1/22/13
His last gift


She came home crying that day. Her eyes red and tears pouring down her cheek. She lay in bed, restless the rest of that weekend. Unable to move, unable to collect words she only sobbed, to what she thought was a deaf world, but in reality though she lost the one she loved, she was indeed in company.

A car accident claimed the life of her boyfriend, Jake. On the day they would cherish their one year anniversary a drunk driver veered off the road claiming his life. Katie was the love of his life and forever she lives with the memory of their last kiss burned into her brain. She can’t sleep and refuses to eat anything. Her parents are concerned and come to talk to her but all they get is a blank stare into space and no response.

It’s Monday now and Katie stays in bed for her third night with no sleep and she can’t fight off the need to rest her eyes. She slowly lowers her head to her pillows, now salty with damp tears, and shuts her eyes.

In the valley they sit and eat lunch as the hill they sit upon overlooks the sunset. It’s there Jake takes away all her fears. It’s there that he comforts her every fear. Finally she confesses her love for him and holds his hand. Jake is bundled for the spring weather in his black jacket with blue jeans. He wears his red hat and around his neck he wears a red scarf with black stitchingthat his grandmother made him two winters ago. Late in the evening they sit and watch the fire flies come out. The hill grows dark and Jake zips up his jacket and helps Katie do the same. She shivers as the cold air passes over her neck. Jake removes his scarf and wraps her neck snug to keep her warm. He then one last time squeezes her tight and kisses her on the cheek. Then he calmly says “I’ll watch over you forever and tomorrow atop the hill it will be cold. Until we meet again”

Katie awakes with goose bumps and a calming sense of love and a warm feeling in her heart. It’s Tuesday and time for the funeral. She gets out of bed and feels the warm cloth wrapped around her neck. It’s the red scarf with black stitching from the dream. She takes a deep breath and cries a little, trying not to be seen as crazy, she keeps this to herself and dresses completely in black, except for the red scarf that she wears around her neck. She hasn’t spoken to anyone since the accident and doesn’t know what to expect. There is a beautiful ceremony at the local church where Jake would occasionally attend. All his family spoke and wept at the podium. After the ceremony the family pulled Katie aside and asked if she would join them at the burial. A small collection of Jake’s family pile into a black limo, follow a hearse to the funeral.

Katie smiles as the family reflects on his life, his youth and his quirky shortcomings give a chuckle as they all say their best memories of Jake. Jake’s grandmother smiled as she told the story of the red scarf she gave him for Christmas. Katie reaches up and brushes the scarf and smiles.

At the cemetery it is sunset and the family and Katie pile out of the limo and over to where Jake is to be buried. Atop a hill overlooking a pond where the fireflies play. The wind picks up to blow the old oak tree atop the hill. Katie tightens her scarf and looks down to see her love buried under the earth. She looks up as tears start to roll down her cheek, and smiles. She smiles because the scarf wipes her tears as Jake once did as it blows in the breeze. She knows she didn’t say goodbye, so she smiles and tears as she says the last words he said to her. “Until we meet again.”