It had been a long night, he was tired, his drooping eye lids were hard to control but he fought his best to focus on the road ahead. He looked at the clock, the bright lights of the digits blurred at the edges, 21:00- gabby would be wondering where he was.
And she was. Shovelling the now cold dinner into the bin she let out a sigh of both annoyance and worry, 'Where could he be?' she asked the empty room before blowing out of candle that was laid in the middle of the table and heading to bed, sure that she would wake in the morning to a message from Troy explaining his absence.
Turning the corner, he was just a few streets away from Gabby's house. By this point he was literally driving with his eyes closed, 'damn practice' he thought to himself as he slightly shifted his shoulders which were aching with pain.
He decided to give Gabby a quick call just to let her know where he was, but with his clumsy fatigued hands aimlessly prodding about on the passengers' seat where he had his bag, he accidently knocked the phone onto the floor of the car.
"Sugar!" he said out loud before taking a quick strong glance at the road to double check it and then allowing himself to lower his head to search for the phone.
What happened next he wasn't sure; it was all so fast.
He was no longer in the car; he wasn't certain where he was. His body had taken on a feeling of extreme weightlessness. In the confusion, he thought hard about the previous series of events 'the car, I was in the car'. Next thing, he found himself standing by the wreckage. Puzzled, he circled it, he didn't remember crashing. The car was almost destroyed, how on earth had he survived so unharmed? He wondered. But as he reached the other side of the car, the drivers seat, he saw himself inside, cold and lifeless, his face red with blood.
It all began to piece together inside his head. He had died. Had he still had his human form he would have cried from the feeling of despair. "Gabby!" he thought, "gabby!" He couldn't possibly leave her. His reasons both from a selfless and selfish point of view-they had needed each other an equal amount. The focus of Gabby again seemed to transport him and he found himself inside the apartment they shared.
He walked through the darkness and found his way to the bedroom. She was fast asleep, she looked like an angel. A deep sickness swept over him in that moment. He would not leave her, he decided. He had promised he never would.
The coldness of the room stirred Gabby from her sleep and a sleepy smile spread across her face as she realised that Troy had returned. But it faded in a second, when she had adjusted to consciousness. Something was different- she could tell.
"Gabby, I'm so sorry" he said in a whisper.
"About what? Troy, what's wrong? There's something different, I'm scared."
"I'm so sorry...I wasn't focusing on the road. Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I never believed I what I couldn't see, I never opened my heart, to all the possibilities."
It all pieced together inside Gabby's mind, this was not Troy, not completely.
"No, no!" she cried; Tears now frantic down her face. "Don't leave me, please"
"I won't, not ever" he assured her. "But I think there's only one solution" he said, his voice now quiet with a solemn acceptance.
"I can't come back, it's not possible...but you can join me". Gabby's eyes widened with fear as she realised what he meant and she nodded as she whimpered and knew that it all made sad sense.
She walked slowly into the kitchen and then returned to the bedroom, the steel of the knife reflecting the moonlight into the dark room.
"Are you sure?" he asked and she nodded before inhaling deeply and beginning.
When it was done she dropped the knife from her cold hands and both seated cross legged facing each other she clasped Troy's.
"This could be the start of something new" he assured her.
It all began to slip away, her head was becoming dizzy and her eye lids were heavy and still blurred with silent tears that continued to fall.
"I feel...I can't focus...I" she muttered as she began to slip consciousness before falling into Troy's realm, leaving her cold body motionless on the mattress, the blood staining the sheets.
In their new dimension, she lunged towards Troy clinging to him.
"What now?" she asked. But before he could answer they were both blinded by the godly white light shining from nowhere in particular.
As they headed towards it the feeling of euphoria increased. Soaring, flying, there wasn't a star in heaven they couldn't reach.
They've broken free.