Regrets

"Michael?"

"Yes, Kathy, it's me. I've come for you."

She palmed her eyes with hands, and then squinted at the figure standing beside her bed. "That can't be. You're de—"

"I'm right here."

She blinked. Then blinked several more times. Trying to erase the image her mind conjured together. She looked at the figure one more time. She snapped her eyes closed.

"I'm losing my mind. It can't be. No. No. No. No... You're dead. You died. No. No." She slowly opened her eyes yet the apparition remained.

She turned her head away. But, Kathy's eyes slowly returned to the figure. "Michael?"

"Yes..."

"You look so handsome in your uniform. You're young. Just as I remember you."

He touched her cheek and she placed her hands on his. "As are you."

Kathy looked down at her shoulders. Her thin graying hair; gone. Across her shoulders and to her breasts, it now lay as long black rivers of shiny hair.

"It's time," Michael said. "We need to go."

She slipped her legs out from the blankets. The pain from the rheumatoid arthritis that had plagued her—was no more.

"Where're we going?"

The corner of the room dissolved away. A bright amber light seemed to replace the walls.

She stopped. She pointed at the light. "What?"

"Friends. Me and God...we've been watching you."

"But I was alone. My life. Just one big screw up after another. I—"

"You were never alone."

Hand in hand they walked toward the amber light. She felt its warmth like a fire on a winter's night. As they passed the window, Kathy stopped and peered out into the bleak Ohio night. With a wipe of his hand across the window, the landscape turned snowy. Large dandelion sized snow flakes tumbled from the sky and passed the windows to the ground below.

Kathy's brown eyes glowed in the yellow light. "What if I don't want to go?"

Michael stopped. "It's your choice." Her fingers tighten around his hand.

Kathy turned and looked at her tired and worn out body still covered by a blanket. "No regrets, Michael, no regrets..."

********chapter six *******

Naomi waited by the door for the daylight supervisor, Regina. She didn't need to wait for long, as she soon heard the tap-tapping of Regina's shoes on the polished floor.

"Normally, I'd say happy New Year," Regina began, "but somehow it doesn't seem to fit today."

Naomi nodded. "Yeah, hell of a way to start the New Year. I found her."

"When?" They entered the room.

"I went in a bit past midnight, and was going to tell her happy New Year. She didn't respond. I found no pulse when I checked. I noted the time and logged it in."

"Did you notify next of kin yet?"

"Not yet."

As they were talking, an ethereal older man with bright blue eyes stood in the doorway. He tapped his cane on the doorjamb.

"May we help you with something?" Naomi asked.

"I've come for Kathy McCullars."

"Oh, I see. You must be Mr. McCullars, Kathy's father."

The man leaned on his cane, took his gloves off, and smiled at the two women. "No...I'm not Kathy's father."

Naomi touched the man's shoulder and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Michael Echols. Michael Echols Senior." He walked up to Kathy's bed.

As he held her hand he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered, "Kathy, I've come to take you home..."

Naomi touched the old man's shoulder once more. "How did you know? No one has called from this office."

He picked up the photo beside the Bible that rested on the bed. "I knew."

"How?" Naomi pressed.

His eyes were locked on the photo; the photograph that Kathy carried all these years.

"My son told me."

Naomi shook her head. "Something's not right here."

The old man picked up the photograph from the bed. He looked at it for what seemed hours, then carefully handed the photo to Naomi. Naomi's mouth gaped open. She stared at the photo, then back at the old man. "I've seen this photograph a thousand times. What did you do?"

"What's going on here?" Regina asked.

With a shaking hand, Naomi handed Regina the photograph. "That's not right."

"What not right?" Regina asked.

"The photo. It was of a young man by a car."

"No... I see two people in it. It's Kathy and a young man."

"There weren't two last night. There's never been two people in that photo. She showed me the photograph every night before she went to sleep. I've seen it every day I've been here. No... only one person, a young man, is in the picture."

The old man smiled at Naomi's frustration. "Before my son was killed in the war, he wrote his mom and me that his biggest regret in his life was letting Kathy marry Tony. He said he'd never rest until they were together. He wanted to fix the mistake he made." He looked at Kathy's old photograph. The edges torn and ragged. The corners dog-eared.

In the photograph, it showed two people. Michael and Kathy holding hands beside the Olds on a clear day. They were together at last.

"No regrets... No regrets..."