short stories

Beyond the veil.

Writing Prompt #888' When your fiancé is killed in a car accident, you struggle to cope with the loss. One day, in a therapy session, you do a role-playing exercise where you speak with your fiancé and talk about the future that you never got to share. After the session, she follows you home and helps you grieve until you are ready to let go.

 "I miss the way she-"

The woman was cut off mid sentence, her mouth still slightly agape and eyes screwing together in confusion at the sudden interruption.

'I want to try something.' Dr Wyatt confessed, reaching a hand up to discard of the reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as he adjusted himself further into the seat, one leg propped up and over his lap, 'man-spreading' as her Fiancée would have called it and Rae couldn't help but feel the corners of her mouth threaten to curl into a smile at the thought of what Mira would have said about the Doctor.

As quickly as the women was distracted she was pulled back to reality by the sound of his voice once again.

"I want you to talk to her."

Rae couldn't hold back the small scoff that left her lips, her eyes narrowing in obvious confusion as she felt herself sink further back into the lounge chair.

"Is this some kind of joke? You want me to talk to my dead Fiancé" she said, beginning to regret coming to the therapy session in the first place. She had told herself she didn't need help and she was just grieving, but her best friend would say otherwise.

After the accident Rae wouldn't sleep, she would spend nights staring aimlessly out the window from what used to be their room, it hurt too much to lie in the same bed the two shared every night for the last five years. When she did sleep her dreams were riddled with memories of the night, how the evening had dragged on for so long, hours had gone by without a word from Mira before Rae's phone screen lit up with 'No caller ID'.

The drive to the hospital was five minutes from their house but that night It felt like a lifetime.

"Not as such." he admitted, reaching a hand up to remove the glasses from his face.

"You spend a lot of time telling me all the things you loved about her, how much you miss her, all the things you had left to say to her. I think you should say it now".

Rae took a moment, chewing softly at her bottom lip as she half heartedly waited for the main to laugh and tell her this was just some cruel joke. Did he really expect her to sit here and talk to him like he was her fiancée. her dead fiancée?

"What have you got to lose from this? who knows, it might give you closure, Rae."

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Rae had nothing left to lose, or at least she felt she didn't. Sitting in the office she felt ridiculous enough as it was, the idea of going to therapy for something all because she couldn't cope with grievance seemed like a joke.. what did she have left to lose?

Nothing.

Rae's fingers fumbled gently over the fabric of her shirt, the faint scent of Mira's perfume still lingering on the cotton fabric. Rae had kept the bottle, she sprayed a small amount to herself every morning, in a sense it brought her comfort and if she closed her eyes for long enough it almost felt as if Mira were there with her.

"It's not fair." She whispered

Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Rae held her head in her hands, her eyes fluttering closed it attempts shield the tears threatening to spill over.

"I remember the whole day like it was yesterday. The events leading up to the call from the hospital that will likely go down as the worst day of my life."

There was a silent moment where Rae wondered how ridiculous she looked at the time, how Mira and her would have laughed together if anyone had told either of them four months ago that this would become Rae's life. It always seems so impossible, so far fetched till it happens to you.

'I often wonder what it was like for you. If it hurt. ' her voice merely a whisper as she felt the tears she had tried so hard to fight off pool in the bottom of her eyes.

'I wonder if it was quick, what your last thought was and if it was me.. if you even understood what was happening before it happened-' Biting back softly on her lip, Rae wiped furiously at the single tear threatening to spill over and down her cheek, her eyes trained furiously at the floor.

'I remember thinking "Why is she so late home". I remember the excuses that came to my head. Maybe you had finished late, maybe you stopped at the grocery store, maybe you stopped to get snacks. Then the phone rung and I knew before i even answered it. Something in me just knew."

Dr Wyatt pursed his lips, his hands clasped in his laps as he remained silent, the familiar blur of light flashing from one side of the room. The man by now was an expert at maintaining his composure, he kept his eyes trained on the woman in front of him while ignoring the one materializing slowly behind her.

" I don't think I'll ever forget that night. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the pain, the grief, the fear, the indescribable confusion and heaviness that came with the realisation that you were never coming home. You were gone and there was nothing I could do about it. But I've learned a lot in the last few weeks, either from myself, from something I've read or from talking to other people who have been in the same position. I've learned how strange and awful it is to have to learn to live without the one person you thought you never could. I've learned that it's not really living, more just surviving."

The woman's hand brushed softly over Rae's shoulder, sending a small shiver down her spine as she shifted in the chair, finally listing her head to meet the Dr's eyes as she wiped the tears from her face.

"We had forever planned and it was taken from me. From us. It's not fair" She reiterated, her voice merely a whisper.

The session had ended soon after, it became obvious Rae was tired, her body physically and mentally drained by the surfacing of supressed emotions and words gone unsaid.

"I'm proud of you today, Rae. That took a lot" The man smiles softly, placing a hand comfortingly on Rae's shoulder as the two made their way out the front door of his small office and into the front yard.

Rae desperately tried to smile back, nodding quickly as she stuffed her hands into her pockets.

Mr Wyatt let his eyes stray for a single moment, examining the woman as she made her way next to Rae, hand falling on the small of her back as she held the man's gaze, the faint hint of a smile playing at her lips.

"I think she would be proud of you too." He added.

The words earned a small shaky breath from Rae, another single tear rolling down her cheek as she desperately wiped it away.

"I hope so" Rae mumbled in response "See you next week, Doc"

Nodding slowly, the doctor smiled "Something tells me this week will be a good week for you".

Rae let out a small laugh, nodding as she gave the man a small wave from down the end of the driveway.

"You say that every week." She called back in response

The man smiled as he watched Rae, her small frame disappearing down the driveway, the woman still by her side, hand on the small of her back and in the sun the ring on her engagement finger glistened in the sun.

"This time it's different'.

Word count: 1408