Breeg's blog: "short stories"

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt 70.85pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->

There she was. Again. As I was looking out from my bathroomwindow. Third day in a row I see her standing under a tree, not close enough to recognize her. But still... I've lived here for 12 years now, never have I seen someone standing under the tree before. My gut tells me it's her. Can't be someone else.

I finish shaving and decide to go for a walk. It's my day off and since there's nothing else I have to do, I'm going to check it out. It's on my way to the store as well, in case it was a false alarm.

Once outside I hate myself for leaving my appartment. It's too damn cold to go for a walk, so I really hope she's still there. One might say I'm a nosy person. Last night I was laying awake for hours. Thinking who the woman might be. Don't know why she was standing there in the street, but she was looking at my windows. Not anyone else's.

Damn. She's not there anymore. There's nobody under the tree. There's not a single person in the street. Too damn cold.

Was it only a dream? Some sort of nightmare?

I'm too far now to go back. Had to get some bread anyway so I carry on. Get lost in my thoughts as I walk on...

"Don't you know me anymore?"

I freeze... and it's not because of the cold. Her voice sends chivers down my spine. For a second I want to run, but my legs fail. After 20 odd years I still remember the voice in a flash. Though I don't want to, I turn around. My body seem to have a mind of it's own today...

"Hilde?"

Was that out loud? I'm doubting the strength of my voice. It's like I hear the words in my head, without sound...

"Was it you following me around those last few days? How did you find me after all those years?"

"Yes, it was me," her voice was soft and gentle, almost hypnotising, "I've been following you the last few days. Do you remember what we agreed to, 21 years ago?"

Oh my god, it dawned... When I met Hilde, I was 17 and it was love at first sight. We were so in love, sharing everything. We were inseperable for almost 3 years. Our parents didn't like it. From day 1 they tried everything to break us up. Did everything in their power to make our lives a living hell. But we held on to our love for 3 years. When we were celebrating our first anniversary, we made a vow...

"Yes Hilde, I remember. How can I forget..."

It was getting harder to speak. My voice was losing strength...

"You're not getting out of it,  sweetheart. We made a vow, took an oath that we would die together. No matter what. If one of us died, the other one would join and we were going to the other side together. Hand in hand, like we always did."

In my head I could see us sitting by the fire again. It's been years since I've thought about that day, but I never forgot. It was the first thing that came to me when I heard her voice again a few minutes ago.

"But why did you come and find me? Did anything happen to you? Are you sick or something?"

My voice kept getting weaker. It took all the strength in me to say those words...

"Yes sweetheart, I'm not doing well. I was in a traffic accident a few days ago."

She was silent for a few seconds. Gave me the time to let her words get through to me...

"I'm in hospital lying in intensive care. The docters have told my family that I'm braindead. They decided to shut down everything. Let me die peacefully. They just pulled the plug a few seconds ago."

"But..."

Tears were coming... flowing down my cheeks... the world started spinning... all I could feel was the cold...

"Our oath is still on sweetie. I was afraid to go alone on this journey and decided to come and get you. So we can go together..."

The ambulance arrived 10 minutes later. I was taken to hospital, though there was nothing they could do. Massive heartattack. Bad luck, nothing anyone could have done to prevent it.

Nobody knew the reason I died. Nobody knows that I'm on my journey to the other side. Hand in hand with Hilde... except you...