text: My friend wrote some of this i added to it hence the name We head down the bridge together and for once I felt happiness. It was all over. We had won. I grip Roman’s hand tightly as we head down the bridge. We have been through so much together and finally, we get to enjoy the time together. We laugh about all that’s happened. We sit in the middle of the bridge watching the sunrise. The sunshine always made me feel warm and bright. I look into Roman’s eyes as his sea-green eyes twinkle in the light like the water below us. “So Maya, it’s finally finished,” He says his voice as deep and soft as always. “Yes we can finally rest now and watch the sunshine,” I say giggling with excitement. His face is happy but sad at the same time. I am perplexed and ask him what’s wrong. “Nothing just finally happy I get to spend my time with you,” He says his face going colder and colder. I put his hand on his cheek to see if he’s just not feeling right. He chuckles and holds it. “Your hands were always cold weren’t they” He laughs softly. “Yeah sorry about that but now you’re cursed with them” I giggle. He holds my hand tighter. “You know Maya I always loved you,” He tells me when I try to speak he puts his hands on my lips stopping me. “I know you didn’t love me and that’s fine I just, well just wanted you to know,” He says stammering and shaking. It’s almost as if this is goodbye. At that moment I see a bullet whoosh past me. But it wasn’t aiming for me I realise as Roman slowly becomes soaked in blood. I start to scream telling him to hold on. “It’s too late Maya” He stutters in pain. I refuse to believe it but the reality starts to become true as my hands drenched in blood. “What do I do!”I howl in panic. “You can only do one thing, Maya,” He says his voice remaining as soft “Sing” As the tears roll down my face I do the one thing Roman always wanted me to do: sing. ‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy’ I start, the lump in my throat making it difficult to get the words out ‘When skies are grey’ he finishes with a small smile, wiping my tears away weakly with one hand as the other clutches the gaping bullet wound in his stomach. ‘You’ll never know dear’ ‘How much I love you’ I brush the hairs back from his forehead and gently stroke the curls as Romans breath hitches and he begins to tremble lightly, his once, vibrant sea-green eyes dull with fear and pain. Tears flowing freely from both of us now. I stutter the last line of the song, my heart dropping with every word. ‘Please don’t take ... my sunshine ... away’ I take one last look into Romans eyes before the light within them fades and his body goes limp. I gently close his eyes and lightly press a kiss to his forehead, he’s cold as stone already. Just like that, quick as falling asleep; my best friend is gone. Exhausted and sobbing, I lay down beside him pulling his cold body close to my chest and we lay side by side, together, from dusk till dawn. 2 weeks later The sun is beginning to set as I walk down the cobbled streets to the cemetery, every stone and cracked pavement threatening to trip me up. I stumble towards the headstone, not yet cracked or greying, under the willow tree surrounded by nature, exactly how he would have wanted it. I sit beside the headstone leaning against it as I start to sing: ‘You were my sunshine My only sunshine You made me happy When skies were grey You never knew dear How much I loved you Why did you take my sunshine away?’ My eyes burned and my lip trembled as I fought to keep the tears at bay, but sure enough, 16 years worth of memories started to roll down my face and drop to the soil beneath me. I lay my head on top of the stone and doze off, and there I stay ...