Wait

    “Wait.”
    It was the only word that made any sense.  The last request of a man with nothing left to ask.  Where she went, he would follow.  It had always been so between them.  But now she had died, and even though they had been in the hospital for two hours it came as the greatest shock of his life and all his mind and mouth could do was utter that same word over and over.
    “Wait.”
    He was a realist, and gave no heed to the feelings that told him “this is not fair” and “she’s in a better place.” He did not believe such things as these. A flood of anger and need filled him, to the point of eruption.  He almost wished he believed in a God, any god, so that he could oppose him directly for this.  Again the word fell from his mouth  like a prayer.  But it was not.
    “Wait”
    He held her hand, already growing cold, as the doctor spoke in the background.  The things he said should have made sense, but they clicked and clacked against each other like stones in a landslide. Audible but pointless.  In a daze, almost like wonderment, the man looked from the face of his wife toward the doctor, who parroted a mock grief that was painful in its shallow, clinical way.  The man’s eyes, knotted in grief and rage, could not conceal these emotions, and even though it was a thing the doctor was accustomed to, it stilled him with its enormity.
    “Wait”
    A hush cloaked the room.  The callous beeping of the various machines seemed to fade and to the man all was quiet.  And in that momentary solace, the eye of the storm his life had become, he found that he believed in something that did not conform to his notions of realism.  For no reason that he could explain, and in defiance of the harsh rules of solidity that he’d forever chained his perceptions, he found himself sure that not only could she hear him, but that she was, in fact, waiting.
    “Wait”
    This time it was said with resonances of awe and hope.  The man rose to his feet and looked again at the doctor, and as he did he noticed the window behind the man.  He wasted no time.  They were on the seventh floor, and that should be enough.  He sprinted past the doctor and threw himself at the window with all the wild energy that had seemed to pool in him these last few minutes.   It gave before him like vapor, the breaking glass stinging his face and arms, though he barely noticed.  The ground rose up and filled all his vision.
    “Wait”
    He said it softly, knowing she heard.  And as the night and the world sped past him he closed his eyes and smiled, seeing only her face.  He had not gone mad as the papers would later say.  He just believed in the greatness of their love.   He believed that she would wait if she could on whatever other side there was. 
    He was right.

Reviews

[Tucker]

Wow. Your writing is very powerful, I love it.