The bright lights were irritating. I just wanted five more minutes of sleep. I moaned, annoyed, and opened my eyes, finding daylight outside my window. I yawned and sat up in my bed. I expected to find my neighborhood beyond the glass, but instead found a sky… the most beautiful sky I’d seen.

It wasn’t quite daylight yet… it looked like sunrise. What was I doing up so early? But it was too bright to be dawn. Then again… since when was my bed right against my window? Looking around my room, it seemed familiar… but it wasn’t. All my stuff was here, but the layout was different.

My clothes, too. They weren’t my pajamas. It was a white silk robe. It was the most comfortable thing I ever wore.

Wait… where was the courtroom? My friends? My family? Lila. She attacked me.

Did I somehow… dream all of that? No way. How did I get here? Where was everyone?

“Mom? Dad?” I slipped out of bed. I expected myself to be frightened, but I was mostly just confused. Otherwise… I felt fine. Amazing, actually. Happy and peaceful.

As I inspected the room, I realized— it was my first room. Before my other parents died, this was the way my room looked. How did I wind up back here? Was I dreaming?

“Mom?” I called again.

“Down here, honey! Breakfast is ready!” she called from downstairs.

I went down the hallway, which felt so familiar, yet so distant. It was like a dream. My old house, where I used to eat pasta salad, and watch Hops, and run away naked when my mom wanted to bathe me.

I arrived at the dining room… not my family’s. My other family’s. And at the table were my parents… them.

I should’ve felt shocked, confused, overjoyed… but while I was surprised, I was somehow calm. I couldn’t understand why. “M-mom…?” My voice failed me.

Mom was wearing a white lace shirt with flared sleeves and white jeans. She had the same round, plump face, the same sea-colored eyes that mirrored mine. The ones I thought I’d inherited.

My dad sat at the opposite end, wearing a white suit. His face had a layer of stubble and his brown hair was tousled, just like I remembered. It was like my memory suddenly got clearer and sharper.

It wasn’t just them. There was a girl my age. She had brown hair that spilled on her shoulders like chocolate and Mom’s eyes.

“Dad…” I whispered.

Mom smiled and approached me to embrace me. I immediately sunk into her warmth and comfort, tightening my arms around her. While I was emotional, I didn’t cry… it was beautiful, but not overwhelming. Dad then embraced me next, the same cologne on his clothes. The scent was so nostalgic that I relaxed in his arms and breathed the smell in.

“We made blueberry pancakes,” Mom told me. She led me to the table and pulled out a chair for me.

I sat down, watching them carefully. I wasn’t afraid, just confused. I knew this probably was some kind of weird dream. And who was the girl?

“Diana, this is Julia,” Dad said with a smile.

Julia… “You mean…?”

“Yes. Our other daughter.”

Julia smiled at me. “I’m glad I could finally meet you.”

I found myself smiling back. “Me, too.” I looked at my parents. “I… I’m kind of… what am I… doing here?”

“You needed to come here for a bit. Just to talk, and… clear things up,” Mom told me.

“Am I… dead?” As the words left my mouth, I wanted to be scared, but I wasn’t. Strangely, I was calm. It was like I simply accepted whatever fate came to me.

“Not technically, no,” Dad said. “You’ll see what we mean later.”

I nodded, my mind too muddled to think of another question. But as they said; I’d know what they meant later. I took a bite of the pancakes, which exploded with rich flavor and sweetness in my mouth. Just the right amount of moisture, butter, and syrup…

“Whoa,” I gushed.

Mom chuckled. “Your favorites.”

“Yeah, I… wow. It tastes so…”

“Perfect?”

“Yeah.”

There was a knock at the door. Dad stood, answering, and a girl’s voice greeted him cheerfully. She entered, red hair bouncing. It took me a minute to realize who it was.

“Monica?” I turned in my seat.

She came up to me and hugged me tight. I chuckled, holding her with just as much desperation. “Your hair… it’s so pretty,” I told her.

“I love it,” she said, pulling away and taking the chair next to me. “Ooh, pancakes!”

“Diana, we want to catch up with you,” said Mom. “Tell us everything. How’s your family?”

“I want to hear about Tony,” Julia said eagerly.

“Yes! You guys are a thing now, right? For sure?” Monica asked me excitedly.

I recalled every positive memory, which proved easy. None of the negative or painful memories came to light, despite how many there were. My most positive were those of relief and comfort. Relief… it really was a beautiful feeling. The rainbow after the hurricane.

“I still don’t really understand what I’m doing here, though.” I helped myself to a fourth serving. The pancakes never seemed to run out, and I never got full. I gobbled the fourth pancake up in no time.

“He thought it was time you had closure. You’re ready now,” Dad answered.

“He?”

Mom stood in response. “Come on. There’s someone else you need to meet.”

I followed her, saying goodbye to everyone at the table. We went outside to the open fields. It was a meadow that spread out as far as the eye could see, dotted with beautiful flowers, some of which I’d never seen before. The sky remained as clear and beautiful as ever.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Hard to say. We don’t really count time here. No need to.”

“Is it always daytime?”

“It’s a place of light.”

We walked in comfortable silence for a bit, our feet rhythmically rustling against the tall grass. Mom soon broke it with, “We never meant to leave you.”

I looked at her. “I know.”

“You know you never made us feel ashamed of you.”

“… I didn’t?” My voice barely cracked out of my throat.

“You’re the girl we raised. You’re the daughter we knew.” She smiled at me. “And we are so proud of you.” She stopped and took my hands. “I’m glad we could see you… at least this once. You have a long journey ahead of you. But you’ll be happy.” Her warm hand caressed my cheek. I couldn’t help leaning into her touch.

“Does that mean I’m going back?” I asked. “Not gonna lie… I don’t really want to.”

She chuckled. “You’ll come back here. Time flies. You’ll all be here one day. Just keep following that path. Keep going one way. Don’t wander off. If you do, you’ll end up smacking into the wall like you did when you first started to walk.”

I laughed. Somehow, that old memory resurfaced in my mind. I was barely two, running down the hall in excitement, finally able to use my legs… and I went face-first into the wall and fell over.

“It’s time for you to go, my love.”

“So soon?”

“You’ll see us again. We’re not going anywhere.” She kissed my forehead. “We’ll be right here, waiting for you. You just keep going the way you’re going.” She embraced me, and for the first time since I arrived, I started to cry. It wasn’t exactly sadness, though… I didn’t want to leave her, but I was still happy.

“I love you, Mommy,” I said.

“I love you, too, my princess. Now, go meet her.” She pulled away.

“Meet who?” I sniffled.

She only nodded to something behind me and stepped back. I turned, seeing a girl standing in the meadow. A gentle breeze blew, carrying her long golden hair and silken lavender dress. Her back was to me.

I approached her slowly. She didn’t turn until I was but ten feet away. That was when I stopped, shocked by the mirror image. After a few moments, I stammered out, “Amy?”

A bright smile shone on her face. “Hey, sis.”

She came up to me and hugged me. I stood there for a few seconds and slowly brought up my arms to hug her back. When she pulled away, she took my face into her hands and sighed. “Who would’ve thought?”

“It’s really you,” I whispered.

“Yeah, it is, girl. Who else should it be?”

“I… I don’t even know what to say.”

“Let’s start from the beginning.” She took my hand and led me through the meadow. “So… we’re twins. We should do twin things.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Twin things?”

“More like sister things. Let’s see… we look like each other. Well, except for the hair. And I’m taller.”

“You are?”

We stood face-to-face. Amy put her hand to her head, then slid it across, comparing our heights. “Okay, no, wait.” She stood on her toes. “There.”

“I’m taller than you,” I told her.

She blew out her cheeks. “That’s annoying.” I giggled in reply. “What else?” she asked. “Your favorite color’s yellow. Meh. I like purple.”

“You don’t like yellow?”

“It’s okay. I guess it does compliment purple. Like your dress.”

“My dress is wh…” I trailed off, realizing the white silk had changed into a pale yellow that fluttered in the gentle wind.

“Yeah, we look good. Like a flower. Ooh, speaking of…” She bent down and picked a periwinkle and a sunflower growing together, giving the sunflower to me. “This is photoshoot material.”

“Your flowers are so small, though,” I said, looking at the little purple petals.

“But pretty. And strong. There’s always a lot of them.” She looked at my sunflower. “And your flower’s bright and happy. Hopeful.”

We continued through the meadow, picking up bundles of flowers to carry. The meadow never seemed to end. We even saw some bunnies and deer running about. They prompted us to break into a run ourselves. While I ran easily, my feet flying faster than ever, Amy lagged behind.

“Come on, slowpoke!” I shouted at her.

“Hey, I’m not a slowpoke!”

I stopped running, reaching a tree. “The guys said you were slow.”

“The guys don’t know anything.” She reached me with a jog, rolling her eyes. Neither of us even broke a sweat. There was no fatigue, no need to pant or catch our breath. Even so, the tree was huge, providing wonderful shade.

Amy went up to the trunk and hoisted herself up to the branches. Sensing her, the tree seemed to bend down, spreading its branches to help her up. She jerked her head at me to follow. I’d never climbed trees before, but it proved easy. We went up into the tall, thick branches that served as hammocks to relax in. The wood was warm and soft.

“They were good to you, right?” I asked her.

She paused, not to hesitate, but to reflect. “They were good. They were just flawed. Like anyone else. I feel their love. When they think about me, more of these grow around me.” She fingered a periwinkle she’d put in her hair. “And there’s a lot of these.” As she spoke, a patch of periwinkles grew in the branch she sat in.

“Do sunflowers grow when they think about me?” I asked.

“Maybe. There’s a whole patch of them right behind you.” She pointed. Sure enough, there were sunflowers in my branch.

“Are they okay?” I wondered.

“They will be. Time works differently here. You’ll understand in a bit.” She looked down. The height would normally nauseate me, but I wasn’t scared. Probably because I couldn’t die or get hurt here.

“Why don’t you guys have wings?” I asked. “I thought angels have wings.”

“They do. But we’re not angels.”

“You’re not?”

“We’re humans, Di. We’re here, we’re not in the flesh anymore, but we’re not angels. It’s complicated. We’re… free.”

“So you can’t fly?”

She only smiled. “We’re running out of time. Come on.” She slipped off the branch to the ground below. I followed, expecting a long fall, but found the ground pretty quickly.

“I thought time wasn’t a thing here?”

“For you, it is. He needs to talk to you.” She took my hand, leading me away from the tree. I didn’t have to ask who ‘he’ was anymore.

“Do I have to?” For the first time since arriving, fear set in. I was a mess of a person. How could I ever face him?

“Don’t be scared,” Amy reassured me.

“Why does he want to talk to me?”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

We stopped at a set of huge, open gates. They were simple in design, but glowed with an ethereal light that made my knees weaken. I stared inside, only seeing light from then on, which masked the path leading in.

“Everything will be okay,” Amy told me.

“You’re not coming?” I looked at her, gripping her hand.

“This is between you and Him.”

“B-but…”

“You don’t have to be scared. Trust me.”

I turned back to the gate, gulping. Trembling, I slowly let go of Amy’s hand and stepped forward. Another step. Then another. The light enveloped me, glowing even brighter, but it didn’t hurt my eyes in the least. Was my heart beating faster? Did I even have one? There was no need for blood or oxygen.

The light got brighter… brighter…

And I fell to my knees.

~~~

Susan

We came full circle. Once again, we were all in the hospital, in chairs, waiting anxiously. Voices echoed through the building, elevators dinged, doors clicked open and closed.

Here we thought it was all over…

The girl hadn’t strangled Diana for too long, but the doctors figured she went into a state of shock from both the attack itself and the hit on her head. She wasn’t bleeding or anything, but it looked like a harsh impact. The girl was now in custody for assault.

I understood she was emotional, but she just made everything worse for her and her brother. Patrick Jr. was mentioning to us that he would take them in just when the girl attacked Diana.

My heart couldn’t take much more of this. The look on my girl’s face… it was as if she’d died for a minute. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling, then rolled back in her head and closed. If it weren’t for Davis holding me, I would’ve hit that girl myself. Instead, all I could do was scream my daughter’s name.

It felt like hours since we arrived, but it had only been 45 minutes. We had a long time to wait. Many had gone home, but were active on their phones to get updates on Diana. Those left were us, Nicole, Amelia, my parents, Davis’s parents, a couple of my siblings, some nephews and nieces, Thelma and her family, and Tony and his family.

We’d all prayed together as a group, but prayer still continued, escaping through soft mutters and whispers. Some knelt down at their chairs, others merely leaned back with their eyes closed, their moving lips the only sign of them being awake. My praying was silent, all in my head. If I prayed aloud, I’d start crying again.

“You want something to drink?” Davis asked me.

“No, thank you, honey.”

“No coffee?”

“No, that’ll just stress me out more.”

“You’re right.” He let out a long sigh.

“We should’ve been more alert,” I told him.

“The bailiffs should’ve been more alert. It’s their job. Took them a lot to pull that girl off.” He muttered, “Little demon,” under his breath.

“Davis, don’t start,” I sighed.

“Don’t start what?”

“When you mull over things, you get all… tense.” I motioned my hands to him. “We can’t change what happened. All we can do is wait.”

“I’m right, though.”

I rolled my eyes. “When did I say you weren’t?”

“I’m just saying. I know we can’t change what happened, but I’m right.”

“Yes, you’re right-” I groaned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing, I… never mind.” He crossed his arms, getting that annoying pout on his lips that said he was upset. He could be such a baby sometimes.

“Now, kids, let’s not fight,” Jack told us, sitting across from us with Amelia.

I gave him a look, but chuckled, which spread to everyone else. At least we could lighten the mood a bit.

More minutes passed. Minutes turned into two hours since arriving. Not one update. Not one word from the doctors. “God, please, that’s enough… seriously, it’s enough…” I whispered, rising from my seat. “You gave us this trial, and now this? That’s enough. Please. Just give me my little girl and let us go home.”

“Diana Field?” someone called.

Everyone jumped with a start, looking to the nurse at the large double doors. “Could I see her parents, please?” she asked, holding a clipboard.

Davis and I approached, our sons following closely. The nurse didn’t seem too alarmed, which brought me some comfort.

“Okay. Your daughter is just fine. She’s stable,” she began.

We were relieved, but we waited for the rest of her statement.

“She has a mild head injury. We did a CT scan, an MRI, and there’s no brain damage, so just a concussion. She does have a sprained neck, though, and some bruising. But nothing that requires her to stay. I’ll take you to her room.” She glanced at our sons. “We’ll be right out with her.”

They were disappointed, but went to their seats anyway. Davis and I followed the nurse down the hall.

“So… she’s okay?” I asked, unsure. “Why did she pass out for so long?”

“We figure it’s a state of shock she went into. She was attacked, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Probably panic. The doctor should go into more detail. She’s awake and alert. She asked for you first. We gave her some pain medication.”

I couldn’t help tearing up and smiling, embracing Davis as we walked. She was okay. She was here. We still had her.

We entered the ward and the nurse led us to a curtain, sweeping it aside and revealing our daughter. She was in a hospital robe and her neck was surrounded by a soft brace.

I tried not to burst into tears, but my cheeks were still wet as I went to her bedside, covering her face with kisses and squeezing her hands. She even groaned and said, “Mom… I’m fine.” Her voice was hoarse.

Davis annoyed her further with his own kisses and sat next to me. The amused irritation on her face was a welcome sight. She looked at us sideways, her neck unable to turn.

“The doctor will come over soon, and then we’ll discharge you, okay?” The nurse smiled at Diana. “Is your bed okay? No adjustment?”

“I’m good,” Diana said.

“Don’t talk too much. Her throat was a bit crushed, so we don’t recommend her using her voice much. I’ll leave you.” She closed the curtain behind her.

“Where are the boys?” Diana asked.

“They’re in the waiting room,” I answered. “Are you in any pain?”

“Not much anymore.”

“Honey, I’m so sorry… we should’ve been more careful.”

“Not your fault.”

I studied her face. After such an attack, I expected distress, fear, or worry. I was braced for a panic or anxiety attack. But there was nothing. She was calm. Her lips were turned into a small, relaxed smile the whole time. Her eyes sparkled with a joy I’d never, ever seen before.

I was happy she was okay, but it was unexpected. What made her so calm? What kind of meds did they give her?

“You feel dizzy or anything? Were you hurt anywhere else?” Davis asked.

“Nope. All good. Just my voice.” She smiled wider. “I have a story to tell… it’s a shame I can’t talk.”

“Don’t.” I took her hand in mine. “What kind of story, baby?”

She laughed, looking up at the ceiling dreamily. Her eyes then sparkled with tears. I hurriedly pulled some tissues from a box nearby, ready to comfort her, but these were tears of… joy. I glanced at Davis, who was equally confused.

“Mom, Dad… I saw them. I saw all of them,” she whispered.

“You… you saw who, baby?”

“All of them… and they were so happy… and I was happy…”

I glanced at Davis again. Both of us were beyond clueless. Did she have a dream?

Diana slightly turned her head to look at me, a tear shedding from her eye. “I saw Amy.”

Before I could register her words, the doctor arrived, sweeping the curtain open. “How are we doing?”

I wanted to ask her more. What did she mean by that? She saw Amy? Did she dream about Amy? Who was ‘all of them’?

“You comfortable, Diana? No pain?” the doctor asked her. She reminded me of Monica, her red hair gathered into a hair net.

“Nope. I’m good,” Diana answered.

“Then it looks like you’re good to go! I’m just going to do a quick vitals check.” She adjusted the bed so Diana could sit up. Diana winced a couple times, but didn’t seem to be in any major pain.

“Really? We can take her home?” Davis asked.

“So she got a hit to the head, but her brain is just fine.” She took her stethoscope off and checked Diana’s heartbeat, telling her to breathe in deeply. “It’s probably a mild concussion you’ll need to keep an eye on. Breathe out.” She put her stethoscope back on and took a blood pressure cuff off a hook. “Her neck is sprained and bruised, and her vocal cords were slightly damaged. But it doesn’t look like there was too much pressure on her throat, so she should be fine after some R&R. She can take acetaminophen or ibuprofen if she has any pain.” She then finished taking Diana’s blood pressure and wrote it down in a clipboard.

“She can’t talk, then?” I asked.

“I suggest keeping off using her voice for 24 hours. She’ll need to wear the soft collar for about a week so her neck can heal. You can take it off to shower, though. Come back so I can take it off you, and then you can do some exercises to get your mobility back. Otherwise… you’re good!”

“But, doctor, why did she pass out?” I asked her, Davis nodding.

“Based on her history, I’d say it was a response to panic from being attacked so suddenly.”

“But she was out for so long.”

“I needed to go away for a bit,” Diana told us.

We looked at her. “Go away?” Davis asked.

She only smiled.

“It was a very sudden injury, so it could’ve been a defensive reaction from her body. But like I said, her brain is just fine. If there’s any more complications, just come straight back.”

After changing into her clothes, Diana was led out in a wheelchair. The boys had to resist hugging her, settling for kisses on her cheeks, which annoyed her to no end. We took her to our car and said goodbye to everyone that had stayed with us. Addie, being small enough, hugged Diana around the waist and signed something to her before leaving.

Tony kissed Diana’s forehead. “I’ll call you,” he said. He then hesitated and added, “When you can talk. I’ll text you, then.” I chuckled at him. He was a good kid. Davis seemed to warm up to him, too, smiling at the exchange.

My stomach churned with curiosity and anxiety. I replayed Diana’s words in my head. I had a feeling… a strong feeling that something happened in that attack. The way she’d gone so limp and lifeless… and the doctor said she was fine? It didn’t make sense.

We didn’t want to make her talk, so we waited a day to finally ask her what she meant by seeing ‘them’ and ‘Amy’. She was in her bed, once again staring at the ceiling with an indescribable joy in her eyes.

“I was dead,” she said. “I think… it was probably just a few seconds, or minutes… I don’t know. But I couldn’t still be alive to see it.”

We were all sitting around her bed, listening. I glanced at my boys, who were as confused as I was yesterday. “You were dead?” I couldn’t help a bit of skepticism.

“Yeah… it probably happened so fast here. But to me… time is different up there, you know?”

Up there… she couldn’t mean…

“I saw my mom. My other mom. And Dad. And Julia. Monica… her hair is so pretty.”

The questions stopped. The glances stopped. The breathing… my breathing… slowed to a crawl. It was just the story now. Just her memories.

Now I understood the peace in her eyes, the joy in her tears. She was… free. Really free.

We had closure.