George's heart

His heart was broken. Sarah, his truest of loves, had left him. She could not bear to deal with him any longer. In and out of the hospital, Sarah saw George as a burden both financially and mentally more than another person she could share her life with. George could not understand, as all he ever did was care. To him, a relationship only entailed constant mutual care for the other, but Sarah required more than that, and George could not fulfill her demands.

As a hopeless romantic, all George could do was love during the relationship and weep after. All he wanted was a mutual love, but all whom he loved never shared the same dream. They wanted luxury, comfort in their life on every level. They wanted time, money and a securely employed person to share things with. They never seemed to want to love George for long.

He fought, day after day, just to exist on his own. He wished he had more, so that he could give, so that someone would love him back. But nobody seemed to care.

On September 18, George met Jane. Jane was not conventionally attractive, she did not dress well, she was not rich - but she laughed and talked and shared joy with George. Immediately, George felt himself falling in love. However, he worried immensely what she thought of him. He was disabled, after all, and Jane was nice to everyone. But when he wheeled his chair into that restaurant, and was put on her team for trivia, he felt something that he had only felt twice before.

George was 64, and Jane 62. Neither were avid trivia enthusiasts, but they had lived enough to collect all of the information that they needed. They answered questions, back and forth, with their team members occasionally pitching in. They meshed, and everything felt perfect. After their third time placing in the top three teams, George finally mustered up the courage to ask for her number.

He seemingly had nothing to worry about, as Jane happily exchanged information. They began to talk, building something within themselves and between each other, until eventually George had made his decision.

While the weather was not perfect, George could wait no more. Atop that hill which they climbed day after day to keep in shape, he dropped one knee into the soil. He pulled a box from his back pocket, and presented it to Jane.

"Jane, my dear. You have been the light withing my life; you have been my everything; I have loved you since the day we met. I have thought long and hard, and I have decided. I want to spend the rest of forever together, with you."

George opened the box as Jane covered her mouth with her hands, a flurry of every emotion she had felt in the past 5 years shaking her very being. Inside the box lied the most beautiful ring Jane could have ever imagined. It was shaped like the branches of the tree they shared picnics under. It had hints of the design which littered the interior of their favorite restaurant. And a ruby, red and gorgeous, sat in the middle. Everything about it was perfect.

"Yes!"

They were to wed in 3 days. Both could not believe that it had come this far, and they sipped tea together in front of the window overlooking the garden they had built together. A feeling of pure joy and empowerment surged through and between them, and neither George nor Jane had felt anything like it before.

Jane had no troubles helping George; she took the extra responsibility as more of an opportunity to bond and spend time with him. He no longer sat in his wheelchair, but she made sure it was always clean and ready, just in case. Two days till the day that they would be forever sealed together.

Jane was out in the garden, planting some tomatoes so that she could later make the delicious mix of eggs, tomatoes, spinach and black olives among other spices and peppers. George loved that meal more than any other, and she knew that. Everything was perfect, and every moment was special and precious.

Tomorrow, they would walk down that aisle. Nothing could touch them now, none of their problems or pains could reach them. They had climbed their own mountains, together, and now lived happily atop them. Everything was beautiful now, because each color held meaning and each sound had a personality.

The aisle awaited them, and in thirty minutes, they would need to wait no longer. Although it would not really change anything between them, both Jane and George felt an obligation to show each other that the love between them was eternal. As George stood up, finishing that Eldredge knot his father had passed unto him decades ago. He took one step toward his destination, where it would all finally be decided, and he could live out the rest of his life happily with Jane. One step. One became two, and then three.

But there was no fourth. After his third step, George collapsed. It took two whole minutes for anyone to notice that he had fallen, and once they did, the room was filled with panicked faces and gasps. Not long after, an ambulance arrived and the guests cleared a path for them. George was rushed to the hospital, and Jane insisted upon joining them in the ambulance.

It was quiet in that little compartment, the sound and light seemingly being sucked away. Not one of the three could give Jane a clear answer. "What happened?" "Is he going to be okay?" "I thought he was healthy, how could this have happened?".

The hospital was worse than the silence. Sudden rushes of noise, color, and shapes flew into Jane's mind as she crumpled. She sat, in the middle of the hall, panting and curling tighter and tighter into a ball until the noise stopped.

"Hey, are you Jane? My name is Josh. George said he would like to see you, would you like to visit him?"

Jane's shutdown ended with a violent start, as she practically jumped to her feet and tried to shout "yes!", her voice catching in her throat. But Josh understood. Together, they went to the ER and eventually, after what felt like hours of aimless wandering, there he was. Lying there, covered in tubes, was George. Jane sat beside the bed, and for the rest of the night, they held hands and talked.

They talked and talked, they planned to reschedule the wedding - But, Jane would worry about all of that, and George would rest. Jane insisted upon this. She would figure out the logistics, and George would just get better. All throughout the night, they talked and laughed and shared stories, stories which had somehow never been shared.

That night, Jane truly knew George. She saw everything he was, and she loved every part of it. All of his flaws, mistakes, and how they led to the man that she fell in love with some years ago. She felt enlightened.

She was the only one to ever know George like that. Later that night, right after telling his last story, George's hands went cold and his eyes glossed over. His skin became grey as doctors ran about frantically, trying to figure something out. Searching for any kind of answer. But there was nothing they could have done.

His heart was broken.