(A/N: For the sake of my own privacy and of the other party. I have changed our names since I prefer being known as simply my pen name and I would like to keep the people within my life and in this story a secret. Thanks for your understanding. I, the author and main character, will be named James. Also inspired by true characters, events, and stories from my life. Of course a very special person to me!)

"James, will you, like, just leave me be already?"

"Clorica, I... I just wanted to talk! Please, just let me explain-"

"Please, James. I am not in the mood right now."

"-But, Clorica, I have to speak with you. If I do not speak with you now then I fear the chance may slip by me again. I have to talk with you, face to face. We can't let things end like this."

"ENOUGH, JAMES!"

Crashing. Falling upwards. That is what it feels like to awake from a nightmare such as that one. As if one was being pulled by a tight rope wrapped round their body, being strung upward at a tremendous force by the force of gravity. A cold sweat drenched your body, teeming from one's sweat glands as one produces the cool beads of wetness. It was terrible nightmare for certain. One that Clorica wishes she could forget right away. The memories still haunt her to this day. The guilt of knowing what has been done can never be changed. The people we lose in this world are gone forever, sometimes at times too soon or in ways which are deemed unfair. Guilt. Dread. Regret. Clorica has become entwined in these prickly feelings as the vines with thorns wrap around her body tightly, holding her as a prisoner in the cage of her own heart. 

Clorica has been holding onto these feelings so close to her being that the weight of her emotions are beginning to crush her soul from all around. She stopped going to school altogether and has only rarely left her room by necessity alone. She stopped eating seemingly altogether and only eats on occasion. She is a heartbroken and gloom filled mess. She has not been the same since then. Ever since... 

Clorica's eyes examined her empty room, void of anything meaningful to her. The meds she was taking for her condition was still on the table, pills spilled out in a clustered mess. She balled herself up and held her legs together as she sat under the covers of her bed. Her eyes teared up again for what felt like the thousandth time. She had once believed that her eyes had all but dried up and it would be impossible for her to cry any more than she has. However, her eyes only saw sadness wherever they looked and she has become sensitive to her surroundings. So she wept, alone in her room as the sun began to rise up and touch the cloud filled sky, but one could barely notice that because of the grayness that covered the vast blue.

"If Clorica only took the chance to look up at the sky she may have noticed it. Even in this cloud filled sea above us, there is still light that comes through," Clorica heard a voice say to her within her room. She slowly lifted her head up from her legs and right in front of her was a young boy. A boy in which she was already quite familiar with. Her closest friend ever since the first year of middle school and all the way up to their senior and final year in High School. James Carter, her best friend that has appeared right in front of her at the bottom edge of her bed.

"J-James? James! Is that really you?" Clorica shouted at James, her face's once dull expression now lighting up the very tears on her face as she stared at the boy.

"Well, it is me, James, so I suppose that answer's your question," he said, laughing at her. "Misses Clorica Clover, it is great to see you again," the boy said as he tipped the black fedora he wore that covered his head.

Clorica just shook her head angrily as she wiped the tears from her face. "Is this really something to laugh at? No... This cannot be real! I must be dreaming. My mind is just playing tricks on me. You cannot really be here in my room... You..."

James then quickly silenced Clorica by calling out her name. She went silent as James gave her a soft, gentle smile. "Hi," he simply said. "Nice to see you again as well."

Clorica stared at James for a second before her eyes welled up into more tears. She just smiled back at him and said, "Hi, you big dummy. Nice to see you again as well you, jerk.” She shook her head, trying to look angry but she couldn’t manage it. “How could you just...leave me like that?"

"Oh, you know me, I tend to do things I never intended to do," James said as he looked away from Clorica. "Things that always end up hurting you somehow."

Clorica shook her head. "We are both guilty of that aren't we? That is what we agreed upon, mutually, when we both became friends. True friendship as we defined it: Is being willing to hurt the other for the sake of being there for the other. Because we both know that people always end up hurting each other. Heh, thinking about it aren’t we just the most optimistic of people?" she said as she slowly reached her hand out to touch James's hand as she was used to doing. But James pulled himself away from her hand as if her hand was something poisonous to the touch.

Clorica looked at James with confusion until she examined his facial expression. Eyes down, face turned, mouth trembling to speak as he tried to figure out what to say. She knew how to read James as well as he knew how to read the look of worry on her face. Her body frozen in place, eyes glued to his own, and her mouth slightly open as she too debated what words to say as James knew. Yet, silence filled the air between them as it often had. They spoke through silence and that was never a problem. They both were not talkative people and actually enjoyed texting and writing notes to other to communicate.  It was relaxing to them to have their own form of communication unique to them. As if they entered their own world separate from everyone else.

But now that silence was just that. Silence. Not communication. There were never any words but there were feelings that they both could feel. But what were those feelings? What was going on? Only they knew that answer. She reached out for a pen and paper on her desk and set it in her lap.

“Just write it out like we usually would. Makes things easier,” she said.

"Clorica, I know that things have been rough for you. You have been sad since I disappeared and who would blame you for that? But now, I have to tell you something that will surely break your heart. I must tell you through words for I can no longer hold a pen..." James said, speaking softly to her.

"What do you mean? Why not? Why are you saying these things? James, speak to me..." Clorica said, her words demanding James to speak in the only way they knew how and James was trying to explain everything to her but he struggled to find his own words. James allowed Clorica to follow his eyes instead, darting down at the bed. Clorica followed them like a compass pointing south until she began to see what James saw. 

"James...why...why are you not touching the bed? You're... You're floating?" she exclaimed as she covered her mouth with her hands in shock. James was indeed floating only so lowly over the bed. He could not touch it. James then looked filled with despair as he reached his hand out to Clorica.

"Because only the living and tangible have the right to touch the physical world. I am now neither, Clorica. I am a ghost. I died. And now..." James said, as Clorica slowly put her hand up to James's hand. They tried to touch the other but as fate would have it and as James said, they could not touch the other. Their hands went through the other as if their hands just missed the other on impact. Clorica retracted her hand instinctively for even though she could no longer touch James... he somehow felt so cold. Dead cold. The warmth she knew was gone. The kindness, love, and cherishing moments and feelings she once had engraved into her was long gone and she began to break down and cry again. 

Her heart's sadness would only increase as her body moved on its own and tried to hug James for comfort but she went through him again. Clorica was not thinking straight, she tried again and again to hug James and feel his beating heart in his chest and the love and safety only he could provide but no longer. Again. Again. And again she tried to grasp James even by the clothes he wore, but she went through him still. Her fingers passing through his body like air. 

"Why...? Why did all of this had to happen?" Clorica yelled, slamming her fists on the bed. "I was just able to be with you! What felt like moments ago, it was you and I in this very room, holding onto the other when I needed you the most! When you needed me most. It was not that long ago when you and I were riding our bikes through the parks together, eating ice cream together, having sleep overs, going swimming, God, we did everything together...just so little time ago. Now you appear before me again and I cannot even touch you? What the Hell? That's not fair! It's just...not fair...or maybe it is fair. God…"

James looked away from her but he knew he had to continue to keep eye contact with Clorica. But what words to use in this situation he thought? He finally said the basic words that always lose their meaning and value in the crucial moments they are needed. "I'm sorry, Clorica. I am so sorry."

Clorica could not stop the tears and neither could James, unfortunately. Their bodies made everything all the crueler as their bodies moved with compassion for the other, but nothing would come of it. James wished with all of his heart he could wipe away Clorica's tears but he knew they would remain. How could one say absence makes the heart grow fonder James thought? His heart did yearn for Clorica in the short time after he had died. But it was not the absence away from her that made his heart yearn as it had. He had not cared for her more because he had lost her. He cared for her more because what they both had lost. Words they both knew could never be said on paper, but never did. Things they could have done, but their friendship barred them from doing it. They were scared. Too scared to do what they should have done long ago.

"Clorica," James said to her, searching for the sparkling eyes he has been comfortable with. Clorica slowly looked to him and saw James trying to smile even though she knew it was hard for him to do so. "I want to show you something. Can you follow me outside? Like, now. Just you and I."

"To where...? Where should we go now?" she asked.

"To the usual spot. Our spot. Just the two of us like always. It's still early morning and we may just be able to catch the sunrise if we go now. You always enjoyed watching the sunrise have you not?" James said, trying to walk but he still levitated off the bed to the window and looked out of it. "You said this once, 'The sun is a reminder to us all. That even though yesterday may be dark and gloomy, tomorrow the sun will rise. The sun is our chance for redemption. There will always be a light at the end of the tunnel.'"

Clorica shook her head before she rested it on her knees and looked at James, giving a half-smile across her face. "That was just something I came up with on the spot for English class. You know I was just trying to get an A."

James laughed, "Yeah, I know. But it meant something to me when I heard it. Because...my time on this world with you may be short. Really short actually...but you can't ask me how much time I have left!" He spoke quickly and strictly to Clorica who he knew was about to ask. "You absolutely can't, Clorica. I just... I don't want the time we do have together to be obstructed by what it really is. Time. And time always passes us by when we least expect it. So, it is because of that which brings me here again, I seek redemption." James told her.

"Redemption?" Clorica said, looking confused for a moment before she steeled herself and got out of bed. She thought James' time may be short so she put on her slippers and covered herself in a robe. All she had to wear were pajamas as James wore the same clothes Clorica had last seen him in. A black hoodie, dark jeans, and white sneakers. Clorica drew closer to James, but not too close as she felt a sort of a wall between them she desperately wished was not there. But she was scared to be close to him and try to touch him. "Why do you need redemption, James? What have you done wrong...? You have never done anything wrong."

James did not look at Clorica when she said that. Rather, he only placed his hand on his now transparent chest, hoping to feel a beat that was not there. He then said, "I have certainly done things wrong in my life, Clorica. That is why I must redeem myself. Redemption means recovery. And I must be able make right what I shouldn't have made wrong. I have to heal the wounds I made. So..." James then turned to Clorica and smiled at her. "Will you help me do that? Will help you me do this... My final request from you?"

Clorica was silent for only a second as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then opened them up again and said quickly, "Time."

"Time...?" James muttered back. "I cannot tell you..."

"I know," she responded. "That is why we must hurry up! Sunrise is officially in a few minutes and we won’t have much time. It will not be much of a sunrise this late but we will take what we can get. If this if for you, for your 'redemption.' Then so be it. Come on!" Clorica shouted as she was already off on her own to the door. James was slightly baffled by Clorica's sudden change but she was always like that. Head first into anything with the determination to see it through.  

"Man, she is so hot," James said to himself as he followed her out the room and together they sneaked out of her house as to not alert her parents.

Once outside Clorica's eyes felt stung by the sun's rays which only alerted her to the short time they really had for their goal. It has only been a few minutes. Luckily, their usual spot would not take that long to get to form her house. It was a very short walk. They just had to follow the dirt road up the hill next to her house. It was normally a longer walk with the two of them but they had to make it shorter. Clorica did not hesitate to start running as fast as she could when James passed through her front door.

Clorica turned around and winked at James. "Come on, lazy bum. You were always late to school. I had to wake you up every morning otherwise you wouldn't get up. So, catch me if you can!" she yelled at James before she took off up the dirt road.

James stopped there for a moment as his mind went blank. "Huh?" he said before he realized Clorica was already in the forest, skipping along merrily. "Wait a second, it could be dangerous to run alone like that. Clorica...! Come back!" And James was off too, flying after Clorica who was laughing and enjoying herself thoroughly.

"Catch me, catch me!" she yelled as James chased her up the road. Together they traversed the woods where the thin light jumped off the green leaves. Where the wind demanded a show and so the trees danced in its wake, twirling and dancing freely. The forest always spoke in such harmony. Even in silence the world around them spoke.

Though their time together was short, the world seemed to slow down just for them. Or perhaps it was they who tried to move faster than time itself. It was a race against the clock that would not stop ticking. Time would not stop telling them how they should live their lives. Time demanded that they live life to the fullest, but it never tells you how long you have to enjoy life. 

James was right behind Clorica who nearly stumbled as she tried her best to keep running away from James. James thought to himself how easy it would be for him as a spirit to catch Clorica. All he had to do was reach out and touch her... But it was then he caught on to the cruelty of this game he played with Clorica. He could not touch her thus he could never catch her. So Clorica would keep running, and James would keep chasing. Clorica being so close to him, yet so far away at the same time. The distance between them two was to protect their hearts, but should they continue to protect themselves even at a time like this they both wondered.

James knowing the limit of this moment he shared with Clorica he zoomed in front of her and stopped her in her tracks. He smirked at her and wagged his finger at her. 

"Too slow," he said. "You weren't exactly the best in gym class, Clorica. If I recall correctly you had the longest time for track."

"Humph!" she said, pouting. "It is not my fault that I was gifted with these fine legs good for short bursts and not 5-mile runes or whatever. You also took your fair amount of time too, running behind me the entire time."

"Better view of your most glorious and bumptious posterior in those sweats you wore," James said with a smirk and making Clorica blush. “Talk about motivation.”

Clorica gave a dramatic sigh. "Of course you just wanted a better view of my butt, creep!"

James shrugged. "But you already knew that without me having to say it right? Women have a sixth sense for that sort of thing. You always knew when I was staring at you and you made it easier for me to keep you in my view. You would stay right in front of me and stay close by, just for a ‘creep’ like myself."

Clorica’s flustered face smiled and nodded. "I have to try to please my number one fan do I not? I am going to be the world's best Victoria's secret model. And you can be my sassy, high maintenance manager who gets mad all the time," Clorica joked.

James put on his best manager impression, "Madame! Madame! Do you honestly think this looks good on you? I have seen better! You can do better, come! We must get you ready for your big debut on the walkway. I shall make you a star yet that will shine-"

"In super expensive underwear I will only wear once!" Clorica chimed in, playing along with James as she threw her hands on her hip and began to take her definition of 'sexy' poses while walking down an imaginary walkway.

"-Yes!" James shouted to the air with his exaggerated movements and facial expressions. He now had a terrible French accent as he spoke to Clorica. "Marvelous, darling. Simply marvelous! I always knew you were a star Madame, from the first moment I met you. You have always been a sparkle within my eyes, and a miracle placed in my life. It as if I am floating on a cloud... As being able to see you now... makes my heart flutter in ways I never would have imagined before."

The mood slightly shifted as Clorica turned to James, a glint in her eyes James saw when she said, "Ah, is that true? Am I truly something so dazzling to your eyes? Because from the moment I met you I felt there was something special about you. You were different and unique. Special I would say. No other guy was like you because unlike other guys you were there. You stayed. You were there for me whenever I needed you."

Clorica stepped closer to James who met her at near eye level, being taller than her even if he could now fly. His feet was as close to the ground as possible and now the two of them were close to the other. They had effectively torn down that wall between them as they always had. They went around their problems to try to find a solution without ever telling the other what their intentions were. It was never necessary to do so. To speak.

They both stared at the other and though James wanted to keep her gaze and attention for as long as he could. He had a goal in mind, one in which he had to do with Clorica. Now or never.

"Clorica," James said. "There is something I have to tell you... I..."

"You don't have to say it, James. I think we both know what it is we want to say to the other," Clorica said with a smile as James continued to watch her changing expression. "You and I... we are complex and complicated. We never say exactly what we mean and because of that we hurt the other. Our lives could have been so much easier if were just honest with the other, but for some reason we never were. We needed each other, but we kept hurting the other all the same. Sometimes we caused the other to go to such great lengths of sadness...but despite all of that we cried in the other's arms. The tears you caused me... I solved by being with you. No matter how much pain we had from the other, the only way to stop that pain was each other. We are a cure to our own poisons." Clorica’s face became increasingly sadder and James knew she was going to break.

James spoke sympathetically, "Clorica..."

"Why didn't you ever just ask me how I felt about you? Why didn't I just ever tell you...if we had just talked to each other instead of playing these games with each other..." Clorica shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe things could have been different! Maybe we could have been something more..."

"But we were afraid we wouldn't be us if we had," James said. "Even though we cared for the other more than we have ever cared about anyone. We didn't want to ruin that. We did not want to lose the friendship we had. You and I have been hurt before by people we care about, friends we thought they were. Then afterwards... We were no longer friends with those people. If something happened between us and we could no longer go back to what we were. We would have been devastated."

Clorica nodded as she took in her surroundings. Leaving at that thought she did not want to. She had nothing to say back to James she thought as she continued her ascent with James up the hill.  She knew the place that James wanted to go. The usual spot. It was a small spot on top of a hill where once could look down at more of the woods below with a small lake in the center of it all. But the sight was not what was below but what was above in the sky.

But that special place of theirs was now a cold, bitter place for Clorica. It was not a place she wanted to go. She promised herself she wouldn't go there anymore. But just this once she would do it for James.

"You told me you wanted to redeem yourself, James," Clorica said to him to break the silence and caught his attention. "You told me this would be your 'final request' of me. But, I do not recall you ever making a request for me at all. Always...always you tried to do everything for me without ever asking for anything in return. So selfless. But so stubborn!" she shouted. "You always keep things to yourself...even now. You are always trying to protect me...so I know... I know that you are not the one that needs redeeming here!”

“Clorica, I know what you are thinking, and this isn’t that!” James responded.

Clorica kept on though. “What you said, is just another way to hurt me, and you know it! I am the one who should be asking for redemption, God dammit! Not you!"

"Clorica, please..." James muttered but Clorica would not let him speak as she felt her emotions rise and stack upon the other the close they got closer to the top of the hill that was just within their sights. 

"No, James!" she screamed and shouted, stomping her way forward. "I am the terrible one here. I was the one who made mistakes. None of this would have had happened to you if it was not for me. Your family...your friends...your life...I..."

"Clorica, don't...please, just try to make it to the top..."

"If we didn't always go back and forth with the other. If you had just listened to me and stopped doing things to hurt me...and I listened to you and stopped doing things to hurt you. If we had stopped and tried to talk with the other then everything would have been fine! We’re both people with Depression, so why did we do this to the each other?"

"CLORICA!" James shouted, trying to grip Clorica but passing through her which made him even angrier. But Clorica still stopped, as if James did grab a hold of her and forced her to do so. Without even realizing it they made it to the top of the hill. They were now together in their usual spot. Together they would sit out here and watch the stars at night until morning when they would then watch the sunrise together. It was the only time where they could speak with each other honestly and bare their hearts as open as the sky itself.

Clorica began to cry and so did James. They stood there together as Clorica kept her back turned to the sky with James standing directly in front of her. His eyes looked beyond her and he could see the sun encompassing Clorica in its grand light.

Clorica continued to weep as she finally said the first and final words they had to say to the other. "I am the one who is sorry James...if I hadn't got so mad at you when I found about your condition then you wouldn't have died!” she said with a sudden, sharp breath. “I...wouldn't have... killed you..."

A piercing wind blew past them both as it carried the sounds of nature from the forest all the way up to where James and Clorica now waited in silence. James said nothing as he passed by Clorica and looked down. In front of James he could see himself in a sense. A tombstone with his name on it. 

"I suppose it was your idea to have my body buried here, right Clori?” he said, removing the hat from his head to reveal a large, shocking scar before he put his hat back on to cover it up. “We haven't called each other by our nicknames this entire time we been together. You always called me 'Jam' or "Jamy" just to taunt me when I called you Clori," James said as he took a whiff of the air around him. "But those names were special to us weren't they Clori? Because it came from us it was all the more special."

Clorica did not turn around to face James as she softly whispered to him. "It's all my fault...you could have chosen to be with anyone for this, yet you chose me. Are you trying to teach me a lesson? Make me pay for what I regret? Do you hate me James...?"

"No," he answered. "I could never hate the girl I have come to love. I love you,” he confessed which drew Clorica’s ear his way. “You are the girl I have watched grow into a beautiful woman. The girl who always rushes in to do any task even if she can't do it as well as another. The girl with quirks and an amazing sense of humor. She is now a young woman who has the rest of her life ahead of her. But because of me...she has stopped trying to live her life and followed the same path as I did... And I could not bare to watch you do what I did, Clori."

"So...you did notice..." Clorica said as she held her arms tightly across her body. Her sleeves being flapped open in the wind to reveal the scars she had on her arms.

"Of course,” James answered. I have been watching over you ever since I died. This whole thing…It started with me, sinking into my own depression again. I started hurting myself again. I was not happy with my life as it was. For many reasons you already know well. You were the only part of my life that was good. My family and my parents that I just couldn't connect with. You and your family let me stay with you so I could escape that life. But I still hurt myself, and that hurt you. I told you I was fine because I had you, but in reality I still did those things to myself. I told you that as long as I have you then how could I be depressed? But Depression doesn’t work that way…we both know that. And when you found out you got mad at me. I couldn't blame you. I lied to you, you of all people I should have just been honest with. So, after that I tried to talk with you..."

"James, will you, like, just leave me be already?"

"Clorica, I... I just wanted to talk! Please, just let me explain-"

"Please, James. I am not in the mood right now."

"-But, Clorica, I have to speak with you. If I do not speak with you now then I fear the chance may slip by me again. I have to talk with you, face to face. We can't let things end like this."

"ENOUGH, JAMES! Just, get away from me!" 

"Then I pushed you down the stairs...and when you hit the bottom..." Clorica cried as she covered her face with her hands. "I...am a murderer....I killed my own best friend and only person I ever truly loved. I loved…you! And all because I couldn't listen to you. All because I was angry. But we said it right? That's what it means to be friends. To accept the fact we are going to hurt the other. But I couldn't accept that even though I said I could. I felt so lied and betrayed by you because I thought me being just your friend was helping you! That if we didn’t go further than that…we would be fine or something. Yet, I am no better myself. When you died everyone just told me it was an 'accident.' It wasn't 'my fault' what happened. No one wanted me to think that I did anything wrong but I couldn't believe that. I was the one who deserved to die! Not you!"

"Why, Clorica?" James shouted, looking at her. "Why do you think you have to die too? So you resort to hurting yourself and taking all those meds just to..."

"Be with you, James!" she said, facing him. "I am doing this to myself to be with you and tell you I am sorry. So I don't even know if this all real right now or if I am in Heaven or what. I don't care. I just needed to be with you one last time and say I am sorry, James. I wish I could take everything back but I can't. Time doesn't work that way and neither does life. We don't get second chances. I should have figured that out sooner. Because I lost my chance to tell you that God, I love you so much!"

James grew quiet as he wiped the tears from his eyes and watched Clorica cry to herself. He looked back to the sun and saw that now, to his eyes, it was at its peak. He looked down at his hands that became more translucent than they were before. His time was now nearly up.

James looked at Clorica and told her to face him. She did not at first but inevitably did as she gazed upon him. 

"There, do you see it? The sun. Our ray of light and hope, Clorica. We made it together to the very top. See, you can do it. Even without me you can still live. Life may not always give us second chances to do right where we did wrong. But, we take what we can get. This is what I wanted to redeem about myself from my life. You. The person I wronged. I want you to know Clorica that it's okay. I'm fine. I am happy. And I want you to be happy too. Life is too short to not live it to the fullest, even if it appears long and it feels like you have all the time in the world. Live. Live everyday knowing that I will be here beside you, within you, or however you want me to be there. I will never blame you or myself for what happened, or hate you. The only thing I want you to do for me now is live...and don't sink into the life I had."

"But..." Clorica wept as she spoke. "How can I do that? Just living? It's so hard, James. I need you. Who am I supposed to go to? What am I supposed to do when I am alone and need someone to hold me and make fun with me and do things with me? What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to live? Tell me! Tell me so I can redeem myself!"

James was quickly fading away and he knew he had to say something to Clorica. He needed more time, but he only had 10 minutes in this world. Such a short time to do anything. He spent his few minutes with her running around in circles, trying to understand parts about each other that should already have been done while he was living. James was trying to make up for lost time and had nearly lost sight of his true goal. He asked himself how he can help Clorica now.

Then...in that last few seconds of time they had James said Clorica's name. Clorica stared directly into his eyes and witnesses James move in and attempt to kiss her. Clorica expected to not feel it at all as she wished she could, even closing her eyes to simulate their true first kiss. She did not experience the feeling of James's physical lips as she wanted. But it felt so warm. The kiss they shared was warm. But why was it so warm now? Why did his kiss make her lips sense such a heat?

She opened her eyes...and he was gone. James disappeared. But that warmth still lingered on Clorica's lips. It was then she realized that warmth she felt was across her entire body. James had disappeared, but the sun was still there. Despite everything the sun would always be there in her lifetime. Clorica placed her hand over her heart as a smile painted itself on her face.

"I get it now, James. I get what you wanted to say...even if you didn't say it. I get it. I will live. I will keep living until I reach that light at the end of the tunnel. I will reach you again. This time I will be the one chasing after you, tracking down that light. I won't stop until I reach it, and that is how I will live. So, I'll come back one day to visit you. It may take a while, but I will come back. And when I do...you have to promise me one thing. That when we met again...you will tell me exactly what it is you wanted to say to me. I want to hear it from you...deal?"

And as Clorica stood there on the top of that hill where James's body was buried. She listened closely to the wind, closing her eyes and opening up her heart. She listened closely and perhaps it was in her imagination but she heard his words.

"I promise, Clorica."

Clorica smiled. "I promise too, James. I promise..."