|
David looked up to see his wife, Emily, looking back at him. “Hurry up, slowpoke!” she called. David smiled and watched her laughing in the sunshine. “Emily, it’s been so long since we been to the beach,” he called back. “Oh, now. It was just yesterday we was here!” Emily laughed and ran into the surf. Her golden hair was trailing out behind her in the wind.
“When did your hair grow out?” he asked. Emily turned around, puzzled. “My hair’s always been long, David.” She ran back to him. “What’s wrong with you? Here lately, you’ve been saying odd things, David.” David smiled down at her. “Maybe I’m just losing my mind, darling.” Emily laughed and hugged him. He held her in his arms, breathing in the sweet aroma of her perfume. It was Lilac and Lily, her favorite scent.
Suddenly, David let go of her. “Emily, I had the worst nightmare. You got cancer. All your hair fell out. You died. They put you in a casket surrounded by lilacs and lilies. And then they took you to the cemetery and buried you.” Emily looked up at him. “David, it was only a nightmare. I’m here. Right here with you. I’m not going to leave you.”
David sighed. “There was more. I lived for a long time without you. They put me in a nursing home. It was so sad.” He sank to his knees on the soft sand. Tears clouded his eyes. Emily sank down with him and touched his cheek. “David, don’t dwell on these things. It was only a nightmare. I’m here, and I’ll always be here. This is our own little world. We’ll never be apart.”
The two stood, and Emily ran back into the surf. “Come on, David! Let’s go swimming!” she called. “Emily, you know I can’t swim!” he called back. He ran after her anyways. “We can do anything we want here. This is our world. It was made for the two of us.”
***
Bridgette watched David shuffle down the hallway, calling after an unseen woman. She had started working at the Silver Hills Nursing Home last week. She turned to Jeanette, the other nurse on duty, and asked, “Is Mr. David alright?” Jeanette looked up from the towels she had been folding to watch David. “Oh, yeah. He just calling after his wife. She died a year after they got married. She had brain cancer. He never remarried after that,” she explained. “He lived alone a long time. He finally developed Alzheimer’s and now he stuck in 1935. That’s the year they got married. I don’t think he was ever quite right after she died, though.”
Bridgette looked after David a little while longer, and then went back to helping Jeanette with the towels. “Emily! Emily, wait on me!” they heard him call. It was almost time for the residents to go to bed. Jeanette put down the towel and went after David. “Mr. David. Mr. David, it’s time for you to be going to bed. Let’s go to your room.” She led him to his room and helped him get into bed. “Goodnight, Mr. David,” she said, closing the door.
***
The sun was setting. Emily was lying out on a beach towel, her hair wet and tangled from swimming. “David, why don’t we stay the night here, on the beach? I want to stay the night.” David smiled down at his wife. “Okay, we’ll stay the night.” He lay down beside her. They gazed up at the stars. “David, let’s go find our own paradise. Let’s slip away, under the water,” Emily whispered.
Emily got up and walked into the surf. David followed her. “I told you, I don’t know how to swim,” he protested. She took his hand and led him deeper into the water. “You don’t need to know how to swim. We’re going to the world under the water. Don’t you know about that world?” David let her lead him deeper and deeper into the water. Soon they were submerged.
David realized he could breathe under water. “It’s a magic world, David. We don’t have to swim; we don’t have to hold our breath. All we have to do is walk. We can walk there. We can go and never be parted,” she explained. “It sounds lovely, darling. Is it Heaven?” he asked. She only smiled and kept leading him deeper and deeper under water.
Soon, they reached a beautiful city, shimmering with gold. The gates were pearly white, and the houses were lined with all sorts of jewels. “David, you don’t have to leave me again. We’re in Heaven now. Nothing can separate us. Death can’t take me away anymore. We’re together again,” Emily whispered. David held her close, and a tear rolled down his cheek. “I prayed for nothing more, Emily. I prayed for nothing more,” he whispered back.
***
The next evening, when Bridgette came in to work, she found Jeanette crying. “What happened?” she asked, concerned. Jeanette looked up at her. “Bridgette, the morning nurses found Mr. David outside when they came in. He was face down in the pond out in the courtyard. He drown himself last night.” Bridgette’s eyes clouded over. Without thinking, she put her arms around Jeanette, and the two cried together. “He finally found his wife,” Jeanette whispered.
I wrote this awhile back. I know it lacks a lot of detail, but it's supposed to. It's just something that flowed out of my brain one night around midnight. Enjoy!
¤~Excel
|
