Just in Time

It’s not every day that something happens to completely change your world. I guess that’s a good thing, otherwise life would be way too exciting, even for the adventurous. This, however, is not an adventure story. It may not even be a story, but more of a memory. So, without any further delay, here goes…well, everything.

The phone rings downstairs, and I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before I hear my name, so I get up and hurry to the phone. I answer with my usual half-hearted “Hello,” not really interested, until I heard what the caller had to say. I drop the phone.

Spring. I think. Every day was spring when he was around. We were walking in the park, where we always ventured to get away from the city’s incessant buzzing. He was playing with my fingers. I smiled, and so did he.

I run blindly up the stairs again, force my door open, take the keys off my nightstand and fly back down and through the front door. Everything seems to move in slow motion, and I can’t make my legs move quicker.

Winter this time. I remember the melting snowflakes in his hair, making it an even darker shade of brown. The cold, icy wind makes me shiver involuntarily and he puts his arm around me and smiles gently…

My eyes start to water as I speed along the winding main road, but whether from the wind or the thick lump in my throat I don’t know. I try to focus my attention on the road and the wind pelting my face, but I can’t keep my mind from falling back into the past, to the memories.

Still winter, we sit by the frozen lake on a bench by the water’s edge. His laugh echoes from behind the trees as he laughs at one of my comments. The world suddenly seems a brighter place, as it always does when he laughs…

His laugh still echoes in my head as I park awkwardly in the hospital parking lot. A distant, fading sound. Unwillingly, I sink back into another memory, the most recent…yesterday.

Spring again, but the winter chill is still present. The leaves on the trees are just starting to bud. He took my hand and looked deeply into my eyes, as he always does when he has something on his mind. It felt like he was looking into my soul. He seemed to stumble over the words forming on his tongue for a moment before he righted himself and took what was left of my breath away with three little words…

“I love you.”

The words still echo in my ears as I make my way through the seemingly endless maze of white-washed walls and tears fill my eyes again, but I blink them away and force myself forward and focus on finding his room. I turn into another passage and scan the doors for the right number. I finally see it and stop dead in my tracks. I take a deep breath to brace myself before I enter.

Relief washes over me and fresh tears fill my eyes as he opens his at the sound of my footsteps. I walk slowly to his side, not bothering to wipe them away. As I take his hand, he fills the room with the sweetest, most beautiful sound in the world.

“Hey.”