Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers

I wrote this short story some years ago inspired by this image.

A Return  

Through flickering eyelashes I see a sky filled with cotton ball clouds. There is no breeze, no feeling of hot or cold just a peacefulness within me. I stand and look around at a familiar landscape. A village green lies before me, lush and green and surrounded by thatched cottages. This is my home. Heading toward my cottage on the far side of the green, a red object catches my eye. What is that? I haven’t seen it before. It is a large rectangle with a multitude of small windows on three sides and a big black box on the remaining side. What is this strange object? I don’t remember it being here before.

A roar behind me – I turn swiftly and am confronted with a large noisy vehicle of some kind, but where are the horses? It passes by at great speed and vanishes as quickly as it appeared. I must go home and find Frederick he will be able to explain these strange new things.

As I cross the green, I glance at the pond. It is full of overgrown bull rushes. The pond has never been so untidy, what is going on? Ahead I see my home and relief washes over me. That is my safe haven from these uneasy feelings growing within me. To my left is our favorite bench it is……encased in the tree. How can that be?

“Come back to me Edith.”

“Frederick?”

“Yes my love. I am here. You mustn’t dwell on our past.  We are together now. No need to go back and visit me.”

“Visit you? What are you saying?”

“We are together now for eternity. Your spirit doesn’t need to go back anymore.”

“I don’t understand. What happened?”

“You would come and visit me in my dreams after you had died. I loved you for that. But now I am here with you. “

“Died? We’re dead?”

“Yes my love. I had to wait for so long. You were so young. But now we are together forever.”

***

We all have ideas on reincarnation or life after death. I feel we meet our loved ones once again, including beloved pets. I imagine my parents walking coastal and woodland paths with all our dogs and paddling in the cool salty waves at the beach, together and happy. It is a comfort for me ‘knowing’ they are there enjoying their love forever more.

Do you have such a ‘belief’?