A portrait of a death love.

Holly stared at the canvas laying opposite to her on her room. On it, a portrait had been painted by her, but now it seemed so...pointless.

She had made that painting when she heard of local art contest. And after weeks of pondering what to paint, she finally had an idea, to paint... Eden...

Eden... Her childhood friend and the man she loved for so long. She found a little bit of comfort on knowing he had died knowing she loved him.

"I love you" she had said countless times.

And countless times he smiled softly and said "I know"

And deep down she knew he felt the same way. But Eden had always been the kind and selfless type and he had never accepted her feelings or wanted to be more than friends just to spare her, spare her of the pain of watching him die.

But she thought it was silly, because she saw him die anyways. Everyday she went to the hospital, she saw him paler, thinner, with growing dark circles under his almond eyes. His previously full cheeks had sunken; the blush of his face had disappeared; his chocolate hair had been shaved.

But the most painful part had to be when she saw the light on his eyes slowly starting to fade. Refusing to love her back didn't spare her of any pain.

She had painted him as her subject for the contest. And that same morning she had taken the finished portrait to the hospital to show him. But once she got there... She was met with crying parents, an empty hospital room and her friend forever gone...

She had gone back to her apartment with her painting. The contest was on two days but now it all seemed so meaningless.

She had been so proud of her painting, but not the smile on the face of the portrait of Eden, seemed like a joke, a mockery.

And so she had simply sat across the canvas in silence for the next hours, simply staring at it, maybe hoping it was all a dream or a nightmare. That tomorrow morning she would be able to go see Eden again and everything was going to be fine.

But she knew it wasn't possible and suddenly in a mix of rage and heartbreak, she started destroying her art study. She threw away the canvas, knocked down the pencils and the paint, making it splatter over the floor.

'It wasn't fair' she thought. None of it was fair. Eden didn't deserve that and she wanted him back, she wanted him back so much, he wanted to hug him, kiss him and then take him to the beach like he had always dreamed of and just do all the things he wanted but that his weak body never allowed.

She kneeled in front of the portrait of Eden and hugged it tightly as she cried and sobbed "Please come back Eden... Please come back to me... I need you... I need you at my side, together like we've always been... There's no Holly without Eden..." she said between sobs, her voice breaking between each phrase.

And just like that, crying bitterly, she fell asleep.

It wasn't until late at night that she woke up. She had a terrible headache and everything was dark and quiet around her. Not even the sounds or the lights of the street were coming in. And as she looked around her studio and at the canvas on her hands. She froze... The canvas was empty...

"Holly" the voice behind her made her jump on the spot and she immediately stood up and turned around, only to freeze at the sight of thean in front of her.

"Eden..." She felt dizzy and like she was lacking air. There he was. With lively almond eyes, wavy chocolate hair and rosy full cheeks. He looked like in the past, before he had been confined to a hospital room and he had been consumed by his illness.

And that's when it hit her. She glanced back at her empty canvas and then back at the man in front of her. And she thought she had finally gone crazy, so she chuckled and fell to her knees, shaking her head.

"So this is it... This is how I end crazy" she laughed humorlessly, covering her face.

"Holly... Look at me" suddenly the man was kneeling in front of her, holding her gently by the forearms and moving her hands off her face.

"You are not here..." She whispered, even if the warmth of the hands holding her felt so real.

Eden smiled softly, the same way he always did and that made small wrinkles form around his eyes "But I am. There's no Holly without Eden but there's no Eden without Holly either" he gently wiped her tears and held her cheek.

"But you are gone..." She repeated, leaning against the touch.

"I'm not. Because you are still here Holly. As long as you still live, there's an Eden, because I'll always be with you" he gently placed his hand on her chest, on the side of her heart "And since I'm always with you, there's still a Holly" he said and chuckled softly.

A sob made her whole body tremble and she looked at him "Eden... What am I supposed to do now?" She asked, sounding helpless.

"Isn't it obvious? You are going to take your amazing pain to that contest, because you are so talented and the world needs your art out there" he said, standing up and helping her up "And then. Regardless of the results, you are going to go to the beach, and you are going to bask on the sun, feel the sand beneath your toes, swim on the ocean, eat some ice cream and you are simply going to enjoy being alive. That's what you are going to do Holly. You are going to live, truly live do the things you always wanted to and live with no regrets. But you are also going to live with kindness, kindness to others and to yourself. Because my precious Holly deserves it" he kissed her on the forehead "Can you promise me that? "

She closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead and she nodded, taking a moment to enjoy the touch. But when she opened her eyes... Eden was gone.

She wiped her tears and turned to her canvas, where the portrait of Eden was back on.

She gently placed her hand on top of the painting and took a deep breath "I promise Eden... I'm going to live..."