Te Iubsec...Forever.

Introduction

The End.

From the moment I met her, Franceska always had a firm grip. She had protective energy about her and she was using every muscle in her taught frame to hold me onto the seat of that bike. It's funny; that's the last thing I remember feeling, her little hands squeezing me so tight it hurt.

All of the rest of this memory occurred within a single heartbeat.

It was just dusk, but the Atlanta streets were already dark. I glanced left and had just wrung the throttle to pass a moving truck parked in the right lane against the curb. Franceska was pressed against me, arms tightly around my waist. Even through her leathers, I could feel her shape. She was a natural and quickly took to riding with me. Her long, lean body seemed to meld with mine, nearly becoming one with me when she was on the back of that bike.

We were heading home. It had been a fun evening downtown-only a few more blocks to go before we got on the freeway and rocketed home. Then, the little tiger-striped cat ran out from under the parked moving van. I felt Franceska's sudden tension even before I leaned with a hint of counter-steering to avoid hitting it. I was a careful and confident rider, especially with Ches on the back, but the sudden panic was palpable.

All would have gone okay, but the damn cat saw us and froze. I darted right and even managed to get the front brakes a little, but not enough, before straightening up. The right handlebar struck the corner of the parked truck.

And right there, time stopped. Everything in the world evaporated before me; all color, sight, sound, feel, and smell ceased to exist. Individually, things came into focus one by one, but that was all, no sound because it all happened between heartbeats.

The right mirror flashed with light as it smashed against the truck and broke free, hitting me in the arm, then my chest. My left hand instinctively grasped and pulled hard against the handgrip as we approached the tall curb and the neatly trimmed peach tree surrounded by a short ornate wrought iron fence. The front tire slammed hard against the curb, causing an instant lifting sensation, and that is when I began to feel Franceska's grip, a force determined to hold me down, suddenly slip away. Then inexplicably, I saw the moon through my visor. An enormous, bright harvest moon filled the sky with an almost eerie glow. Then I could no longer feel Ches's grip. I was floating, head first toward the moon, hands still clenched to my chest where Franceska's hands had been only an instant before. The bike, not too far behind, tumbled in the air after me.

Then I saw a shadow in front of me. It rose quickly. Immoveable in the moonlight, I made out the patterned irregularity of the old brick and mortar from which the shadow was created as I floated closer. I felt my heartbeat. It echoed in my ears like thunder, one final beat that drowned all the horrors and sounds in a single rush. Then, darkness. And, I woke up in this hospital room. And then, yeah, then things really got strange.