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“Just for you.” She gave him a chaste kiss. “Only ever for you.”
Epilogue - Link
1 Year Later
Link stood in the back corner of the stage, his eyes trained on Emma as she stepped up to the mic in front of a roaring crowd. The diamond ring was burning a hole in his pocket. He was going to wait until they got back to the hotel room. Their private suite was being set up with candles and flower petals at that very moment.
“Thank you so much for the warm welcome, Los Angeles,” Emma said. The cheers rose again to an ear-splitting level.
Emma turned to look at him, a smile on her face, her blue eyes surrounded by dark kohl, glowing with life. She’d come so far in this past year. Long distance wasn’t easy, but he made a point to spend at least a week with her every month.
Emma spun back to the microphone. “This next song is straight off our new album and poured from my heart.” She waited a beat as the crowd clapped and whistled. “You see, sometimes I struggle with depression.” Her breath against the mic echoed in the stadium as the audience grew silent. “I’m sure some of you remember the story in the news about me being in the hospital just over a year ago. There were a lot of assumptions made, and I’m finally ready to share my story.”
She wrapped her fingers around the mic, her dark nail polish matching the all-black ensemble she wore: tight jeans and a lace corset top with long sleeves. It was khol and red, feminine and edgy, reminding him of that racy outfit she’d worn in the hotel when they’d gone on the trip of his lifetime. Her golden hair now had strips of red through it.
After pulling up her sleeves, Emma raised her arms as a shocked gasp reverberated through the room. His body tensed, his gut cinching tight. Link’s attention remained glued to her, watching for any sign she needed him.
“Sometimes the pain of life gets to be too much. The scars we carry inside become too difficult for us to handle. Sometimes we just want it to end. Sometimes what doesn’t kill us makes us wish we weren’t alive.” Her head turned as she surveyed the room, most of which was hidden thanks to the overhead spotlights shining on her. “But I’m here to tell you that life is worth the fight. And this song is for all of you out there who live in the grey, in the shadows, putting on a mask for everyone around you so they think you’re okay.”
Phone lights blinked on all through the stadium as the first chords of Emma’s new song began to play.
“This struggle seems all too familiar.
This path overworn.
These lungs gasping for air.
This heart shattered yet again.
To love is not to breathe.
To give in is to die in darkness.
To quench this thirst is to starve my soul.
They tell me breathe. Just breathe.
When the flood comes and darkness reigns,
Hold on just a little longer.
Go on a little farther.
Fight. Fight for the light.
Escape cuts just a little deeper until the ecstasy flows over,
Drowning me with endorphins coated in red.
Sick of all these disguises.
Time to get off my stage.
Got to channel this rage.
They tell me breathe. Just breathe.
When the flood comes and darkness reigns.
