Imagine
She stood immobile in what appeared to be a police interrogation room. A large pane of glass took up an entire wall but she couldn’t see what secrets waited on the other side. The light in the adjacent room had been dimmed and it blocked out everything on its side. All she could make out were dark shadows that moved at times and at other times, remained very still.
To her right she noticed another, smaller room attached. The sweet scent of chocolate cookies and the comfortable feel of a television turned on lured her toward its partially opened door. Heather didn’t know which room held her last challenge but she felt a powerful pull to go back toward the two-way glass. Though her typical response would be to retreat to the shortcut, she couldn’t. She had come this far and planned to finish. She wondered what stage of death her body was in back in Jade’s world and prayed her family would be all right. She pictured her father standing up and caring for a minor graze but an image of his funeral kicked it out.
Heather walked over to the chair that faced the glass wall and sat down. She glanced at the light switch and had to close her eyes against its draw. She knew that it planned to shine light on the other side and she wasn’t ready yet to see what was there. She had learned enough. Discovering her identity as the first woman in existence hadn’t shaken her the way she had imagined such news would. On the contrary, Heather felt more calm and more in control. Memories of the lives subsequent to her life as Eve revealed themselves gently and she stored them neatly in her mental file cabinet. They weren’t locked doors in a hidden hallway and they were available to her whenever she needed them. Her awareness had been unlocked.
She knew before walking in that she was about to face her own sloth and it worried her. The concern tried to steal the air from her lungs and she had to fight for each breath. She tried to remember on her own what she had so apathetic about that facing its results had become her ultimate challenge.
A door creaked and her chest felt as though it fell into her stomach. When the door opened wide enough, she saw clear shadows of two people whom she had loved dearly when they had shared her world with her. Their presence filled her with the love she had felt for them and her spirit was energized by the emotion. She knew the timing was no coincidence as she would need the strength and courage only love could offer. She gasped in too much air and gagged. She had missed them so much and couldn’t help but cry. She knew Damon’s parents were waiting to give her the rest of the answers.
“What’s happening?” she cried.
Of all the questions that fought to come out, it was all she could think to say. She wanted run to them and throw her arms around their soft, meaty shoulders but the feeling subsided quickly. When the light turned on to reveal them clearly, she didn’t need to touch them physically. The love between them was powerful and it provided the touch she needed.
They had been her second set of parents, ones she had chosen as a confused teenager; they were the grandparents to her first son. They had been good to her and their hearts had been the purest she’d ever known. Heather knew that they felt her love and that words were unnecessary.