Pieces of Me by Pua Ramona (small books to read txt) 📕

hands and says,“You stop fighting when this boy takes his last breath.” I let go of Eli’s hand and wrap my arms around my grandfather and cry with my whole soul. “Sometimes we have to break in order for us to rebuild something beautiful.” He kisses me on my head and stands up. He reaches for Eli’s hand and he prays for him. The thing about my grandfather is that he’s one hundred percent old school Fa’asamoa way and I respect him for it, and for still teaching us after Daddy passed away. He never judges us on how we live our lives, even when others do. No matter what we do and how we do it, he never stops loving us. It's why Mama never wanted to leave our home, because our grandfather loved her unconditionally, even when she didn’t know a lot about the culture. The only thing he asks of us is to at least make it to church occasionally. He never asks for anything else, he just wants us to be proud of our roots. And I respect him for being the one to point out exactly where I was lacking. “I’ll leave you so you can spend time with the boy” he says.

He winks and says, “When that boy wakes up, you tell him that I expect to see the both of you in church. Church is on Sunday, just in case you forgot.”

I laugh and say, “I love you Grandpa Tali.”

He pinches my arm and says “I feel it every day Little Sina.” I get up to walk with him, but he stops me. “Your Auntie Claire’s out in the waiting room with your mother and the boy’s mother”

“The boy has a name,” I say.

He rolls his eyes. “He’s a boy because he’s too lazy to wake up. Only boys sleep like they don’t have feaus to do.” I laugh out loud.

I kiss him and say, “You’re magic Grandpa.” He smiles and then he’s gone. I take a deep breath and my heart finally feels at peace. I’m not going to give up on him. Stop fighting when he takes his last breath. Inhale. Exhale. I walk over to the bed and climb in. It still hurts to move, my ribs are slowly healing, and my face is okay looking now, I guess. I kiss him on his lips. “Okay babe, I know I asked for more time, but I’m asking you for more. I’m not ready to let you go.” I wrap my arm around him. “I love you Eli.”

Chapter Sixty-Five

Eli

Fuck! My whole damn body is killing me, my throat is dry as hell. and my head feels like I’ve got a bad fucking hangover. I try moving but it hurts, but I need to take a fucking piss.

“It’s been eight days, love; I’m going to keep asking for more time.”

Sina? But she’s in a coma. What the fuck? Am I dead? Or am I in her head? Wait! That just sounds fucking dumb you idiot. I can smell her scent, sunshine and vanilla, with a little coconut. She smells like heaven.

“Please, come back to me. I need you to wake up” she whispers. So I am me, I’m just sleeping. Right?

“Sweetie, I’m going to go grab me something from the cafeteria. Do you want me to bring anything back for you?”

Mama? What the hell is going on.

“No thank you Mama.”

She called her Mama. I feel my heart beating a slow and steady rhythm.

“You need to eat something Sina” I hear Mama say.

“I’ll eat when he wakes up,” Sina tells her with a stubborn edge to her voice.

“Sweetie, it’s been eight days since you’ve had anything to eat. Let me grab you something okay? Just eat a little bit, please?” Mama begs her.

“No thank you Mama, I’ll wait for him to wake up so we can eat together” Sina insists and I feel her hands tighten around mine.

I hear Mama sigh before she says, “Okay sweetie. I’ll be back.”

So that’s why I can’t move. Half of her body is on mine. I can feel her hand on my chest and I can hear her sniffling. She’s crying.

“I love you Eli, more than you’ll ever know.” She stays quiet for a few minutes, but it feels longer than that. She starts humming. My heart is beating like crazy. She’s the only one that makes me feel like this. I need to let her know that I can hear her. She sings and I swear to god, my heart just jumped.

“Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can’t help falling in love with you.” I love her. “Like a river flows, surely to the sea. Darling, so it goes something are meant to be. Take my hand, take my whole life too. For I can’t help falling in love with you.” She stops singing and cries quietly. It hurts to move, but I have to let her know that I’m not going anywhere. If I could just move my hand right now.

“Eli?” Oh shit! I guess I am moving my hand.

“Baby, squeeze my hand if you can hear me.” She says and the hope in her voice makes my heart soar.

I don’t have the energy, but the need to let my girl know that I am here is overwhelming. So I do as she asks and I try to squeeze her hand a second time. You would’ve thought that she’d won the lottery or some shit. But to hear the relief in her voice made it worth it. Now I need to wake the fuck up properly so I can look into my girls eyes.

“Open your eyes my love” she whispers.

My eyelids are heavy, but I need to see her face. I need to make sure this is real.

“Sina?” I rasp. Instantly her lips are on mine and the pain that I feel everywhere, goes numb. I don’t feel any of it anymore. The only thing