* * * * *
White light expanded to illuminate Lester’s vision. He listened to the slow, calm beating of his heart. A calm fell over him, an ease that silenced the fear Lester could not banish since the day a doctor described to him the mortality of Marlene’s sickness.
The halos entered in the far distance of Lester’s vision. The silver and gold spheres rose upon that horizon of white, spinning and pulsating motes of silver and pearl, which floated and gathered in the air like bright, daytime stars.
A breeze tickled Lester’s face as a dark, silhouetted figure appeared beneath the spinning halos. Joy filled Lester’s arms. A warmth spread from his torso into his fingertips. The figure drew closer and closer, raising its arms as the halos chimed and twirled in the light. Tears flooded Lester’s vision.
The figure shifted as the halos’ light intensified. The shadow blurring the figure’s face dissipated like morning fog chased by the sun. Arms stretched towards Lester.
And Lester ran into that embrace, covering his Marlene in kisses as his soaring spirit understood that death would not separate them, that she was only waiting for him on the other side of that wide divide.
* * * * *