See You Again

Chapter Five

This couldn't be real, it just couldn't. Dina was quite sure that she wasn't exactly dead but what other explanation was there or what she saw? There was absolutely no doubt that the man approaching her was Joseph but this couldn't be real. Maybe she was hallucinating or maybe she was dead after all and life after death was just full of irony. It could have been everything but Dina's mind couldn't process what was going on.

She tried to take a closer look at his face and noticed that he looked both confused but also kind of happy to see her. She noticed his eyes, oh how she missed looking into them but still this felt wrong. It shouldn't be real and Dina knew it. Joseph was dead and she was still very much alive, at least that was what she thought.

She also noticed that his clothes looked very different and she immediately recognized that he wasn't wearing the clothes that he died in or was buried in. He now wore a white shirt with a dark tie. On top of that was an orange buttoned vest, a black unbuttoned jacket and matching black pants. Overall he looked more like a butler than anything else. He seemed to be coming closer very carefully though and when he was close enough he just sat down on the bed Dana was lying in and just looked at her. And Dina looked back until she got the courage to speak up.

"Is this... am I... dead?" She asked.

"No..." The familiar man answered in a soft voice. He sounded exactly like Joseph did when he wanted to calm Dina down. "But... you can see me now..." It sounded more like a question than a real statement.

"Is this really you, Joseph?" Dina asked carefully, feeling tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yes, it's me." He answered quietly as he took her hand.

Dina didn't know if she should let him and for a moment she considered pulling away but she eventually just gave in to her feelings and let him go on.

"But how is this..." Her voice became quieter and quieter as she spoke. She just felt too weak to really get words out. "How is this even possible? Aren't you..." She gulped. "...dead?"

Joseph looked at her for a moment before he could answer. "Yes, I am. I don't... know. But I'm so, so happy that you see me now."

Dina didn't know what to say anymore and she just needed time to realize what was happening. Joseph didn't seem to be rushing her to say something, he probably knew that it must've been really hard for Dina to find words in that situation.

But then suddenly Dina realized something that Joseph said which gave her something to ask him. "I see you..." She started. "Could you already see me before I...? Her voice trailed off.

Joseph didn't need her to finish the sentence since he already knew what she was talking about. "Yes... When I saw you coming into the house, I... I just couldn't believe that you were actually here. I thought I'd never see you again and so I wanted to give you a sign or something that made you realize that I was here with you..."

"So whenever I heard noises or something weird happened..."

"I wanted, no I needed you to realize that I was there."

And then there was this silence again. It wasn't weird or awkward but it wasn't nice either. Dina couldn't break the silence so she just waited for Joseph to being talking again. It felt very strange talking to him after ten years of being apart and she knew that even though she got to see him again, this was nothing like when he was still real and alive.

"I heard you singing..."

"I know how much you loved that song. Every time I even think of it... it always made me think of you."

"You used to sing it to me whenever I was feeling down or when I wasn't doing well."

And yet again – silence. It just didn't feel right to be able to talk to Joseph again after all this time. Ten years ago they were able to talk about anything and everything and now it all just seems so hard. Dina knew that they weren't the loving couple anymore and it was breaking her heart. The man she once loved from the bottom of her heart – the man that she still loves just as much – wasn't the same anymore. It felt like they were strangers who just got to know each other and it made her incredibly sad.