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Where am I?
The soft hum of machines becomes more pronounced, guiding me back to reality.
My eyes reluctantly open, and the room swims into view. I blink at the unfamiliar surroundings.
There’s a sense of displacement, a tugging sensation that something significant has occurred.
The pieces of the puzzle seem just out of reach, leaving me suspended in uncertainty.
“Well, hello there, handsome,” a woman’s voice from beside me says.
She looks familiar, but I can’t immediately place her.
“Am I dead?” I ask, only half joking.
It’s a possibility given my line of business. This room is not in a hospital, and that’s where I last remember being.
“Yes, you’re dead,” she replies, full of conviction.
Oh.
“Then why am I hurting everywhere? Isn’t death meant to stop all pain?” I groan as I try to move my body and shooting pain travels through my chest.
“If I got a dime for every time a newly departed said that, I’d be a very rich woman,” she chuckles.
“But it’s nothing to worry about, it only takes a hundred years for the disembodied soul to forget its last experiences on earth,” she says in a playful tone, and I can’t help but let out a soft chuckle. I regret it instantly. The slightest movement hurts.
I feign shock. “A hundred years of this? I should have read the fine print.”
She grins, and I remember who she is… Ella’s nutty friend.
Ella.
Where is she?
I look around the room, trying to spot her. Her friend wouldn’t joke with me if something had happened to her, would she?
I try to sit up but give up right away, the pain too much. I settle, trying to get more comfortable, groaning in the process.
“Oh my god, you’re awake,” a voice I never thought I’d hear again interrupts my malaise.
“Angel.”
“Of course you’d have to wake up just when I step out of the room,” she mutters more to herself as she rushes to my side.
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Claudette murmurs, but I pay her no attention.
How could I when the light of all lights just entered the room?
Ella is all I see.
Tears stream down her face as she throws herself into my arms, and I hold her tightly.
I never want to let go.
My heart pounds with a fierce, overwhelming happiness that drowns out the pain. She’s alive and well. That’s all that matters.
Ella buries her face in my shoulder, guttural sobs shaking her body.
