Till Death Do Us Part
And she closed her eyes, her last thought- finally.
She blinked. There was some kind of light flooding the room. It was making it difficult to open her eyes. She felt like she was lying next to those floodlights in the Yankee Stadium where she and Dan used to go.
Wait a second… lights? How could she see lights? Wasn't she dead?
Holly opened her eyes blinking against the light. At first she couldn't see anything. Everything was too bright. Then she realized that she was lying on a surface.
As soon as she realized that her, surroundings seemed to materialize around her. The lights dimmed and she saw that she was on a road, in the middle of what suspiciously looked like-
"Wicklow National Park, Ireland", a familiar, gruff Irish voice said from behind her.
She turned around and saw a very familiar figure walking towards her, hands in pockets. As he moved even closer she saw his face looking just as he had 45 years ago, a shy smile on his handsome face.
"Hey beautiful", he said as he reached her and wrapped his hands around her. She sighed, how she had missed his strong arms around her. It removed all her fears and worries and she felt alive.
"I missed you", she said, her face buried in his jacket which always smelled like the pub.
"I missed you too", he replied.
They stood there for some time; their feet didn't ache nor did they feel anything else, just each other.
After- minutes? Days? - he said," C'mon, they've been dying to meet you."
She chuckled.
"Who?" She asked.
He didn't reply. Just took her hand and squeezed it, pulling her forward. They began walking and the road didn't seem to end. Holly didn't mind. She wasn't feeling tired or fatigued, she was with him. Everything was as it should be.
They walked and after a few minutes (or days- time was funny here), she noticed a familiar building. As she got closer, she remembered where it was.
It was her childhood home, where she had spent the first fourteen years of her life. It looked just the same; the brown walls, white windows. That little swing on the tree in the front yard which her dad had fixed for her.
She ran forward and opened the front gate. It made that creak which it always did alerting her mother that someone was coming. This time it didn't disappoint. As soon as she reached the front door, it swung open to reveal Patricia. She was in her youth years just like Holly was. They hugged each other tightly for Patricia had left the world 15 years ago and it was a long time for a mother and a daughter to go without seeing each other. They both entered the house and he hugged Patrick, because it had almost been as long for him too.
"Did you take her yet?" Patricia asked him. He shook his head. "Even I haven't been to see him."
"Why dear? I told you he is not angry with you."
He jumped from one foot to another, nervous, the way he used to be before stage performances.
"What is it?" Holly asked, confused. "Who are you talking about?"
Patricia nodded at him. He took Holly's hand again and pulled her out the door. She didn't fight him because somehow she knew that nothing could take her away from someone she loved anymore.
He stopped outside the front gate and turned to look at me.
"It's time you met him." He said. "Both of you have waited long enough. But before you go I just wanted to say-" he paused, took a deep breath, pulled my hands together in front of him and then continued, "-I think you knew from when and how we met that music was my first love. But you were the one who kept me from going insane after it. You kept me on the ground and steady while I would have spiraled away into the world without you, and I will always love you. Remember that okay?
Holly nodded hesitantly. He kissed her hands and her forehead and then they continued walking. It wasn't long before Holly was in front of a familiar pub, where she met someone long ago who changed her and made her who she was. He took her inside. Someone was singing on the Karaoke stage.
"Well I took a stroll on the old wild walk
Of the day –I-ay-I-ay-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day –I-ay
And I ask you friend, whats a fella to do
Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl
Down the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl."
"Hey you Eejit!" He called. The man singing stopped abruptly.
"Look who's here," he said.
The man looked up and she didn't believe it, because it was too good to be real and then she remembered it wasn't real. Not in any Earthly way. Because she wasn't on earth any more. And that was the reason that Gerry was standing in front of her, full and healthy- not the way he had been before death, but like the way he had been when they first met.
Holly walked forward weakly, standing right in front of him, afraid to touch him. What if he disappeared?
But she shouldn't have worried about it. Because as soon as she was in front of him he picked her up and kissed her.
And just like that she was back, back when they had their perfect first kiss. It was like everything around her disappeared and only Gerry was there, only his lips and his body and nothing else.
They might have spent only a few seconds like that or may be a week, might even have been a year. And in the end it didn't matter that he had gone. In the end all was how it was meant to be and they were together.
When they broke off -for what they don't know; they didn't need to breathe any more- they were panting. Then she heard the door of the pub close. But before she could react, Gerry was sprinting across the floor and out the door. When Holly reached it, both men were hugging. As they released each other, Holly went and stood beside Gerry, watching Bill walk away.
"Where is he going?," Holly asked, sad to see her life-long partner and companion walk away.
"To find a Guitar I suppose, that was always his first love."
"And what about you?"
"I already have what I want, and I don't plan on letting it get away from me ever again."
Holly smiled, feeling like that 19 year old again.
Feeling, like the life as she knew it had changed.