When You're Gone

I Miss You

I ran a finger over the silver ring longingly. My vision began blurring, and I knew why. It wasn't from an eye problem or from post-sleep drowsiness. I knew it was tears. In retrospect, I shouldn't have been out of the house, but I needed fresh air. If I remained cooped up there, I would be reminded of...him.

Whenever I woke up, I'd feel his hands running through my hair. His aqua blue eyes always held a spark of life and he'd never frown. He was an energetic, full of life human being. A human I was set to marry tomorrow.

And then the crash happened a week ago. His funeral was yesterday. I found it pitiful. I wanted to scream, cry, hit something. But I couldn't. I couldn't see where I was going because my vision was blurred by the tears. What a great way to spend my Halloween. Wandering the streets, crying about a death I couldn't prevent.

And by pure odds, I ended up at the cemetery. I walked straight over to his grave, seeing a masculine figure standing over it. I wiped my tears best I could and walked over, standing besides him. "He was a nice guy, huh?"

"Yeah, I just wish we could've had our wedding. Wouldn't that have been nice, Evelyn?"

Wait...what? I look up at the man and see Mitchell. I gasp in surprise. "Mitch, I thought..."

"I'm not dead," Mitchell replied, "I'm just as alive as ever. The afterlife is boring without you. I wish we could be reunited, in either this world or the afterlife."

I was too stunned for words. What could I even say?

"Which is why I'm inviting you to stay with me in the afterlife. As a married couple."

"Mitchell, I...wow. That sounds..." I was speechless. What was I supposed to say? My deceased fiancé was saying I should die just so we could be together. On one hand, I didn't want to die. On the other hand, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Mitchell.

"What do you say, babe?" Mitchell asked, a genuine smile on his ghostly pale face. As much as I wanted to say no, as much as I knew I needed to move on...

...a future without him seemed so bleak. So foreign. I couldn't comprehend his death when I'd first heard about it, and I wasn't ever going to understand why it happened. Plus, his smile was inviting and warm, like it would bring a light of love back into my love.

I smiled wistfully, knowing the consequences of what I was going to say. I held my hand out, smiling back at him. I knew people couldn't see him and I looked like an idiot, but I loved him too much to leave.

"I'll go with you," I replied with a soft smile, only to be met with silence. I tried looking around for Mitchell, only to find nothing. It was just a hallucination.