In Another Life

"Maybe in another life, I could have stayed with you. For now, it must be goodbye. I love you."

"No, please don't go. It is so lonely here. Please. I'll do anything."

A long silence passes, as Preston begrudgingly slides the planchette to "goodbye." Sabrina sits in silence, unable to sob, unable to feel anything but emptiness. She had spoken to him every night since her death, and now she would have to find a way to move on without him.

"How could he just leave me after all this time? I thought I was the most important thing to him in the world."

"How could I just leave her? There has to be something wrong with me. Yet, after twenty years, something inside me is telling me that it's time for me to move on," Preston ponders.

Twenty years ago, in Latham, Illinois, tragedy struck, leaving many shaken to their very core. It was a warm summer night in late July. A concert was set to take place in the small lesser-known town. Locals had come to see the band play. Fans anxiously awaited the day since its announcement.

"Ticket please."

"Oh, here." Preston responds. He shows two tickets and he is let into the venue with Sabrina. 

"Finally. It seems like that line took forever. I was beginning to think we would miss the opening act. So, where do we go from here?" Sabrina asks.

“Well.” Preston looks down at the tickets. "We're in section 201B, so it should be over there." He gestures to a section adjacent to the entrance with the matching label.

"Alright. Well, waiting in line for so long made me need to go to the restroom. How about you grab us some pretzels, and I'll meet you at the entrance to our section." 

"Sure. Don't fall in,” Preston responds humorously.

Sabrina rolls her eyes and heads toward the restroom, while Preston makes his way to the Pretzel stand, a few yards away. He begins to read the prices.

"$8.50?! Man, people are really trying to get every penny out of us these days," he thinks to himself. "Two pretzels, please." Preston says to the stand’s cashier.

“Will that be all?” responds the cashier.

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

 As he is about to hand the cashier the payment, the stadium is abruptly shaken by a broad crash. Vibrations fill the venue, causing the stands to shake. The lights begin to swing and flicker above the heads of the viewers.

"Bomb! Someone planted bombs! Run!” Similar chants are heard across the location.

Preston is knocked down to his knees, as another loud clatter is heard, and the lights go out. Screams of terror fill the room, as everyone scrambles to the exit.

"Sabrina!", Preston thought. "I have to get to her."

He jumps to his feet, and levels himself. Heavy chunks of cement crash into the ground behind him, yet he has no fear. A rush of adrenaline flows through him, as he sprints towards the women's restroom. He halts just before the ruins of what was once the room. What was left of it was only chunks of the walls, broken ceramic, and bent pipes. 

Preston calls out, “Sabrina!" to no avail. He calls out again. This time he hears the faintest response. 

"P-Preston!" 

Like a madman, Preston started tearing through the ruins, calling her name as he progressed. Finally, he found her. A cocoa brown hand with a golden wedding band on the ring finger stuck out of the rubble. At seeing this, Preston tore through the debris even faster. Eventually, he uncovered her. It was obvious that she had little time left to live. Preston took her in his arms and wept. 

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have let you go alone."

"No, it's not your fault," she mumbles.

"Please don't die. I need you. Our baby needs you."

"I know you'll take good care of her"

He held her tightly, as her body went limp, and her face lost emotion. 

Preston clutches Sabrina’s ashes in his hands. He weeps, just as he did at the stadium. Even though Sabrina was no longer part of the mortal world, her and Preston shared the same feeling of emptiness. They knew from the moment they met that they would share a special bond that would last forever. This however was not what they expected.

“Why?! Why did it have to be her? It should have been me. Damn it! It should have been me,” Preston asks himself, overcome with emotion. “I was so happy. We were so happy. How could this happen?” Preston’s breakdown is cut short by the sound of his daughter’s voice.

“Dad? Oh, not again. I thought I told you to throw that thing away.” Shayla motions to the Ouija board left on the bed. “Mom isn’t coming back, and talking to her only makes things worse. I know you love her, and she knows that too. You can’t keep torturing yourself by trying to contact her. You’re miserable and you know it.”

Preston begins to wipe the tears from his eyes. "Yeah, I'm miserable. So what? I have nothing to live for. There's nothing left for me. Your mother's dead. You're all grown up. Let me be."

Tears start to well in Shayla's eyes as she thinks of what Preston had said to her. "Nothing?! So I'm nothing to you. I'm not worth living for? My own father doesn't even care about me."

"No, that's not what I meant. You know that's not what I meant. I love you."

"Whatever. I'm sick of this. I'm going out for a while. Don't follow me." Shayla grabs her purse, and heads out the front door. She slams the door, leaving Preston alone in silence.

Sabrina watches in silence, as Preston turns into a weeping mess once again. Her longing to comfort him exceeds the pain and loneliness she feels. As the two suffer in silence, the solemness of the setting is broken by a ringing. It’s Preston’s cell phone. He picks it up, and answers it.

“Hello?” he blurts out. There is a short silence.

“Yes… No, you’re lying…. Stop lying to me. She was just here. She is fine.” 

The tears on his face are no longer. Now only the expression of shock and confusion was left. A long silence passes, until Preston manages to utter out a few words.

“Sabrina, she is dead. I know you can hear me. Shayla is dead, and it’s all my fault. Is she there with you?”

Sabrina looks around. She can’t decide if she is happy or sad that she will be able to talk to her only daughter again. She searches the house, until finally she sees her at the front door. 

“Welcome home, sweetheart.”