The house was silent when we entered it. The Sullivan's had never had anything flashy. Living for the Lord usually meant living off of charity.

As I stepped foot back into Jamie's home, I was still shaking a little... the bible in my hands.

It felt heavy and full of wisdom and truth... but there was still so much I was to discover in it and what it would truly mean for my life.

"Landon."

I stiffened when I heard Hegbert say my name and swallowed a dry gulp. I was in the dark hallway, near the exit and the veranda. I saw the old minister flick on a light switch and in a few minutes, the small vibrant lightbulb lit up some of the house.

It looked different then what it had for the last four months.

All the equipment was gone, there was nothing to show that there had been anything sorrowful happening in the home of Hegbert Sullivan. The medical team had left not a trace of their presence here.

I looked at the old minister and he cleared his throat. He walked in tired steps through the hallway to his bedroom, and I asked.

"Where am I-"

"Landon..." he said to me again, tired and almost for a second, acting like he had forgotten I was present, "You can take the lounge tonight. I'm sorry I can't offer more..."

I looked at him.

I had never slept on anything other than a cosy bed, except for whenever I had gone camping with my friends.

Rich boy Carter sleeping on poor minister Hegbert's couch. I could just imagine the teasing something like that would've gotten a year ago among the teenagers of Beaufort.

"Right..." I said nervously and was still holding the bible closely to my chest.

Hegbert smiled at me slowly, still that sad soft smile... yet this one had a little bit of hope and strength in it this time... I wondered why?

He closed his room's door and left me in the emptiness and quietness of his abode.

I looked around at what could possibly be my new home... how small, dead and empty it was.

How the walls had cobwebs on them, the carpet coming up at some corners and the sound of the waves far off in the distance lapping on the beach.

I was closer to the sea now, and an image of me walking that beach by myself... walking into the waves entered into my mind. The cold rush of the sea water drowning me.

I blinked, I didn't know why I had had that thought... it was so uncharacteristic of me to think of ending my life in such a symbolic way.

I suddenly heard a creak... and turned my head to look down the hall, looking at the moonlight shining forth from an open door in the distance.

I swallowed, and took a few steps nearer to it, holding the bible close to me, more as a weapon than as a holy object.

When I looked into the room, I saw that the window was opened and the light white curtains were blowing inwards into the room from the sea breeze in the far distance.

It looked like a beautiful peaceful sight, like something otherworldly.

A scene almost taken from a moment in time and placed just before my eyes to give me calm and peace.

I stepped over to the open window and walked out a little on the porch that led on from there. I watched as the town I lived in was asleep and moving on from the rough and harsh wet day we had had.

I heard another creak, and spun around, holding the bible high in my hands as if I was to strike whoever was coming to attack me.

And that's when I realized... who's room I was in.

I looked back at the quiet peaceful room and saw a bed. A bed made and cleaned and left as some sort of memorial for the girl that had slept there so many years.

The room was clean and mostly empty... just with a mirror stand in the distance and a closet filled with plain clothes... and a few nice dresses.

I was in Jamie's room.

I saw a lamp by her bedside, and I gulped... afraid I was trespassing into a realm where I was not invited or allowed.

But I didn't want to be alone tonight. I didn't want to be alone.

I went over to her bed and touched the folded back blanket at the top of it. My hand shivered at the touch like I was feeling something sacred. I slowly pulled back the blanket and saw a clean white sheet underneath.

And I felt the tears come.

I could see her, lying there with that peaceful smile...

I could hear us talking in the room over the months that she had left.

And for a split second, I felt the wind gust in hard from the window, and I turned up, looking away to the outside porch and saw her-

I blinked. Realizing I had seen no one. No one.

Just an image begging to be real.

I was getting afraid, I was getting scared.

But most of all, I was getting upset.

I placed the Bible on the nightstand, switched on the lamp, and got into the bed. I imagined I was holding Jamie in my arms, and that she was talking to me and holding me back.

But all I was holding were the quilts close to me, as tears rolled down my face.

I looked at the lamp, and went to switch it off... the bible falling into darkness... and the sound of the breeze from the far-off coast blowing in gently into the room and carrying out my weeps.

She was gone. She was gone, and I had to accept that. But I knew I never would.

The first time we had laid in the same bed... and it was at different points in time with very different meanings.

I could see her pale blue eyes in my mind, as she walked down that aisle on our wedding day.

When she reached me, it was almost like the whole church gave a silent applause. And her father's words...

And our vow... to be loyal and loving to the end.

To be a sign to others of what love could be.

I looked at her... as she leant forward and kissed me on the forehead gently, whispering, "Landon... thank you."

'She had wanted to say, "thank you"' Hegbert's words whispered to me the day I stood holding that doorknob.

And I looked at her and said in tears.

"No, please don't thank me. I want to thank you... thank you for giving me you... thank you for giving me -"

I woke in a jump, as dawn had come and I was on my back in a near frozen cold position. I looked up and saw Hegbert stare down at me, as if in a slight anger. But more in pain.

"I said, the lounge..."

I remained still, not knowing how to reply.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep in her bed..." I spoke back at last. My words were choked and my eyes sore from the blinding sunlight that shone brightly through the window to where the bed lay. Hegbert was in the shadow's of the day almost, and he said to me.

"If it was my bed... I would have killed you then begged the Lord for mercy."

I gripped up tightly, my eyes wide and my arms pulling the quilts closer to me, terrified.

"But even I still sleep in the same bed as my deceased wife..." he finished, as if that was to be taken to heart and not used as a pitying subject.

I nodded my head slowly, and he replied.

"Well, don't just lie there. Get up and get praying."

I blinked, looking at him confused.

"Because you have to figure out what you want for yourself now, and what God wants for yourself now."

"Yes, sir..." I said nervously, and slowly sat up from the bed, placing my hand on the bible but Hegbert slapped it away and I looked at him in horror.

"The Bible is where we get most of our answers, but you need to actually ask questions. To Him. To Jesus and God. You need to talk to him."

"But I will with the bible-"

"You will... with your own words... not his."

I bit my lip, a little grumpily and Hegbert just tapped his fist to the wood of the nightstand, looking at me with a sharp smile and said as he left the room.

"Now, get to work. Man was made to work, not slumber. To live, not sleep. I have a sermon to prepare, and you... you have to get asking the man upstairs questions. Because if you don't know where you are going from here, you might as well never left where you once were."

I growled a little under my throat and remembered how very different me and Hegbert Sullivan were.

But I would agree to his bargain. I would come up with a plan. I had just finished High School, was disowned by my father and mother and was living with my deceased beloved's poor old minister father.

I suddenly realized one thing.

Everything in the last couple of days I had done for Jamie... to make her happy, to make her proud.

But... now...?

What was going to be my next move?

The answer was simple, yet something I rarely had ever done properly.

Pray.

And I was going to pray my heart out till God could do nothing but tell me what to do.

I slipped out of bed, got down on my knees and just placed my two hands together, saying to the Father in heaven, simple words... and three words that I would be using for the rest of my life now.

"Jesus... Father..."

I swallowed and said it... feeling the humility and pain at asking this, this thing I would be asking for the rest of my life.

"Please...help...m-me..."