Whispers of Death
Page 19
"Is that your family?" I asked, nodding toward the large group of people watching us.
He turned and looked at me, his eyes no longer full of sadness but pure joy. "That is my mom and my sister. The others are family members from my ancestry; they are there to welcome me home. The tall man, standing next to my mother," he said, "is my mentor, that is the Death I know."
I smiled. "I'm happy for you."
"Thank you.,” he whispered.
He touched my shoulder, sending a feeling a pure peace through me, and then began the walk down the long marble path. As soon as his soul entered the gate, he was immediately transformed. His long black cloak turned solid white, and his soul seemed to become more solid as well, like he had just gained back his body. He turned and faced me one last time, his smile evident upon his face. He was finally free. Finally able to be back with his family. I gave a small wave and smiled back as the gates closed behind him.
"He was a great man," Vanessa said from behind me.
I couldn't have agreed more. "Yes, he was. He could also be very creepy." I laughed.
Vanessa laughed with me. We walked back to the portals in silence. As we approached them, I couldn't help but wonder if I was making the right choice. Watching Apollyn go through those gates was the most spiritual thing I had ever witnessed.
"Is this the right decision?" I asked Vanessa.
She looked at me, her face somber. "Your family needs you. If I could, I would go home and be with my Mindy, but my life was already over. I know that she is in good hands with her father, and now I know she will also have a mother." She smiled. "I know that my daughter will always have you."
I gave her a hug; she was right. I would always take care of Mindy and James. "Thank you for this," I said.
"It was the least I could do. You gave up your much-needed strength so that I could see my family one more time. I will be eternally grateful to you," she said.
I looked down the dark portal. "Don't let me forget," I said.
She smiled. "You know I won't."
Twenty-Three
Abby giggled as Mark pushed her higher on the swings. I smiled as I watched from a nearby bench. The sun was bright and the air warm. I couldn't wait until I could get my casts off so I could join in on the fun. It had been eight weeks since my accident. The gas explosion had caused severe damage to our home and had taken away a lot of my memories. Mark told me that they’d found me lying by a tree, but I didn't remember anything before waking up in the hospital.
Although that is what they all told me, I didn't feel that it was right. Something told me that there was something more, something else entirely; I just didn't know what it was.
"Mom, can Logan come play this weekend?" Hunter asked, running up from the soccer fields.
I was so proud of Hunter. Mark told me that before the explosion Logan had bullied Hunter and we had gone and talked to Logan’s mother. After that, Hunter had decided to be really kind to him. He brought a soccer ball to school and asked him to play every day. It didn't take long before the two of them became best friends. Mark had also reminded me that Logan's sister had died in a horrible fall. After hearing this, I cried for what felt like an eternity. I couldn't imagine what that would be like as a mother to lose your child.
"Of course," I said, smiling, "why don't you ask his mom if they would all like to come over for a barbeque on Saturday?"
The boys ran off, excited for their upcoming play date. Logan's mom was Hunter's teacher at school, so I had made sure to invite her over often because any time she was around me, she seemed to be happier. Mark told me it was because I was a ray of sunshine.
Later that night after the kids had been put to bed, I curled up on Mark's lap as best I could with the casts, and after a few minutes of television, drifted off to sleep. At first my mind was pretty empty as I slept soundly, but I knew that it would change. For several weeks now I had been having a dream about Abby's friend’s mom. She was always so happy in my dreams, almost like she was there just to see me. It made me happy to think that after she had died that she was at peace. Every night I had the same dream: Mindy's mom, Vanessa, standing by my bed smiling. Her voice came as a whisper as she reminded me not to forget her.
I didn't know why she didn't want me to forget her, but I knew I never would. Somehow she had become a very important part of my life, and I had never even met her. James, her husband, and Mindy came by often. Mindy had become like my own daughter. I knew that she always would be. I asked Mark often what had happened before the accident, but he didn't seem to know very much either. It seemed that everyone that was at our house during the explosion had lost a lot of their memories. Doctors said it could be a reaction to stress, like PTSD, and no one seemed to know if we would get our memories back.
I was also told that my body would never be the same. No matter how much rehabilitation I participated in, my body had gone through too much damage to fully heal. I was just happy that the explosion hadn’t done more damage and I would be able to walk again after I got these casts off. From the description from the gas company, someone should have been killed that night. It made me very grateful that I was still here with my family and I would be able to watch my babies grow up to be adults. I thanked my stars every day for my life; it was truly a blessing.
There was something else too. I had felt a power within me ever since I’d woken up in that hospital bed. A power that seemed familiar. It changed me, made me stronger somehow. It also made me think that something big was planned for my life, something that I couldn't explain. It just seemed to sit in the shadows, a dark secret that waited patiently to reveal itself. It was a power that would change everything, and somehow I knew it had something to do with an angel named Vanessa that showed herself to me on a nightly basis. Her beautiful face smiling down on me from somewhere up in Heaven.
Acknowledgments
A special thank you to my family. I know my writing can get crazy, and they put up with a whole lot. My beta-readers, Colette Harris and Charity Bradford for making sure my ideas flowed into a story worth telling. My cover designer, Cheryl with CCR Design, for knowing what I needed before I did. My book editor, Laura Stalling for polishing my words.
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Acknowledgments