Nothing But Stars

Unable to restrain himself any longer, the man attempted to yell out but suddenly he could no longer speak. His lips moved wildly without any words coming out. His ears were inundated by a white noise and all other sounds evaporated around him. All he wanted to do was hold Jenny but the world became a reverie of slow motion and smog as he struggled in vain to break free from the woman’s ever-increasing hold.

He watched helplessly as the rescuer with the flashlight searched the area, approaching the ditch in which he once lay. His vision was very hazy now, raw and shadowy like old stock movie footage. His hearing entirely dulled, he heard nothing as the rescuer, a medic, yelled to his partner before jumping into the shallow trench. He felt himself being drawn to the dreamlike scenario, wanting to know what the medic had found, needing to see what he had left behind in the snowy ditch that was causing such a commotion. The woman in lavender permitted this without protest.

Together they approached the lonesome trench and watched unnoticed as the medic worked hopelessly on a blue and broken body. When his partner finally arrived the medic told him not to bother. “This one is gone,” were his exact words.

The medics rejoined the third rescuer, a firefighter, who was still attending to the child. Neither had noticed the man and women who had kept a solemn vigil over their efforts. Beside the ditch, in order to mark the area, they had left a glowing flare.

Through the fog and vapor that was now his vision, the man recognized the cold lifeless eyes of the body lying in the base of the ditch. Cloudy and frozen, they reflected the glow of crimson flare while bearing no sparkle of their own.

No longer concerned with the matter in the trench the man returned his attention to the little girl, now wrapped in blankets, an oxygen mask snug to her tiny face. From her pale lips he watched warm wonderful breath create misty bellows around the mask and into the frosty air. The sight of her breathing brought him great comfort.

For one last time the man stood over his daughter, the only person in the world he had ever truly loved. With whatever voice he had left he spoke quiet and deliberately.

“I love you, Jenny.”

Though her lips barely moved he could hear her as clearly as he had ever heard any words in his entire short life.

“I love you too, Daddy.”

Years from now, healthy and physically recovered from this tragic evening, Jenny will remember this moment in a dream that will awaken her gently with a warm breeze and the sensation of soft lips against her own.

The two medics carefully placed her in a caged harness while the firefighter waited with a hooked cable that had been lowered down from above the embankment. Securing the final strap, one of the medics noticed a small piece of babies’ breath entwined in the child’s hair.

Watching, the man felt a tear run down his check but when he lifted a hand to his eyes, he found them dry. The woman in lavender came from behind and resumed her embrace. He knew without being told that it was time to go. He blew his daughter one final kiss and turned to his new companion offering a poignant smile which she affectionately returned.

Together they scaled the steep incline without exertion and he was not at all surprised to find a small assemblage awaiting them upon reaching the top. Joined by the others and with the embankment now far behind, they continued their effortless ascension, the world he once knew vanishing in their wake. The indigo sky welcomed him and as the threshold was crossed all he could see, as far as his eyes could wander and wide as his mind would roam, were nothing but stars.