My Beautiful Boy.

Geraldine kissed her little boy goodbye. "I love you so much, sweetheart."

    Within moments, he'd passed away. She was inconsolable. 

    A short time later, a nurse entered the room. Are you ready?" she asked softly.

    Geraldine looked up at her. "Yes, I'm ready."

    She followed the nurse out of the room and into the corridor.

    "I promise you he didn't suffer," said the woman to Geraldine.

    She wiped the tears from her eyes and replied, "I know he didn't. You all did the best you could for him and I can't thank you enough."

    The woman placed a hand on Geraldine's shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"

    She was still in shock. "Not really, but I'll be fine. Thank you for everything you did. I must go."

    The nurse looked sad. "Please take care of yourself."

    "I will," was all she answered.

    She then headed down the long corridor to the lift.


..........................


    Little Nathan looked out of the window of the huge building at the car park below. From what the boy gathered, he was quite high up. Suddenly, he saw her. She walked to a car he found familiar. "I love you," he muttered, missing her dearly.

    Behind him stood another boy of a similar age. "Who are you?" asked the boy innocently.

    Nathan turned to him, a little shocked. "How can you see me, as I remember you see?"

    The boy smiled, then replied, "Because I'm the same as you."


 ........................... 


    In the car, it was freezing. She turned the key in the ignition, then turned on the heating. For a while, she just sat there trying to take it all in. The thought of never seeing him again broke her heart. Her little baby was gone forever from this world. How would she cope?

    Geraldine all of a sudden had this feeling she was being watched. Was it her imagination playing tricks, or was there something else going on. For some strange reason, she was drawn back to the hospital. On the fifth floor, in one of the windows, stood two figures. The one on the left lifted an arm like he was waving to someone. Not knowing what to make of this, Geraldine opened the door and got out. She waved back. A second later, they had vanished. 


............................


    "Was that your mum?" asked the boy. "She seemed nice."

    Nathan and his new friend walked down the busy corridor. Of course no one else could see them. "Yes it was. Does the pain ever go away from not seeing your loved ones again?"

    The other boy wasn't sure how to answer and stayed quiet.

    "How did you end up here?" Nathan asked, out of interest.

    It took a few seconds for the boy to reply. "It's hard for me to remember, as I've been here so long. But sometimes a light can be seen when it comes to someone who's just died. A light never came for me, and if it did I don't remember it." He looked sad about this.

    "If a light comes for me, you can come with me, I promise. If it wasn't for you, I would be all on my own."

    The little spirit turned to him. "Thank you, I'll hold you to that."

    The boys laughed.

    Then they proceeded into a room where an elderly man lay in a bed. He had breathing difficulties. His eyes were closed.

    "By the way, my name's Ricky," said the boy.

    "It's nice to meet you, Ricky. My name's Nathan."

    "Very nice to meet you as well," Ricky said. "If you notice, this poor soul in front of us hasn't got much time left. Soon a light will come for him. Would you like to see it?"

    "Yes, I would, very much," Nathan answered enthusiastically.

    The boys waited for what seemed like ages. From the ceiling, an intense light appeared. The man opened his eyes and smiled at it. Within a second, it had gone. The boys then observed the man's eyes were closed, and he'd stopped breathing. His skin a deathly pale.  

    Ricky turned to Nathan, then said, "Wasn't that cool."

    "Amazing," was all he answered, clearly blown away by it all. His mum entered his mind. Sadness was felt.


............................. 


    At home, Geraldine kept herself busy with housework. How would she cope without her beautiful boy? The realisation of what had happened hadn't hit home yet. But there would be a time when it would. 

    "If you can hear me, my little angel. I love you with all my heart," she said. "Please come back to me because I'm so scared of a life without you."

"Mum, is that you?" Nathan asked from the hospital corridor.

No one answered.

Geraldine couldn't believe it. Was it his voice she'd just heard coming from the hallway? She rushed to it and looked everywhere. There was no sign of him. She picked up a vase from a cabinet nearby, then threw it at the mirror on the wall. The glass smashed into a million pieces, while she shouted, "Why are you doing this to me?"

The two boys jumped out of their skin. A window two metres from them shattered suddenly. Ricky caught a glimpse of a woman in the shards before they fell.

    "What was that?" asked Nathan, shocked.

    The other boy then replied, "I've seen a lot of things while being here. I think your mum is trying to communicate with you."

    Nathan couldn't believe it. "So when I thought I heard her earlier, was it actually her?"

    "I'm pretty sure it was," Ricky answered confidently.

    "When I replied to her, I didn't hear anything back," he said, confused. "I'm finding it hard to understand."

    "But she heard you. You need to talk to her and this will give her the comfort she needs, if that makes any sense."

    Nathan liked the sound of that. "Then I'll give it a try."

    "A bit of advice though, wait until she's asleep when you communicate. As in waking hours, your mother will think she's either going mad or you're haunting her."

    He knew his mum always went to bed around 10pm. Tonight he'll have a go. What did he have to lose?

.................................

    By 10pm Geraldine was in bed. All she could think about was her son. From somewhere, his voice was heard.

"I miss you, mummy. But please don't be sad. I've met a friend here a similar age to me."

She answered, "I miss you also, my strong, brave little boy. I can't help how I feel. Because I love you so much. I'm not sure if I'm dreaming or if you're really here, but to see you again, even for one last time, would mean the world to me."

"And you will again, one day. I promise," he said in-between tears.

    Geraldine awoke and remembered parts of a dream she'd had. Slight comfort was felt.

..................................


    The next day, while the boys played in the corridor, a tunnel of light appeared above them.

    "What's happening?" shouted Ricky, in awe.

    Nathan tried to run from it. "Mummy, if you can hear me, I'll never leave you."

    It was already too late.  

    Somewhere, an angel listened.

...................................

    At 11.32am a woman by the name of Janet gave birth to twin girls. Their names were Natalie and Rachel.

....................................

From a very young age, Natalie would hear a woman's voice every night around ten. She never told anyone. In some ways it was soothing as the voice would read her stories that she swears she'd heard before. All through her childhood, the kind woman was always there telling her how much she was loved and that she'd never be forgotten. Occasionally, this would make her cry. She truly believed it was her guardian angel. At times, she felt so lucky. On more than one occasion, she tried to communicate back with no response.

    As Natalie got older, she would recall certain things, just like memories from another life, until this other person had fallen ill at the age of 9 or 10. After this, everything else was a blur. In her teenage years, more distant memories would resurface of a mother she never knew, but loved her more than life itself. 

    Years later, the lady was still there every night singing nursery rhymes and speaking about her day with sadness in her voice, always apologising for failing her and how the guilt of what had happened would never end.

..................................... 

    At the age of 18, Natalie decided to track this person down. It was worth a try, at least. If it was a real person all these years that had comforted her, at times even in her darkest hours, then she needed to find her. With the internet anything was possible.  

.....................................

Geraldine had spent a long shift at work and arrived home at 7pm exhausted. She lived in a flat now, as years ago she lost the house after losing her beloved son. It was her fault, really, for giving up and not caring anymore. All these years she never forgot her dear son and would speak to him every night without fail, because she loved him with all her heart. And one day Geraldine was certain she'd see him again, to cuddle him and to tell him how much he was missed.

    Dead on 10pm, she got into bed to do the same thing she did every night. Still, she truly believed he was listening. Geraldine knew he was out there somewhere and this meant the world to her. And as she'd promised him from the start of his illness to the terrible end that she would never leave and to this day she hadn't. 

    "I'm here for you, my lovely little boy. Would you like to hear another story? I'll read it to you now. I know it's one of your favourite ones."

    There was a knock at the door. Who could that be? she thought. How rude. Geraldine got out of bed and put on her dressing gown, then proceeded to the entrance in a bad mood. How dare anyone spoil her special moment? She opened the door and a young woman stood there. Instantly, she knew who it was.

    The woman then said, "I would love to hear one of my favourite stories, Mum."

    Both hugged.



 The End.