<br><br> <center>*When your face came rising
Above my crumpled life,
The only thing I understood at first
Was how meagre were all my possessions…
I’m so afraid, I’m so afraid,
The unexpected dawn might end,
Ending the discoveries, tears, and raptures.
― Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Colours*
</center>
<br><br><center>
*Eyes of the Soul*</center>
<br><br>I can't begin to describe the exhilaration and terror Moll's disclosure caused me. I had lost her, found her, then lost her again and now was balanced precariously on thin ice because nothing she was saying made sense and I feared I was losing my mind.
She was dead...certifiably dead and cremated and yet here she was, a living, breathing, flesh and blood woman―skin pink, eyes sparkling and flesh warm to my touch.
I might go insane
And I would if I didn't need her so much.
<br><br>"I'm not a ghost," she whispered.
I tried to wrap my mind around that.
There was no doubt she was real, contrary to her previous manifestations that were elusive and evanescent. But here was undeniable evidence, solid and alluringly physical, embodied in the lovely creature now standing before me, tearing my heart out.
"How can this be, Moll?" I asked her. "I want more than anything to believe you, but I've already lived these past few weeks in a state of willing suspension of disbelief raising your ghost from the grave and now you're telling me you never died? I struggled to hope I could even contact you and now you're standing before me claiming you were alive all this time?
<br><br>"I don't know what to tell you, Ned―all I know is I've been in a constant state of recovery ever since I was found in that parking lot."
I was adamant. "But surely the police would have put out a missing persons' report on you―how could you slip through the cracks?"
"I don't know. They thought I was homeless and it's not as if I were a child who might have been abducted or a runaway teenager, or for that matter, a senior citizen suffering from dementia. I was an adult who because of my dishevelled state appeared to be a street person. They're swamped with cases like mine I didn't appear exceptional."
"Okay, but if that's the case, how did you get from the funeral home or crematorium to wandering the streets miles from home in another city?"
She looked at me in despair. "I don't know...I just don't know. There are so many gaps in my memory you're asking the wrong person."
<br><br> *Asking the wrong person*?
Her remark exploded inside me. Of course, I was―how could she be expected to recall when she suffered a traumatic brain injury?
*Stupid, stupid, stupid,* I berated myself.
Why am I putting her through this stress when she's simply being honest with me? Then it hit me―I should phone Malachi and see what he thinks about this situation. After all, he was the one who suspected something wasn't quite right from the very beginning.
<br><br>"We should go back into the house," I told her. "I've got an idea about who I can call for help in figuring this out."
"Are you going to call Malachi and Sara?"
I stared at her perplexed. "I am, but how did you know about them?"
"I was here in the shelter petting Star when they were discussing my 'case.' I overheard everything they said."
"But they didn't see you―how can that be? Where were you at that point―somewhere in between life and death?"
She laughed, "No silly, I told you―I was bi-locating. I was sitting in the women's shelter and thinking about you and went into a kind of dream. It was how I was able to appear to you on those other occasions."
<br><br>"But that makes no sense," I protested, "if you were physically alive why didn't you just come here to the house―why did you have to bi-locate like some kind of mystic?"
"Do you think I preferred a visitation to a flesh and blood visit? I was confused, Ned―I was brain injured and not thinking clearly. But I reached out to you the only way I knew how."
"You know what? I just fell into the same trap again―asking you to explain what you can't possibly know. C'mon inside, I'll phone Sara and Malachi and hopefully they can provide answers."
<br><br>I got up to go but Moll froze. She stared at me helplessly.
"I'm scared, Ned. I feel the same as you―none of this makes sense. I don't want to lose you."
I took her in my arms and kissed her, stroking her long hair. "You're not going to lose me―I will never, ever let anything separate us again. You're going to stay here with me and we're going to figure this out. There has to be an explanation."
"But what if I'm really dead and this is all a hallucination?"
I put both hands on her shoulders and held her at arms length so I could stare directly into her eyes.
"I will never, ever leave you or abandon you―you are my life―it's the reason you're alive. You've come back to me because our souls aren't meant to be apart and I'll fight heaven or hell or anything that will try to come between us and divide you from me.
She kissed me passionately and then said solemnly, "In that case, call your friends. Let's try to get some answers."
<br><br> <center>To be continued…</center>
<br><center>© 2021, John J Geddes. All rights reserved</center>
<br><center>[Photo](https://www.wallpaperflare.com/women-model-portrait-closeup-studio-dark-background-face-wallpaper-yhtha)</center>
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