During Her Final Moments...
During Leonica's final moments, when the world was fading into the blurry water blue background of the sea and everything becoming noiseless, she found herself thinking of two things.
The first one happened to be the time she had just given birth to Ashley. He was tiny, fragile, and the moment the nurse had handed her over, Leonica was scared, not because she didn't want him, but because she was afraid of not being able to provide him with the life he deserved. Money wise she was stable, but emotional support wise, she lacked, greatly. Her fear had bloomed even more when Ashley was about a month old and he seemed to hate everything she did. He seemed to hate her. That was the first time Leonica ever considered death. Ashley didn't need her, Gabriel didn't need her, so why be alive, she had thought.
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But then she heard Leonardo's voice mail and realized that she couldn't run away and Leave Ashley all alone. She had brought him into this world and so she was going to stay with him, whether he hated her or not.
And that was the first reason Leonica had gotten to continue living after her marriage with Gabriel had ended and till this day, she did not regret the choice she made.
The second thing that played in her head, flashing like memories did right before one dies, was the first day she had met Owen. At that time he had been ten and Leonica twelve. Hitting puberty early confused her to the point that she once believed that she was into girls. She wasn't. So the day Owen's family moved in and her mother took her, along with Melvin to go and greet the new neighbors, the last thing everyone had expected was for her to mistake Owen's looks at that time, thinking he was a girl and opening-ly declaring that he was the one she was going to marry. Their parents of course, laughed it off, thinking it was a joke and that had hurt her feelings. When the day had finally ended, Leonica had found herself running to her room, locking herself in and crying, telling herself that no one would love her and she'd have to stay alone for the rest of her life. That mentality haunted her for a whole week, until she met Owen again and he explained everything to her. He was a guy, the revelation shocked Leonica, but not as much as when he, a ten years old child, boldly proposed to her, promising that when they got older, he'd marry her.
And it was only now, that Leonica realized he was the first reason why she learnt to love herself and leave her life the way she wanted to, keeping the promise he made to her somewhere in the back of her mind, until her resurfaced again, after eleven who years, ready to fulfill the promise he had made.
But that was something she couldn't fulfil.
And that was the only feeling of regret that she had as the feeling of calmness overtook her and she became aware of the burning feeling in her lungs as the water filled it.
'Maybe, in the next life,' she thought, closing her eyes and waiting for her soul to leave her body. "We'd meet again, I'd be much better of a person and our path will simply be filled with roses.'
But her peaceful moment of death thoughts were cut short, when she heard the muffled sound of what seemed like someone jumping into the water.
She couldn't see the person clearly, but when she spotted the familiar silhouette, the way her heart jumped, the way her eyes widened and the way her body seemed to fight itself and try to bring her up, suggested that she had a pretty good idea who it was. And then his face became clear as he swam in front of her, taking her cheeks in his hand in a desperate bid to ensure that she was okay.
'Owen.' She could barely squeeze a smile through all the pain she was feeling.
He gave her a reassuring look before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pocket knife, which he used to slash off the rope around her and swiftly swam up to the surface of the water.
"Leonica! Leonica, are you okay?!" His voice was laced with worry and panic as he pulled her close, hoisting her against his chest with one arm while the other held onto the edge of the speed boat he had come in and successfully pulled them both up. Leonica would have responded, if her lungs didn't burn so bad and her mind didn't feel so fuzzy, so all she could do was weakly place her head against his chest as she laid onto of him.
She managed a smile and mutter, "You came."
"Hey, hey," He called, patting her cheeks to keep her awake. "Stay awake. You're gonna be fine, just keep your eyes open."
"I'm...tired," She muttered, her eyelids becoming heavy. "I'm just gonna...sleep for a while..."
"No," He said. "Don't go to sleep, Leonica, you can't, not right now." He called out to her, but she was already half way gone, eyes shut close and mind dulling out every single thing happening as her body tried to cope with the lack of oxygen and soon, her breathing slowed down, nearly becoming nonexistent.
Owen noticed this and his panic increased even more.
"Leonica, hey, baby, wake up." He called, patting her cheeks. When she didn't respond, he did the only thing he could think of.
He kissed her, forcing his mouth to open hers and breathing air into her.
He repeated this twice and when she still didn't respond, he began performing CPR.
"Come on, baby, don't do this to me." He muttered, giving her another breath and continuing his actions, hands shaking as he did so.
"Mr. Lee!" He glanced up and spotted Chief Robert approaching on his own boat, looking between he and Leonica with an expression of worry.
"Hurry and get the paramedics!" He yelled.
"What?"
"Leonica... She isn't breathing!"
At his words, the officer wasted no time in ordering his team to rush over.
'Please be okay, baby. Please.'
~~
Owen was seated outside the emergency room, his head resting on his palm, his mind going crazy and his eyes red from the many tears he had shed over the past one hour of constant worry.
I should have come earlier, he bitter
thought, hitting down on the inner layers of his cheek as he realized that the time he spent making all those phone calls that wasn't useful, when he first got the message, could have been used in searching for her, saving her.
Maybe if he had come earlier, he wouldn't have been seating here, waiting for a doctor to come out and tell him the news of the love of his life.
Maybe if he had been quicker, he would have been able to prevent all of this from happening, maybe he could have been able to save her.
No, all if this wouldn't have happened in the first place if he had prioritized her over work.
That was what he kept thinking, but it was just wishful thinking.
The reality was, he had failed and now, Leonica was paying the price, and so was he.
"Owen," He looked up at the sound of his name, only to be met with the sight of Cassandra, her face looking as worried as she had been when Owen first called to inform her of what happened. "Where is she? Where's my daughter?"
"Mrs. Romero," He stood up to greet the woman, along with Benjamin who was trailing carefully behind his wife with a guilty look on his face.
"Where is she Owen?" Cassandra asked, barely holding back the tears that had been pricking her eyes since the ride here.
"She's-" Before Owen could finish the rest of his words, the door to the emergency room came open and a doctor stepped out.
"Owen Lee?"
"That's me." He walked towards the doctor.
"I'm Doctor Kareem," The doctor introduced. "You're the who rushed Ms. Leonica in here, Correct?"
He nodded. "How is she, Doctor?"
"Well, we've managed to stabilize her, and she's out of danger, but..." The doctor trailed off, and that only fueled the feeling of unease building within him. "What is it?" He asked. "What happened?"
"She's fine," The doctor began. "Physically, at least. We managed to get her back, but mentally, she's gone into a coma."
Owen felt like a string in his heart had snapped. "What do you mean a coma?!"
The doctor sighed. "As you know, the human body is not built to survive under water for long periods of time especially when it's close to winter session and the temperature in the water drops, drastically and the longer you stay, the harder your brain fights to keep your body alive, thus, leading Into a momentary state of shut down. I'm afraid Ms. Romero was underwater for far too long. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do, but wait for when her body dims it okay to wake up."