A bare room with no signs of anybody living there -- just a single bag and some clothes hanging in a closet. Sitting in a chair facing the view-port window is a lone figure – the years evident in his white, thinning hair line. He sits motionless for what seems like an eternity before suddenly grabbing a water bottle, taking a swig and sealing the cap back on. Before long a beep at the door indicating a visitor – still as motionless as ever, and yet a few moments later he is effortlessly at the door.

The lone figure takes a moment to collect his thoughts and feelings before pressing the Intercom button, "...Yes?"

"John, I need to speak with you..." a soft voice intones over the intercom.

A slight pause before John hits the button to unlock and open the door. The women takes a few steps in, the door closing behind her – yet John hadn't moved an inch and now within a few feet of each other in this wide open and bare room, everything suddenly became crowded.

"Director." John says with no hint of emotion, almost as if he would rather not be speaking to the Director in front of him. He turns and walks to the chair and proceeds to turn it around, offering the Director a place to sit as he takes up position at the end of his bed.

The director smiles and takes up John's offer, politely taking a seat before addressing him.  "John, I..." The director takes a deep breath, as if trying to find words to emotions that had never existed before.

"The results came back. She... it's... Laura..." The Director could barely believe herself as she uttered the sentence.

Laura... The director kept talking, yet John was already somewhere else – his mind still frozen in that singular moment. Laura...

"...Laura." John said as he looked up from his meal.

"John? Look, sorry... I apologize for pushing you off like this. Top brass wants me to finish up our tests before the day ends. Can we discuss it tomorrow?" The last words ripping open John's wounds once more -- as fresh as the day he received them.

The Director had noticed John stopped paying attention to her. Yet she couldn't bring herself to interrupt him – a hardened, wrinkled face with miles beyond the average person. Stoic, unmoving – and yet she couldn't bring herself to look away. John didn't notice, could not notice – his mind paralyzed by an ever shifting sea of emotional turmoil.

A single tear crept forth.

To everybody else, John's face would betray nothing – not even a deuce-nine off-suit. Yet here, right now, the Director could see everything, the single tear revealing what happened -- who Laura was to John, and why he had ran away earlier after hearing her voice.

Seemingly lost in the same train of thought as John, the Director eventually came to her senses. She quietly got up and went to the door -- the opening of which startled John.

He turned to look at the Director. 

She took one look at John and immediately turned to hide her face, "John, I... I'm going to be with Laura. Until... I don't know. Until she wakes up?" Tears were streaming down her face, the door closing behind her as she headed towards medical.

Finally noticing his own tear, John wiped it away.  He took another drink from his water bottle.

And exited the room.

The distance from John's room to medical was barely more than a few hundred meters, yet each step he took felt like years in his mind. Each step reliving more and more of the years he had trapped himself in.

One by one, with each step the memories started becoming more colorful.

More vivid.

More... painful.

Another step. Another flashback, until finally...

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Laura, I... got something for you – I'll show it to you after we're done here."

Laura smiled and closed her helmet, not saying a word.

Before John could get lost again in his thoughts, the door to Medical opened. He breathed a sigh of relief as he had seemingly forgotten the small Medical lobby with a view of the patient rooms. Slowly but surely he made his way over to the farthest patient room with a window.

He noticed the Director sitting down, across from a woman he knew all too well – Laura.

John quickly moved to the side – just enough to where he could peak in the room unseen. He stood there for where -- in his mind, time had lost all meaning, stretching beyond eternity, silently observing Laura and the Director, unable to make out the words being spoken.

Before he could avoid eye contact and, still thinking himself unseen, the Director had noticed.

John wasn't sure what was said after that – he had looked away trying to hide from the Director, albeit clumsily, and when he peaked back in, the Director was gone – and there she was, alone.

Alive.

After thirty-two years.

What had once been but a memory burned into the psyche had become as real as the subtle tugging at his heart – the very same heart wanting to indulge in the endless fantasies he had concocted over all these tireless years. The mind however, had other ideas.

Hearing footsteps behind him, John turned around, catching the Director off-guard.

In the short time he had known her, he had noticed her proclivity for never appearing less than perfect – no blemishes, scuff marks or even the subtle hint of space dust on her clothing or persons, even in the most dire of circumstances.

And yet, here she was – face flushed, makeup smeared and running down the seams of dried tears that covered her face. "Family?" Escaped John's lips.

"Yes, she's... my sister." The Director could barely manage to utter, voice trembling.

A moment to register in John's mind was all it took before the Director silently continued, "I'm sure you know why by now. I doubt that any of it matters anymore. It took me awhile to convince her... what had happened."  Her voice cracking, tears streaming down her face, the Director still continued, "She still has a hard time believing any of it -- "Thirty-two years, you must be joking." -- she said when I told her that, yes I am your sister, old and gray as I am."

John couldn't say anything – he tried to reach out and offer some comfort, but the Director pushed his hand away, regaining a bit of her composure, "Laura wants to see you, John. She... when I told her you were here, she said she needed to see you. Immediately. She..." Her voice becoming silent once again.

Time stood still once more, both lost in an endless future.

And then, from out of nowhere a voice called out, "John? John!"

Recognizing her voice, both John and the Director looked into the now empty patient room.

Seeing Laura gone again in an instant – fearing the nightmare coming true once again, fearing he would lose her all over again, all John could do was cry out.

"Laura!"

Instinctively his feet took him towards the sounds of Laura calling out for him. The calls growing louder as he got closer and closer, until finally.

"John!"

Both Laura and John's eyes locked upon each other in an instant.

Laura couldn't believe her eyes, yet deep down in her heart she knew – John. "Wh...what happened to you... John?" Her voice quivering as she uttered his name.

John couldn't hold back anymore, tears seemingly pouring down his once stoic face, the dam of frozen emotions finally burned away, "I... I got old, s-sorry," he muttered.

"Sorry? John, I..." Laura began approaching John, taking in every moment of every second -- as if nothing else mattered but the man standing in front of her.

Yet for John, he was betwixt a dream and a nightmare – he wanted to wake up, but how?

Suddenly, knees giving way -- John crumbled to the ground, caring not whether he was dreaming a nightmare – all he hoped was that Laura was real... and that she...

"John, I... I'm so sorry." Laura crouched down, getting closer, "John, you... what was it you wanted to say to me, before..." Her voice becoming ever quieter, ever softer.

"Don't be sorry, I... I got old before I knew it, I..." He tried to say something else but his mouth failed him – all he could do was stare breathlessly at the woman he had loved all these years, tears flowing down the crevasses in his face as she snuggled up against him.

Laura quietly reached for John's hand -- grasping one with both of her hands. She began feeling the long and lonely road John had journeyed all these years. Tears began to pool up in her eyes, the journey becoming ever longer, ever sadder. Yet to John, he was at the gates of rapture. Emotions flowing, his cup runneth over...

Without wasting another second, Laura turned to look at John, their eyes becoming one -- lost in the expanse of an endless future.

"John." Laura said firmly, pushing back the emotions bubbling from within, not wanting to lose this moment.

"John, I... I love you."

Thirty-two years.

The words John had long tortured himself over, finally coming forth and erasing all the doubt and torment he had shouldered himself with all these years – a burden lifted, destroyed.

"John, I love you." Laura said softly, "I love you, no matter what. Nothing... nothing will change that John. I know you love me, but I... I wanted to hear you say it..." Her voice trembling once again.

"...Laura." John said.

"I love you Laura."

END