and married.
The fire reached the glass in their windows, crackling as it made them fissure and break, making a cacophony of noise as they shattered, bringing the fool back to reality. Languidly, he opened his eyes, taking in the cold from her freezing hand, discolored with her own lovely shade of red. Her eyes had no love to give, still as lifelessly empty as before. His chest hurt, the room smelled of fire, charred wood and burnt fabrics, as it continued filling up with smoke and ash. It threatened to smother and suffocate what he once held dear to him, even if it had already stopped breathing. The now shattered windows supplied fresh air, air that the fire greedily consumed in its entirety as it grew bigger and bigger around them.
He could hear the beratement better now, the violent yelling and screaming that came from the outside. A tear had run down her cheek, his sorrow having overflown and spilled, staining her peaceful face with the grim mockery of what would’ve been a sign of life. His jaw clenched, eyes burning as he dropped her arm, it hitting the ash-covered floorboards as he wrapped his arms tight around his love and brought her in close, hugging her leaking body against his own. His coat got stained with the red but that mattered nothing to him, nothing at all compared the loss and anguish he felt in that moment, as he dared to let himself hide his pathetic face in his paramour’s shoulder.
His stained hand held her slack back, as the other found the back of her head, interlacing with the silky black locks he’d always adored as he let her hide her face in his shoulder in return, trying to protect what was left of her from the cinders and fire, the cracking wood and fracturing glass. He held the love of his life close, close enough to feel what wasn’t there anymore, the lack of a beating heart breaking and shattering his own. His hands trembled as he cradled her in his arms, selfishly letting his tears pour out and taint the frostbitten body that once belonged to who was his reason for living.
His body shook, overcome with grief as he mourned his love, his life and thereafter, his eternity. Strands of her hair swayed and slipped, falling from the hand that held her so gently, scared of hurting what had already been hurt, terrified of losing what had already been lost. His tears wouldn’t stop, he knew he’d see her again, find her waiting for him with open arms and all of the love he’d failed to keep inside her, her red lips smiling as she held and kissed her undeserving husband, gracing his face with the evidence that she loved him, that even in the face of his failure, he was nevertheless the love of her life, and nothing, not even death could change that. Even then the tears flowed, unrelenting and unforgiving as they burned his face, singing his nerves as sobs tore through his body, not feeling the frostbite as he clutched her cold corpse.
“I’m coming soon Cara Mia… you won’t have to wait long.” He cried, as the flames engulfed their lives, searing the wood, burning the fabrics, shattering the glass, torching all their memories together in this house as it set it all ablaze, turning it all to ash. The wood finally caved in, unable to hold itself up as the unyielding fire cruelly made it crack and break, collapsing in under its own weight and descending upon the tragedy beneath it. Gomez held his Morticia tighter, shielding his wife’s body all he could with his own, protecting her from the incoming inferno-
As it buried them together, the burning wood hissing and crackling as it grieved, its last gift to them being that to smother them, ensuring they’d be reunited in the next life before long, all while making sure they’d never again be separated in this one. Their entangled bodies burned as their ashes mixed together and became one, the scorching wood becoming their shared grave of ignited charcoal and ash forevermore.