I tried to write this totally dialogue-free. Sorry that it's not the greatest-quality writing out there. I tried. xD
Also, I did the shuffle thing twice and I got the same song both times. Must be fate.
___________
Love Hurts
-Roy Orbison
It is a harsh world; survival of the fittest. However, it is often the weak who possess the most strength.
William Myers was born with weak lungs, and he could never keep up with the exuberant energy of the other young boys his age. He never let his condition bother him, however, and even as he caught colds the way other boys caught tadpoles and bugs, he did not utter one complaint.
Growing up, he spent a lot of time indoors. He would read, write, study, and even make up stories to tell the girls, who were much too civilized to go running around in the mud like their brothers or cousins. It was through his story-telling that he met Adelaide Jones when she came to visit his parents’ plantation for the summer.
Adelaide was what every parent wants in a child: pretty, charming, and mild-mannered. Her mother had high hopes for her, and was determined to marry her off someday to Gregory Landen--the only son of the wealthiest man in the south. In fact, that was why Adelaide was at the Myers’ plantation; the Landen family was very close friends with William’s parents, and they were also visiting that summer.
However, much to Mrs. Jones' disappointment, Adelaide never showed more than a polite interest in Gregory. Instead, she would spend all her time chatting with the other girls and listening to William’s stories. Gregory, for his part, never missed the attention, as he spent his days waist-deep in the river, catching frogs.
Young William was immediately taken with the pretty girl who would sit and listen so attentively to his stories. Adelaide was equally fascinated with the skinny boy who spent all his time sitting down and made up such creative tales. The friendship they formed was immediate and lasting. They would hardly spend a moment apart, whether they be chatting amiably or quietly tending to their separate interests in the same room. The two friends would argue and squabble at times, but they were never so serious that the other couldn’t forget and forgive.
Mrs. Jones was proud that Adelaide was so kind to the “crippled” child, but worried about his health and how her daughter would react if he were to become seriously ill, as was so likely with his condition. So she watched the events of that summer, and the following summers, with a wary smile.
When the summer ended and it was time for everyone to go their separate ways, Adelaide cried and promised to write William. She fulfilled her promise and wrote dutifully every week until, after nearly a year of begging, she convinced her mother to let her return to the Myers’ plantation that summer, too.
This pattern continued for a number of years, with the two exchanging letters when apart and being inseparable when together. Together, they grew from children into a young man and a young woman who couldn’t imagine life apart from one another. It was five years to the day from when they had met that they shared their first kiss, nestled into a green leather armchair positioned in the back of the plantation’s library.
It was at that moment their fate was sealed; they were gone, lost forever in one another with no hope for escape. While William’s physical strength was lacking, his love impenetrable and unyielding, which, to Adelaide, made him the strongest man in the world. They were young and in love and invincible.
But they weren’t invincible enough. The way William’s weak lungs made him into a sickly child, all the illnesses he suffered through made his lungs weaker. Each new ailment he caught made him weaker and weaker, and the weaker he was, the more susceptible he was to catching cold. It was a vicious, heart-wrenching cycle.
None of this mattered to the young couple, though. Of course Adelaide worried over him, but they both believed that their love would conquer it all. William would always tell her that she was the strong one, and by loving him, she gave strength to him. They were due to be married in spring, and although Mrs. Jones was still doubtful, she gave her blessing. She thought the bliss of marriage might heal William and protect her daughter from pain.
However, the winter was cold and bitter, and William became sicker than he ever had before. His body became weaker and weaker, even as his love for Adelaide became stronger and stronger. She would sit by his bed every day, holding his hand, willing him to get better.
It was not to be. Every day more of his life left him and he came closer to death. Even through his pain, he would always smile at the lovely face so dear to him, and Adelaide would blink back her tears and smile back. Seeing him lying there, face pale and tired against the pillow, thin arms too weak to raise more than a few inches, with his skinny body disappearing into the thick quilt that covered him, Adelaide could see that William had been the strong one all along. She was the weak one, too weak to even imagine life without him or to ever love again.
For months afterwards, Adelaide would walk around as if in a daze. She would sit for hours looking at nothing, thinking of nothing. The wedding day came and passed, and still Adelaide did not cry. It wasn’t until that summer, when she was visiting the Myers’ plantation with her mother to pay their respects, that she collapsed into the green leather armchair and silently sobbed. Her mother held her close and, tears in her eyes, wished she could take the hurt away.
