To Save A Life
By
You Know Who
To Anna.
You were more inspiration than you realize.
The ups and downs, the goods and the bads, they all made this story what it is.
Know that.
And know that everything in here is true, to a degree.
To Save A Life
By
Curtis S. Arnold
The snow fell lightly. The wind was close to none, and the cold left Elwin unaffected. He walked, his hands shoved into the front pockets of his pants, down Main Street in the small, quaint town of Maple, Michigan. His red and tan sweater vest and burgundy dress shirt made no acknowledgment of the air around him, and his shaggy yet well washed hair did not waver even slightly as he stepped silently and unseen down the street. He looked left, to the window of the same shop that had been in the same spot for over fifty years. A small coffee shop and diner that attracted the exact same crowd, though, that crowd was slowly becoming as he was, dead.
He sighed, and his breath made no plume of fog in the chilly Christmas Eve air. The stop lights flashed behind him, casting a blinking red light over the snow, and reflecting off of the store windows. Everyone had gone home for the evening, all but Thomas. He smiled to himself in thought of the jolly man who's family had owned Maple's only ice cream parlor for seventy years. He walked closer to the parlor, whose open sign still spilled a neon light onto the ground in front of the shop, and small Christmas bells jingled as the door swung open. Elwin looked up, and stopped as a young man, no older than twenty, held open the door. He was not tall, but not short, as Elwin noticed, and his blonde hair almost shimmered in white light from within the parlor. He wore a Christmas themed sweater, which Elwin noticed had two bands of pattern running across horizontally, and the word 'Fruitcake' written in between them. He smiled at the word, though, while he was alive, Elwin had hated fruitcake.
“Come on, you're taking forever!” The boy called out, and as he did, a girl came twirling out of the door, past the boy, who waved a hand goodbye at Thomas.
“I'm coming Jay!” The girl said as she exited the building. While Elwin looked at the girl, he noticed how beautiful she was. Her brownish blonde hair came down just to the tops of her shoulders, and her hazel eyes seemed to glint in the light that was cast by a string of Christmas bulbs hung above Elwin's head. She wore a winter coat and boots, and on her hands she wore a pair of purple mittens. He watched as the two exited the building, and the girl spun in a tight circle onto the sidewalk. Jay smiled and rolled his eyes,
“Sometimes I wonder about you Penelope,” Jay said, “you're strange.”
“And that's why we're friends!” Penelope said exitedly, “We balance the scale of crazy and strange.”
“Right?” Jay asked, and then, “Because if we were one without the other, we'd be in a mental hospital.”
“Well, even if we do go to one, we're going together. There's no way they can stick us in different cells without us wanting to eat off their hands!”
“That's morbid..” Jay said, laughing.
“Yeah, it kind of is, isn't it?”
“Bit weird to be saying the literal night before Christmas,” Jay said, looking up the the sky.
“Nah, don't be a fruitcake, fruitcake.” Jay's face went suddenly stern,
“I hate it when you call me that...” Jay said glumly.
“Oh, boo hoo,” Penelope said, coming over to him and punching him playfully on the shoulder. He took the hit, and grinned, then bent down and grabbed a handful of snow, before throwing it at Penelope, who went walking backwards into the street.
Elwin smiled as he watched the scene, remembering what life was like, when there was joy, happiness, and love. The snow had begun to fall harder, and as Penelope dodged Jay's barrage of snowballs, she went further into the street. The two laughed and played their game, unaware of Elwin, who stood, unseen, in front of the diner. He would have cried, had crying been physically possible for him to do. He still felt the pain of loss, and the hurt of the fact that he couldn't participate in the snowball fight, but he also felt happiness for the two as they played. He grinned, and with the slightest turn of his head, saw the slightest shimmer in the distance. It wasn't from the Christmas lights, and the neon sign to the parlor had been long since turned off, so he peered further. By the time he realized, he was too late. The glint halogen bulbs on a thin, long, sheet of ice that lay on the road was what caused the shimmer, like a mirage on a hot day. Time seemed to slow down in front of Elwin, and the feeling of helplessness overtook him as he ran into the street shouting,
“Look out!” The car swerved left, then right, and as it came into view, Jay turned his head to see it, but he too noticed the inevitable before he could say anything. Jay shouted, and time sped rapidly back forward again, as he ran to push her, but the car collided with Penelope's body, sending her rolling down the street several feet. The car took its final swerve, before it slammed into a lamp post, and came to an immediate stop.
“Penelope!” Jay shouted from the street as he ran to her. He skidded to her, like a baseball player desperately trying to make it to home, and snow flew over her face as he came to a halt. He put his fingers over her neck to check for a pulse, and Elwin now leaned over her as well, though he was unable to do anything. He looked down at her. A puddle of blood slowly seeped into a puddle on the ground around her head, and her right arm was bent at an odd angle.
“Okay, you're fine, come on...Penelope!” Jay shouted into the night. There was a loud 'ding' as the bell to the parlor swung open wide and fast, and Thomas moved hurriedly across the street, trying not to slip on the ice.
“Call nine-one-one!” Jay shouted, almost angrily, at Thomas.
“I already have son. Is she alive?”
“She's alive, but she won't wake up!”
“It's okay, calm-”
“Don't tell me to calm down damnit! She is my best friend and....” Jay started to stumble over his words as he burst into tears. Thomas knelt into the snow, still in his apron, dress shirt and pants, and let Jay fall into his shoulder. Thomas wrapped his arms around him and let him cry.
“She's going to be fine, Jay, she will be,” Thomas said.
​Elwin watched the scene as he sat still, knelt over Penelope's cold, still body. Suddenly, there was a voice,
“Who are you?” It asked. Elwin was startled, and he looked behind him to see a girl. She was wearing a winter coat, boots, and a pair of purple mittens. He looked wide eyed as he stood to face her, then looked back down at Penelope's body.
“Who are you?” She asked again, “What happened? Where am I?”
“I'm Elwin....You...” Elwin's voice faded as he looked down at the body again, then back up at Penelope, “You got hit by a car...The ambulance is on the way...But, you're not dead, so, how are you here?”
“I don't know!” Penelope shouted at him.
“Okay, well, just calm-” Elwin started, realizing that he repeated the same thing that Thomas had just said to Jay.
“How can I be calm right now? How do I get back into by body?”
“I...Don't know..I can't tell you,” Elwin said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What do you mean? You're a ghost too, so how do I get back?”
“I don't know!” Shouted Elwin, scaring Penelope, who shrunk back, “When I died, I died for good, there was no going back.” Elwin turned his back on Penelope, who then said,
“I'm sorry I just-”
“I get it, it's terrifying to die. But you're not dead, you don't belong...Here, like this. You belong with him, with Jay,” Elwin said, turning around to face her, then gesturing down at Jay.
“How do you know his name? Were you...Watching us?”
“I walk these streets every night for hours, and there wasn't much else to do,” Elwin replied in embarrassment, shying away, “it was kind of cute to watch you two being all romant-”
“We're not dating, we're just friends,” Penelope said, almost annoyed. Elwin went to reply, but the flashing white and red lights of an ambulance pulling up fast yet carefully, stopped him from talking. Penelope snapped her head to see the police and fire trucks pull into the scene, and people pour out from within like clowns from cars. Two EMT's ran to her body, knelt down, and checked her pulse. One nodded at the other, and a third came running over with a stretcher,
“On three! One, two, three!” Shouted the third, and the first two lifted her body quickly and gently onto the rigid plastic. They wrapped her neck in a brace, putting the Velcro in place as they lifted the stretcher, and a pair of scissoring legs unfolded from beneath it. Penelope ran over to the stretcher shouting,
“Hey! Where am I!? What's going on!?”
“They can't hear you, there is nothing you can do,” Elwin said with a sigh, “and they can't see you either.”
“But...” Penelope drifted off, and Elwin felt bad for her as he watched her desperately trying to communicate with the living people around her, and he watched as Jay stood, wiping tears from his face, and walked to the EMT's and tapped them on the shoulders,
“Is she going to be okay?” He asked sternly. One EMT looked at the other, and then back at Jay and said,
“She's alive, but she's in critical condition, we need to leave, and now.”
“I'm coming with her,” Jay said, more of a statement than a question.
“Young man, I don't know if you-”
“I'm not asking.” Jay said seriously, his face unmoving. The EMT looked at the other, then nodded, gesturing for Jay to climb into the ambulance.
“Jay! Wait!” Penelope shouted, as she tried to climb into the ambulance. She hoisted herself into the back, but slowly slid through the floor, and stood on the ground again.
“You can't do that either, I've tried,” Elwin said, sighing as the ambulance turned on the sirens, and gunned it down the road. The police had since pulled the person from the car, but it was too late. Elwin watched as they lay her on the ground and checked her pulse, and as an officer shook his head once at another, who then nodded sadly. The body they pulled from within the car, was that of a girl, no older than Penelope and Elwin. She was dressed warmly, in a pea-coat and leather gloves, but her hair, sopped with blood, spilled out on the ground, and he neck hung at an odd angle. The coat shined in the snowy night, the red blood running out into the surrounding snow before an officer brought a long sheet over, and lay it onto the girl.
​Elwin watched this as Penelope ran amok, trying to communicate with anyone she could see, before eventually, there was no one on the street. Thomas had long since closed the shop and walked home, and the car had been towed away after the coroner came and took the young girls body away. The police swarmed out of the streets, heading the direction of the hospital, and the fire trucks had gone back to their garages and gone to bed themselves.
“Where did they take me?” Penelope asked frantically, “I need to get back into my body!”
“They probably took you to Apple Grove Hospital, it's outside of town,” Elwin said.
“Well, do you know how to get there?”
“Yeah,” Elwin replied, “but it's a hell of a walk. Just be glad you don't get tired when you're de-”
“I'm not dead, you said that much yourself,” Penelope said nervously.
“More or less speaking of me, but as long as you're...A ghost, you won't feel physical pain. Only emotional..” Elwin drifted off.
“Take me there, now,” Penelope said, her voice wavering slightly as she tried to be serious.
“Okay, okay, jeez, this way,” Elwin said, walking down Main Street as Penelope walked by his side. As they came to the intersection of Main Street and the highway, Elwin kept walking down Main Street.
“That was the highway, I thought the hospital was-”
“It is. I know a short cut,” Elwin lied., “Why did I lie to her?” He thought to himself, “it's not because she reminds me of...” Elwin allowed himself to be lost in thought as he and Penelope walked down the street. They walked in silence for two miles, as the snow settled to a gentle drifting, and the wind died down to nearly nothing at all. Finally, Penelope said something,
“So, what happened to you?”
“What do you mean?” Elwin answered nearly immediately.
“I mean, how did you die, like what happened to you?” She asked again, as they approached a large covered bridge, made entirety of wood. Its red paint was chipping in several places, and the planks that made up the bottom of the bridge were newer than the covered part. Elwin stopped short of the entrance to the bridge, and Penelope took two steps onto it before stopping, turning, and saying,
“Come one, let's go,”
“I..” Elwin drifted off. Memories of the past came to the surface of his mind, and he stared into the darkness at the end of the long bridge. There was a moment of silence, while Elwin drifted back.
Elwin walked toward the bridge,carrying an urn under one arm, and wiping silent tears with his other. He looked at the tape and chains as he came closer, and ahead of them, a piece of the bridge wobbled slightly. He looked at it, then at the urn under his arm, and his face went from worried, to determined as he took his first step. The bridge paid him no mind, and as he walked to the halfway point of the bridge, he went to the railing, which was only slightly unstable, and he put the urn down at his feet.
“If only I'd...” He drifted off, and put his head into his arms, and looked out at the creek as it flowed under the bridge. He sighed, and grabbed the urn. He opened the lid, and without hesitation, dumped the contents into the river, watching them settle gently into the water. He knelt down, and brought his knees to his chest as he leaned against the railing and cried. Several hours went by, and when he woke up again, the sun was setting down on the horizon. He stood, and after rubbing his eyes, grabbed the urn and kept walking down the bridge. There was a sudden 'creak' in the wood, and before he could see where it came from, the center of the bridge collapsed from under him. He felt his feet give way to gravity as he fell, and keeping the urn under one arm, he grasped at the edge of the bridge. His fingers slipped on the wood, and he fell. He felt the sudden crack as his back landed in between two support beams, and felt his neck rock back, then suddenly, nothing at all. There was no pain. He looked down at his body in panic, but saw the urn wrapped under one arm and sighed.
Elwin sat on the edge of the bridge for two days before anyone found his body. He later heard an officer say that the entire town of Maple had been looking for him since the night he left to spread the ashes. He waited, and slowly, everyone left. The coroner hauled his body from the bridge, then into a van which drove off, and the officers and fire trucks slowly disappeared until he was again alone on the bridge.
There was a silence as Penelope took a step forward.
“This is where you-”
“Yes...” Elwin interrupted, before drifting off. They both stood in silence for a moment, before Penelope started down the bridge. Elwin grabbed at her wrist, and she turned back to look at him. He snapped it back in embarrassment, and he said,
“I'm sorry it's just....” Elwin said, looking down the bridge, “it's been a long time.” They both stood for a moment, before Penelope said,
“Well then, let's go,” as she reached her hand out and grabbed Elwin's wrist. He looked down at her hand on his, then down the end of the bridge, and took a step. They started down the bridge, and neither said a word for the first two feet.
“Her name was Georgia,” Elwin said, looking down at his feet.
“Oh,” was all Penelope could muster.
“She was beautiful. She had the most amazing hair, it came down just past her shoulders, and she had the greatest blue eyes. It looked like you could just dive into them...” Penelope said nothing, and looked at Elwin with sympathetic eyes. As they approached the midway point of the bridge, Elwin slowed down, and turned to the left, walking to the rail, which was now repaired, along with the rest of the bridge. He leaned onto it, and looked down at the stream below him as Penelope came to his side and did the same.
“I used to come over this bridge every day to get to her house. I lived in Maple, and she lived outside of town. You would have liked her I think,” Elwin said, looking over at Penelope.
“Why do you say that?” She asked.
“She was a lot like you,” Elwin said, and Penelope blushed.
“Like me?”
“Yeah, she was kind, and caring, compassionate and she loved. Not just me, but everyone...Or maybe..” Elwin drifted off again.
“Maybe what?” Penelope asked, moving closer to him.
“Maybe everyone,” Elwin answered with a sigh, “I thought I was enough for her, but I was wrong, and now here we all are.”
“What do you mean?” Elwin didn't even flinch as he looked out at the creek. Penelope started to speak, but Elwin stopped her,
“She died quickly at least,” he said looking away for a second, “but she died alone. She...” Elwin couldn't bring himself to say the words, and Penelope said,
“I know the feeling. Loneliness,” she said. Elwin said nothing, and simply nodded before he continued.
“She killed herself. She grabbed a knife from the drawer, and she cut both wrists. I was too late. By the time I found her, she was already long gone. She called me at my house that night, but I didn't pick up the phone. I was too busy hanging out with my friends, and when I got there, there was no note, nothing. That call was her saying goodbye, and if I'd picked up, maybe she wouldn't have...”
“There was nothing you could have-”
“That's just it though, that's what no one understood!” Elwin shouted into the night, “If only I hadn't been so stupid, getting drunk with my friends, wasting my life away, and picked up the phone, I could have saved her. I could have talked her down, I could have..” Elwin dropped to the ground, pulling his knee's to his chest like he had the day he died, and leaned his back against the bridge. Penelope stood in front of him, silent, as she watched him fall apart. She slowly came to sit next to him as he looked gloomily into the night,
“I know the feeling you know.”
“What do you mean?” Elwin asked.
“Well, six years ago, my mother, she...We found out that she had stage four breast cancer,” she said, and Elwin looked over at Penelope with sad eyes, “she didn't ever go to any of her doctor's appointments, and they said that they should have noticed it earlier, but that she never got it looked at.” Penelope stopped for a moment, and ducked her head between her knee's,
“By the time they found it, it was everywhere. Everywhere but her heart really. A month after they found it, she died. The cancer never touched her heart. That's kind of good, isn't it?” She asked. Elwin replied by nodding, and she continued,
“And after she died, my dad crawled into the bottle, and never came out.”
“Jesus,”
“I wish I could believe in Him. I really do, but after all that happened, I find it impossible. The only person I believe in anymore is Jay. He's my best freaking friend and I can't leave him behind, not without saying goodbye.”
“At least you might get a chance..” Elwin said, drifting off.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean-”
“It's fine. Let's just get you to your body, before-”
“Before what?” Penelope asked sternly.
“Before something happens, before you die, or don't, I don't know. I said it before, I don't know why you're here.” She nodded, and they continued walking.
A small part of Elwin wanted to bring Penelope to her body. The larger part wanted her to stay with him. It had been so long since he had talked to anyone, so long since he had anyone talk to him, that he was actually hoping that Penelope would die. The smaller part of him fought against the other, shouted at it,
“But what about Jay?” It asked. But Elwin ignored it and kept walking. Hours passed by as they left the bridge and took several roads that eventually lead to the city. They had walked in silence since the bridge, and when the lights of the city stretched out before them, Elwin said,
“I wish things were different, you know?”
“No, I don't.”
“I mean..Ah, nevermind.”
“No, what do you mean?” Penelope asked, looking him over quizzically.
“I mean, if you had actually died, I guess-”
“You're saying you want me to die?” Penelope shouted at him, and he reeled back, “You're saying that you want me to leave him behind, my dad too?”
“No! That's not what I'm saying at all-”
“Well, that's exactly what you just said, so I guess I'm a bit confused!”
“I mean I like you!” Elwin shouted into the night, “I like your company. Hell, anyone at this point! I've been dead for so long, I forgot what it was like to talk to anyone, about anything! I forgot that there were people that care!” Penelope was silent as she looked at him, then at the city. Neither said anything, then,
“Take me to the hospital. Now.” Elwin nodded and said nothing as he started walking, Penelope now behind him.
As they approached the hospital, Elwin looked up at the towering building.
“Ow...” Penelope said, and when Elwin looked behind him, he saw her clutching her chest.
“What, what's wrong?”
“I..I don't know, something's not right, I need to find my body, quick!”
“Okay this-”
“AH!” Penelope shouted, as she collapsed to her knees.
“What's wrong?!” Elwin shouted, but she was in so much pain she could not reply. Elwin looked at her, then at the building.
“You know it is wrong,” the weaker side of him whispered. He looked again at Penelope, and shook his head quickly as he ran to her, grabbed her in his arms, and started running for the doors. He phased straight through them, then asked,
“What way?”
“Up,” Penelope whispered desperately. Elwin headed for the elevator bay, until he remembered he could not ride on one. He looked dartingly left and right, and a sign read “Stairs” hung on a small door. He walked through it, and started up the steps.
“How far?”
“Keep going!” Penelope's voice rang out. Elwin kept climbing stairs until he reached the fifth floor,
“Here!” Penelope shouted, and Elwin walked through the door, and into the hallway. Down the corridor, in the dim luminescent light, Jay sat in a chair outside of a room. Elwin ran faster now, and straight past Jay, into the room. There, on an inclined hospital bed, lay Penelope's still body.
“Here we are,”
“How do I-”
“I told you, I don't know...” Elwin looked around, and then walked to the bed. He set Penelope down onto her body.
“Did it work?” Elwin asked, and no reply came for a moment, before Penelope stood back up from the bed and shook her head,
“Nothing. But at least the pain is gone now...” A doctor came from within a small cubby in the room, peeling off his gloves and disposing of a needle in a bio-hazard bag. As he walked out of the room, Jay came into the doorway and confronted the doctor,
“Is she okay now?”
“She's fine. For now. She had a pretty serious head injury, a dislocated elbow, and a few broken ribs. We're not sure if she'll-”
“If she'll what?” Jay asked.
“If she'll be the same when she wakes up...” The doctor said with worry thick in his voice.
“I don't care. I just need her to wake up.”
“She's still unconscious, but I sedated her to keep her from shaking.”
“May I go in?”
“I don't...” The doctor looked left and right down the hall and then said, “Keep it short, and I didn't say anything.” Jay nodded, and the doctor moved past him as he left. Jay came into the room, still wearing the sweater that said 'Fruitcake' on it. Elwin smiled, and Penelope caught his gaze,
“When we first met, my mom made his family a fruitcake. He freaking despises fruitcakes. So, the next day, when I asked him how he liked the fruitcake, he said, 'That was possibly the worst supposed-to-be-delicious dessert that has ever touched my lips. God I hate fruitcakes,' ” Penelope said, rolling her eyes, “And it was so freaking hilarious. So, I started calling him 'fruitcake' as a joke. It's our inside thing, he hates it when anyone else calls him that, but if I say it, it's funny, and he tolerates it. So, a few years ago for Christmas, we decided to do gag gifts, and I got him that shirt.” Elwin couldn't help but laugh a little, and Penelope giggled as well as they watched Jay walk into the room and sit down by Penelope's bed. He pulled a chair right up to her bed, and hung his head. Elwin started to say something in reply, but Jay started speaking, unaware of Elwin's and Penelope's presence.
“It's funny, isn't it? How life works,” Jay said,rubbing his eyes, then folding his hands in his lap and looking up at Penelope's body, “where it takes us, the journeys it sends us on. Like this, right here, this is a journey. A voyage in your life, Penelope.” Penelope looked down at Jay from next to Elwin, who slowly stepped back a few feet.
“But it's damn well not the end of the trip,” Jay said, standing up and going to the foot of the bed, “you're going to wake up, and you're going to look me in the eye and you're going to call me fruitcake, and I'm going to laugh and laugh about it. It's going to be the second best moment in my life. Because the first one was when I met you, Penelope.” Penelope held her hands over her mouth as Jay spoke,
“Right at that moment, when I walked up to your locker, I knew right then that you were different from all the other girls. That you and I were going to do great things, have glorious adventures and insane fights.” Jay moved about the room, from the foot of the bed, to the other side, opposite Elwin and Penelope.
“I could see it all in an instant, but couldn't actually see it. You were so beautiful, and I just stood there looking at you,” Jay smiled in memory, “and when I went to say something, I couldn't, I was speechless. But, I'm glad it happened that way. Because after school that day, when I walked you home, I swear to God I saw something right then, a sparkle in your eye, or a brush of your hair, I don't know what it was, but I knew right then that I wanted to see you again.” Jay moved to the foot of the bed again,
“And for years, I hinted around at it. You never saw, but then again, I never really made it clear, Penelope. How much I cared I mean. Let's face it, you know I like you, at least a little. You've known for years, but I never really said anything about it,” Jay said, and finally, came to sit back down at the side of the bed,
“And now it's too late to say anything. You can't hear me at all, and I'm desperately clinging to the last thread of hope that when you wake up, you'll realize how much I care. I wish I would have pushed you, and if I'd seen that car in time, I would be the one in this bed, and I'd be okay with that, because that means that you'd at least have a clue about how much I care about you.”
“It wasn't your fault!” Penelope shouted at him, though she knew he couldn't hear her, “It wasn't his fault!” She sobbed, looking over at Elwin, who felt a sudden pang of realization in his gut.
“It wasn't his fault...” He whispered.
“The truth is, I care so much more than you know. More than I can say in actions, or speak in words. I want nothing more than to hold you, to protect you from all the evils in the world. I want nothing more than to be by your side on this journey and the next. I can't say where that journey will take us, I can't predict the path that our travels will take us, but I know it's a long one, and that I want to be there with you while we go along it. Because, Penelope-”
There was a sudden monotonous beeping throughout the room. Elwin looked down at his skin, and felt the goosebumps on his arms. He looked frantically, and in the corner of the room, saw a faint white light. Penelope saw it too, and Elwin said,
“No! This isn't for you!”
“Then who's it for Elwin?” Penelope shouted, confused. Jay stood up in fright as the doctors came rushing into the room, surrounding Penelope's body and blocking her from view. The light in the corner grew closer.
“Clear!” One of the doctors shouted, and there was a jolt on the bed.
“No response!”
“Do it again!”
“Clear!” Another jolt, and no movement from Penelope's body.
Jay sat in the corner, crying, and as the doctors stood calmly around Penelope's body, one checked his watch and said,
“I'm calling it. Damnit. One-twenty-one AM.” Jay broke down, Penelope fell to her knee's, and Elwin stood between them as the pang in his gut grew stronger.
“I love you,” Penelope looked up at Elwin, who shook his head, and gestured to Jay, who looked over at Penelope's body, “I love you God damnit. There, I said it. Too late now, but I said it!” He almost shouted. Elwin felt the goosebumps on his skin, and looked down at his arms.
“What's wrong?” Penelope sobbed.
“I've got...Goosebumps...”
“So what?”
“I haven't felt touch since I died.” Penelope's heart warmed, and Elwin looked on in the distant light as an arm reached out and a voice called,
“Elwin, I'm sorry.” He glanced up from his arms, and then said,
“G...Georgia? Is that really-”
“Yes, it's me Elwin. I'm sorry I-”
“How could you do that? I was always there for-?” Elwin asked as he broke into tears for the first time since he died.
“No, Elwin, I didn't kill myself, it was an accident. I was standing too close to the edge of the bridge...I'm sorry, everyone thought I killed myself, but I couldn't tell them otherwise. Not even you,” Georgia said as she walked out of the light, and grabbed Elwin's arm, “I still love you.” Elwin sighed, and as he walked back into the light, he watched Penelope grab her heart, and then shout,
“Elwin! Wait!” She said as she ran to him, “Thank you. For taking me here, and for helping me.”
“Helping you what?”
“Move on,” she said, and she was gone. There was a jolt on the hospital bed that startled Jay, who sat, head bowed, at the side of Penelope's body. Penelope shot straight up, gasping for air, and for a minute, Elwin was unsure if she looked at him as he vanished into the light.
“Penelope?” Jay asked shakily.
“Yes, it's me,” She said half calmly, then, “and I know,” she said, and pulled Jay toward her, hugging him deeply.
“Know what?”
“How much you care. I didn't before, but I do know. I'm afraid though...”
“Of what?” Jay asked, putting his hands on Penelope's shoulders,
“That things will change, that we'll lose...This.”
“Penelope. You are my best freaking friend. There is no way in hell, that is ever going to change. And if it does, for whatever reason, I will go out of my way to make it this way again,” Jay said, looking deep into Penelope's eyes. She looked at him, her smile growing ever wide as she pulled him toward her, and kissed him lightly on the lips, then hugged him as strong as she could,
“Whatever you say, fruitcake.”
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