121 Degrees

Epilogue

Melissa's POV:

Well, this was it for me. 60 years had passed since Joshua's death, but I still remembered it crystal clear. I had fallen ill of cancer, and I knew it was almost over for me. I didn't have children, or grandchildren. After what happened to Joshua, I couldn't bring myself to fall in love again. Ryan and Melissa had kids though-the events of 60 years ago had brought them closer than anybody else could have been. Their kids had loved visiting their "Auntie Melly" too.

It was a quiet and peaceful death to a life that should have ended 60 years previously. I felt my eyelids get heavier as they closed for the last time. "Was it like this for Joshua?" I asked myself, before my eyes closed fully.

When they opened again, I was standing in a gigantic room. It was like a temple. I looked down at my wrinkled hands, shock overriding me. "Shock? I'm dead, I shouldn't be able to feel emotions!" I thought. I turned around and saw myself in a mirror. My 20 year-old self looked back, her long ginger hair falling behind her, ending in a lime-green ribbon. Her emerald-like eyes sparkled for a moment, before she flew out of the mirror and straight at me.

I felt a brief sense of elation, before seeing that my 80 year old self had now appeared in the mirror. She smiled and gave a small goodbye wave, before slowly morphing into the body that reflected my actions. A wave of surprise washed over me as I touched my face to make sure the mirror copied my actions. "Where am I?" I asked out loud.

"Halfway between Heaven and Hell." a familiar voice answered. I turned to see Joshua walking towards me. He held his arms out a few feet from me and I threw myself into them. His tight embrace was so alien and yet so strangely familiar, I couldn't help crying.

Joshua's POV:

It was worth the wait, just for this. To feel Melissa in my arms, she was shaking with sobs of joy. I pulled her closer to me, and I knew she could hear the steady pounding against my ribcage. "We're in Limbo." I told her "The space between Heaven and Hell."

"Are we both dead then? Is God deciding what to do with us?" she asked, I could see she was worried we were going to Hell.

"Hey, it wouldn't be the first time you fought against heat." I told her, I was surprised to see her laugh at the joke. It was a mark of how much she'd put the events of that day behind her. "No, a messenger told me we're both going to Heaven, and I asked to wait here for you."

"You've been waiting here for 60 years?" she asked, surprised.

"Time has little meaning to the dead, Melissa." I replied swiftly "I've watched you grow up and live a full life while I'm here. I guess I'm still just a stalker."

"No." she told me firmly "You're not my stalker anymore. You've been my hero ever since you wrenched the door to that sauna open. You're my knight in shining armour, and I've arrived at your round table." We broke apart, but we held hands, for words could not summerise our desire to be together. Now I thought, as I saw the bright light that would take us upstairs, we would be just that.

Joshua Grayham and Melissa Samone-together forever.