Author's note: Here's to feeling like a divorcee getting back on the dating scene after a long marriage. It's been a while, but let's see how it goes!


Happiness

Prologue: "A random girl appears"

She said, "Death is so definite", startling me to almost death. And then she started babbling. Like a yapping puppy. Randomly sprouting nonsensical things that meant nothing and everything at the same time. "Suddenly you are here and then suddenly you aren't. Everything just ceases to exist, though perhaps not. There might be something after, but who can really tell you know?" She rose her eyes straight up to my face. A cerulean blue that reflected the brightness of the moon of that murky night. I was paralyzed atop the rail of Maine's most abandoned bridge for what felt like an eternity, while the river below continued to play a soundtrack to her rambling. "The truth is that no one can assure you off anything, and because of that I play it safe. For me there's nothing after. So why go to nowhere? Especially when there are so many lives to live here?" She blinked twice, but it was on the second one that I realized she had finally finished her monologue and was expecting an answer.

"So many lives?" I whispered. If it went with the wind it went. If she could not hear it, did it matter? Was she even here? I wondered, but ended up adding. "You only have one."

"That's what they tell us!" I heard it like a scream in the silence of the night. It startled me almost as much as her appearance. My heart skipped a beat. "I could show you otherwise."

A conspiracy. A pale hand outstretched in my direction. Simple. Fragile. Firm.

Waiting.

In a millisecond I thought about turning away from this ghost. This apparition that shouldn't have been here. Shouldn't have almost witness my relief. In another fraction of a second, I contemplated her. Small, less voluptuous, younger. Extending such a sure hand. Soft eyes, blond locks, an inviting smile below the barely noticeable freckles.

I extended my own slightly darker hand and allowed her to help me down from the rail. She said nothing, for once, before guiding me towards the unknown.

The oddity of it all was that, it was like she and I were strangers, like we had never crossed paths on the halls or shared a textbook. Like we hadn't been classmates since elementary school.


A/N: Do let me know if you find it interesting by leaving a review! Thanks for reading.