Free Splintered Memory by Natascha Holloway

“she hasn’t, and she’s still not breathing on her own either.”
    “Oh god ,” Harry said. He too sat back down.
    Matt put his hand on Harry’s shoulder, and then he stood up again and said; “I want to see her.”
    Oak nodded and Nurse Willis came into view . It was obvious that she’d already been asked to come and escort Matt to Charlie’s room.
    “I’m so sorry Matthew ,” she said.
    “Call me Matt ,” he said in a deadened voice as he forced a lacklustre smile onto his face. He’d been saying this same thing to her continually since his first day at the hospital.
    ** *
    Everyone had said that they were too young to have the level of intensity that was evident in their relationship , and the continual nay saying had made Matt nervous when he’d been getting ready to move to Birmingham to start university. Yet within the first couple of months he hadn’t known why he’d doubted himself, or why he’d doubted what he and Charlie had together.
    Charlie had come to visit him every weekend without fail, and she’d become friends with all of his uni friends in no time. She’d even gotten to know the girls that had lived in the flat above him in his halls of residence, and when she’d come to visit him and he’d been studying for exams she’d gone out with them to give him some peace and quiet.
    He ’d known in that first year as their relationship had grown stronger, and had survived all the tests of distance, alcohol, teenage jealousy, and everything else, that he’d wanted to marry her. He just hadn’t been able to imagine his life without her in it.
    In the summer break after his first year at uni, he’d gone to see Charlie’s father and he’d asked his permission to marry his daughter. Harry hadn’t been impressed, and whilst he had appreciated the traditional gesture he’d told Matt that his daughter was just too young.
    When Matt had insisted, and had offered to accept any terms and conditions that Harry set, he’d caved in. He’d given his permission for Matt to marry his daughter, but he had had one condition. He’d told Matt that he had to wait until Charlie was twenty one before he asked her.
    In the lead up to Charlie’s twenty first birthday, Matt had felt like he was sixteen again. He had been nervous and unsure of himself around her once more, and she’d had no idea why.
    He’d also spent the three years leading up to her twenty first birthday saving up all the money that he’d earned from summer jobs to buy her an engagement ring. Although it had still only been with the help of his dad and Harry – who’d both made contributions to his savings, that he’d been able to afford to buy her a ring that he’d thought that she’d like.
    Matt had planned a romantic night for her birthday, and he’d been getting increasingly nervous throughout the day. He’d checked on the ring a dozen times. He’d tried to kill time, and he’d even gotten his mum to iron three different shirts for him, but he’d still been unable to settle. So he’d finally decided to jump in the shower hoping that this would clear his head.
    He’d turned the shower on, but no sooner had he got in than he heard a loud squeal from his bedroom. He grabbed a towel and dashed into his room, but he stopped dead in his doorway. Charlie was stood by his chest of drawers holding the ring box open in her hands. She was also surrounded by clean laundry, and he assumed that his mum must have given it to her to bring upstairs with her. He guessed that she’d dropped it though when she’d opened his drawers to put his things away for him, and had seen the ring box that he’d been hiding in his sock drawer.
    She glanced at him apologetically , and he felt his heart sink thinking that she was going to say no, but then she ran towards him and his arms instinctively wrapped around her. Her lips found his, and he could feel the intensity in her kiss. Yet he slowly pulled back from it, and from her.
    “Is that a yes