The Night I Flew

Chapter 15

I thought it would hurt more. Dying. It didn't though. I just felt the cold air on my face then hitting the ground. Then everything went black.

I opened my eyes, light washing over me. Did I survive? No, this felt different. When I got up I realized why. I saw my body. There I was, laying lifeless on the ground.

I walked away from my body and up to the top of the bridge. My cloak was exactly where I left it, waiting patiently for me to come back. I never would, at least not in my physical body.

I looked up to the main house. The police had arrived. I realized quickly they weren't here for me, but my father. His body was being carried out of the house with a white sheet draped over him.

I saw Ryker's mother walk up to one of the officers. "The girl that my was meant to marry is gone as well. I would like to send out a proper search for her immediately." He stated.

"Very well sir, we'll get to looking as soon as the man's body is disposed of properly." A man in a uniform said, confidently. I watched them start off just to abruptly stop on the bridge. They saw the cloak.

They leaned over the edge of the bridge to find me. They eventually went down to collect my body and informed Ryker's family. "We suspect suicide." One said.

"No no. She was very excited to marry our son. She must have been pushed. Someone killed her. Just as they killed her father." His mom cried, not wanting to believe it.

"We can look more into it if you would like. We can send out a full investigation." The head officer sighed. He knew they would find nothing, didn't he?

They left and so did Ryker and his parents. A few hours later I assumed the news of my death got out because Holly and her remaining kids arrived at the house.

Holly walked up to the cloak left behind by the police and placed a hand on it. "I'll miss them." Holly said, eyes tearing up. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to tell her I was ok.

"They're together now, mom." Rosie put a hand on her mom's shoulder. But we weren't. Where was he? Why couldn't I see him?

"You're right. I know they are smiling down on us right about now." Holly looked her at her oldest child with a smile. Actually, I'm right here. I thought.

I hadn't noticed until now that she was clutching the box of letters I gave them, along with others that were tied together in a bundle. Somehow I knew those were the ones I sent to him.

It gave me some peace to know at least the letters were back where they belonged. Together. They walked into the house and I followed.

I could tell they were overwhelmingly grateful for the house, but it was a bittersweet moment. "I wish they were here." Goldie broke the silence.

"Us too Goldie. Us too." Reggie's facial expressions didn't change, but his eyes looked glassy.

Over the next ten years I saw them all grow and all try to move on from my and Alex's deaths. I would see someone looking at the letters that they had displayed in the house every once in a while though.

Holly was the one who did this the most often, but occasionally I would catch one of the others doing it too. Rosie was married and moved out. Reggie stayed with his mother most of the time. Goldie was becoming a young woman.

I still, in ten full years hadn't seen Alex once. I thought about my dream. The one of all of us together. The thing I had been clinging to this whole time. "Why do I still try. That will never happen." I saw a flash of white when I said this.

"Alex?" I asked, walking twords it. It was flickering but it was visible. I no longer cared for the house or anything. Just the thought of seeing him again had me running twords it.

I was surrounded by light. A door. A bright white door. I opened it to find a small house. Maybe a house big enough for three people to live in. I looked to the living room. "Alex." I whispered, not believing what I was seeing.

He turned and sure enough. "Hi there Princess." He said nonchalantly. I ran to him and he wrapped me in one of his warm, welcoming hugs.

"I missed you so much." I said through tears. "I missed you too." He held me tighter. "Where are we?" I pulled away, looking him in the eye. Oh how I had missed those ocean eyes.

"Home." Was all he had to say to get his point across. This is where we would have been if not for our deaths. "Why didn't I come here when I died?" I asked him what I had been wondering for the past ten years.

"You were dead, but you kept holding onto dreams of your life. You weren't welcomed to heaven because you were going through death like a second life instead of letting go. When you did just now, you found me." He ran his thumb across my cheek.

"All this time." I hugged him again. "I'm glad to be home." I told him. He held me tightly, as if I would slip away otherwise. We spent the rest of eternity in that house. Happy and thankful to be together again.

Over the next few years we were joined by Holly, who passed of natural causes. Rosie, who got into an accident on the road with her youngest child. Reggie had a heart attack. He never married or had children. Goldie entered death with a smile. Smiling and with her newly built family who's house caught fire.

We greeted each of them with a smile then letting them go onto their versions of heaven. One day, I was in the living room of the house when we heard a knock on the door.

I opened it, stunned by what I saw. "Mom?" I asked. I was suddenly wrapped in a hug. "I'm so proud of you. You found your happiness. Thank you." She said.

This may seem like a happy afterlife, and it was most of the time, but you can't have kids when your are dead. I also had to let go of the thought of ever going back to my house. The house I was raised in and dreamed of raising my children in. I had to forget it all. These thoughts always lingered in the air, but I came to peace with it.

You only get to live once, so don't be like me and screw it up when it's barely begun...