Joe DiBuduo
1122 Stetson Rd. #d
Prescott AZ 86303
(630) 220-8384 joe1025@hotmail.com






End of Vacation
By
Joe GoodLuck


Church is quiet, so quiet I’d be able to hear her breathe if only she’d take one more breathe. Just one more, so she’d know I was here for her. I kneel in front of her coffin and place my hand where her heartbeat would be if she lived. She’s dressed in the wedding gown that was meant to be worn today for our wedding. Not for her funeral. I closed my eyes and said a useless prayer. Useless because I knew it could never be answered. I prayed to be with her again, to hear her voice one more time. To see her sparkling eyes light up with joy when she talked of her dreams, and to see her walk down this very aisle so beautiful in her white gown.
I can’t live without her. She’s calling me. Her voice penetrates so thoroughly I feel it more than hear it. I take my hand from her heart and her voice dies. I softly place my hand on her heart once again, and once again I hear her voice within.
Beautiful thoughts, but I knew I imagined what I wanted to be true. The thought of her being put in the ground in four hours tore my heart out. A beautiful spirit, put in a closed box and buried in the dirt seemed so unfair. How could I live knowing she lay decaying in her grave? Picturing the horrors of her decaying body overcame me.
The service would start in an hour, so I didn’t have much time to finish what I came for. When I told her I’d never leave her I meant it. I wore my wedding outfit that I would have worn anyway today if she hadn’t died. I pushed her body to one side of the coffin and crawled in beside her. I pulled the lid shut and secured it from the inside so no one curious why it weighed so much could open it.
I swallowed two hands full of pain killers I saved for this occasion. My eyes slowly closed, and I went into a dreamlike trance. She was cold, but lying beside her in her coffin was the last best feeling I’d ever have. Knowing I was being true to my vow that I’d never leave her comforted me.
Her soft sweet voice awoke me. She took my hand and we floated above the church. My prayers have been answered. I see her sparkling eyes and hear her beautiful voice once again and her chest heaved as she breathed.
“I told you I’d never leave you,” I said, “now we’ll be together forever.”
“Don’t be silly, you know I must return to my planet and you to yours.”
I didn’t understand until memories flooded my mind -- memories of my barren desolate planet. I’d once again get to vacation here on Earth. Once I met my quota, maybe I’d see her again in a thousand Earth years.