Welcome to Gaia! ::

The pitter patter of rain outside drew my gaze from the picture I had been staring at for a good hour if the jump from songs on my old record player were anything to go by. My luck had taken a turn for the better since Isolde’s funeral, and the part of me that doesn’t believe in angels began to doubt. Maybe she was watching over me, just as she did in life. IF that were the case I could only wish that she would find her peace and move on. She deserved better than me during life, and most definitely deserved better during death.
My gaze slid from the picture of her sun- squinting at me with a grin on her face to the two empty Champaign glasses. I Had never been a lover of the stuff, but Isolde adored it, and for that reason alone tonight I had sprung for the good stuff, to make a toast to the turn of events and to Isolde’s life. The amber liquid poured into the glasses, the bubbles immediately floating to the surface in a joyous rush. That had been her favorite part of the experience, seeing the bubbly being poured and watching the thousands of tiny bubbles settle. I raised my glass and smiled.
“To you my dear. May you find more peace you deserve rather than the hell hole you received this life.” I drank back the glass and sat back, a smile on my face as my eyes drifted closed.
…
The sound of her voice whispering softly in my ear. “remember, remember, remember” made my dreams uneasy but peaceful. What did she want me to remember? “remember the hospital.“ The thought chilled me but my mind went there anyway, to the two figures on the bed both weak and frail, remembered watching the light die from Isoldes eyes. The pain that came after the sudden realization that she was dead…
I awoke to the sound of a glass shattering, my gaze flicking around the surrounding area for the cause of the shattering rather than the liquid pooling into the carpet, but I found nothing. It wasn’t my glass that shattered even though the laws of physics dictate that it should have been, because Idolde’s was still full to the brim. More than a little afraid I stood, weary of the glass scattered haphazardly across the floor and took my empty glass to the sink.

… Remember.

It was her voice I was sure of it, but I couldn’t remember what it was she wanted me to do. With a heavy sigh of frustration I headed to the door, picking up my hat and coat on the way. Tonight would be miserable for any that didn’t have a roof over their heads, and some part of me actually felt grateful for my small but comfortable apartment located downtown. Not exactly prime location but not a cardboard box. My feet basically moved of their own accord leading me to the small local cemetery located on the edge of town. I wished now that I would have picked up more lilies.

Lilies.

It was then that what I had to remember clicked. “Promise to take care of this person Lafayette.” The child. The other person in bed with my dying love. Her last request. I don’t know when I broke into a run, heading in the direction of her grave, weaving in and out of various stones… hoping that it wasn’t just my intuition that was leading me but whatever was living on of Isolde. What if she was out here, in the now drizzling rain, miserable and confused. In the distance I made out the bright pink of stargazer lilies on the only grave that I could truly see. The others all blended into nothing as my gaze lingered on Isolde’s. Something white flashed by the black marble stone, making me slow to a stop.
“Hello is anyone there?” I called my gaze penetrating the black stone, trying to see through it where the child I knew was hiding. But then she was there, walking to me and placing her hand in mine, eyes questioning without words. She knew who I was… there was no doubt.

“are you ready to go home?”