Till Death Do Us Part

"They're not going to make it, are they?" He coughs.

She tries to reassure him, "There's still time."

Their bodies huddled on the floor as the fire rages around them, their backs growing warm at the blaze.

"I don't want to burn," he says, fear in his voice.

"There's still time," she reassures him once more.

But despite her words, the smoke is now thick in the room, brushing their backs and rising towards the ceiling.

"Maybe the smoke will get us first," he coughs out, his voice weak.

"Please don't say that," she begs, tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I just don't want it to hurt."

"I don't want it at all," she responds, her voice breaking.

They draw closer to each other, and he strokes her hair. The soot stains his hand, more that it stained her hair.

He pulls her close in a weak force on the floor, crawling towards her until their faces ware only inches apart. "There's no one else I'd rather be here with me at the end, but God I wish you weren't," he spoke with black tears falling helplessly from his amber eyes to the floor.

She looks at him sadly, understanding his feelings. "Is there a small part of you that feels relieved that I was?"

His silence speaks volumes of guilt for even feeling serene while they die, still- she gives him a small smile. "It's okay. I feel it as well.."

"I love you" — "I love you too.." They close the small distance between them, staring intently with the sparks of their eyes glowing dim, slowly accepting the end of the rope. Out of their last desperate desire, they lock their lips in a passionate kiss, with the taste of smoke lingered their tongues, but it's the only thing in the room that doesn't feel like burning.

When they part, they intertwined their fingers locked, and their eyes meet for the last time. They remain there until his breathing grows shallow, and a final, weak breath escapes him, turning his chest still and his eyelids heavy.

Her voice has grown too weak to call his name. She only has enough strength to look to the door as the inferno that has begun to creep under its frame.

She looks at his still chest and a part of her feels relief that he was right that the smoke came for them before the fire. The other part of her curses it for taking him first.

She strokes through his hair like he had hers. It stains her hand in the same shade of black it did to his.

She stares at his chest a moment longer to make sure it'll never take another breath before she takes the deepest one she can to make sure she follows him.