These Kisses, Part 3
By MissySERIES: These Kisses
PARTS: Three of Four
RATING: R (Character death and gruesome description thereof, possible language, mature themes, heavy angst)
DISTRIBUTION: To Squeaky, LW, Kai and FG so far; any other archives are welcome to ask, but disclaimers must be included, my email left intact. send a URL, and provide full disclaimers as well as credit me fully. Please inform me if you are going to submit my work to any sort of search engine. Â Please do not submit my work to a search engine that picks out random sets of words and uses them as key words, such as "Google"
Please contact me in order for this story to be placed on an archive, or if you want know of a friend who would enjoy my works, please email me their address and I will mail them the stories, expressly for the purpose of link trading. MiSTiers are welcomed! Please do inform me that you'd like to do the MiSTing, however, and send me a copy of the finished product. I'd also love to archive any MiSTings that are made of my work!
CATEGORY: L&L/Randy Triangle; Comfort/Tragedy
FEEDBACK: PLEASE?!
SPOILLER/SUMMARY: Laverne must make the most important decision of her life...after she passes away..
NOTES: This might be a wee bit gruesome at times, but I'm ultimately searching for a sense of beauty underneath it all. Last two chapters coming soon.
****

Heavy winds buffeted Laverne as she stood, completely still, on the rock-lined coast. She could only wonder what figmentative part of her imagination had called up such a place.

"What'm I gonna do?" She held her head, embroidered by pain, "I can't do it, I just can't..." She groaned, gripping her head, trying to get a grip on herself. "Mamma...wherever you are....I need you..."

Perfume enveloped her, and once again there stood Josephine before her. "Bambina," She sighed, "Randal told us."

Laverne hiccuped, "I can't do it, Mamma; I can't let Len die...but I love Randy so much..."

"Shhsh...shshhsh Bella..." Josephine cooed, cradling her adult daughter closely, "I can feel the hurt in your heart."

"I can't help it," Laverne almost wailed. Then she cried herself out against her mother's breast, the hopelessness of her situation coloring her pain.

"Bambina," spoke Josephine, when her daughter lay exhausted in the sand, "You must do what will make you happy. Do you want to return to life, or do you want to stay here?"

Laverne sniffled, "I wanna be with..with...Shirl..an' Carmine..an'..." She leaned against her spread-out palms, "I miss Len so much."

"Then that's where you need to go." Josephine insisted. She brushed her daughter's forehead with a kiss. Her mother made it all sound so easy, so simple. Her heart would always ache with thoughts of Randy. But she could not sacrifice a life.

"You're a good girl, Laverne," Her mother said, standing and turning to leave.

"Mamma?" Laverne asked, drawing her mother's attention, "Please get Randy for me?"

Josephine smiled and dissolved into the distance.

***

Lenny stood alone at the midpoint of Laverne's casket, as though sentinels to her spirit. There would be no one coming to the viewing that morning; the funeral, too, would be private.

Carmine stood nearby, on a pay phone; from the way he yelled, Lenny hazarded a guess that the person on the other end was Shirley. He felt too weak to pay any real attention, turning all of his sentience to Laverne.

Something within him compelled a touch; lightly, across her nose. The skin felt waxy, cold; not Laverne, but somehow still Laverne. The only girl he'd ever loved....

Hysteria gripped him; he bent and kissed her cold cheek; nothing. A wail of frustration filled him and, frantically, he kissed her mouth.

He heard Carmine slam the phone down and then his alarmed voice; with every ounce of strength in him, Carmine wrenched Lenny from Laverne's body.

"Snap out of it, Len!"

Lenny was still hysterical, "I can't! I can't!"

"She's gone, Len!"

"She ain't gone!"

"Not gone-disappeared! Dead, Len, she's dead!"

An eerie calm settled over Lenny, and, in a perfectly rational voice he said, "She ain't dead, Carmine."

Carmine looked ready to cry, "What the hell are you talking about, Len?!"

"She ain't dead," Len cut him off, "When I kissed her...I could feel her breathing..."

"That's crazy!" He tried to yank Lenny away from the casket by his arm, "This ain't good for ya Len; it just ain't healthy. Come on, we'll go wait in the chappel.."

"I ain't goin!" Lenny blurted out. Grabbing Carmine by the lapels, he tossed the "Big Ragoo" right through the only unlocked set of doors to the viewing room. Before Carmine could react, he flipped a lock, leaving himself alone with Laverne.

Blocking out the pounding of Carmine's fists on the door, Lenny fell to his knees, taking Laverne's hand in his and bowing beside her casket. Silently, he prayed for a miracle.



Part 2

To Part 4