Forever and Always

January Piece of the Month

from the Creative Writing Class

By: Jensen Eagle

I saw her looking out the window and I stopped dead in my tracks. The wind was beating my hair against my face and my cheeks felt like ice. Her soft, bright pink lipstick smeared lips turned into a hint of a smile. I smiled back up at her, slowly lifting my arm to wave her goodbye. I had no clue at the time that it was the last time I would ever wave her goodbye.

I saw her looking out the window at the snow-covered world. I tried to get her attention. I knew she would never be able to see me again. I was invisible to her, to the whole world. I was a ghost now, and she would never know how much she meant to me.

I saw her looking out the window, cheeks stained with black streaks of mascara. I wanted nothing more but to be able to talk to her, to wipe the mascara off her cheeks, to just hold her. I wanted nothing more but to spend the rest of my life with her. I was her ghost; she was my angel.

I saw her looking out the window, her hands wrapped around the Christmas mug I bought for her on our last Christmas together. It was white and was in the shape of a snowman. This is the first time I’ve seen her use it since I’ve died. Maybe she’s starting to get over me. Maybe she’s done being sad. God, I hope she’s done being sad, sad over me, sad because I was too stupid to see the man with the gun standing across from me. I’m so sorry, darling. I’m so terribly sorry.

I saw her looking out the window and there was someone else with her. I couldn’t see a face. I could only see hair. Long, messy, dark red.

I saw her looking out the window and noticed her necklace. It was the necklace I bought her on her seventeenth birthday. That seemed like so long ago. It’s been two years now, but she’s still wearing that necklace.

I saw her looking out the window and she was smiling, the same smile I fell in love with six years ago. She held up her hand and blew a kiss in my direction. I looked around. No one was around me. Who was she waving to?

I saw her looking out the window and noticed something was different. She disappeared from the window. Not even thirty seconds later, she was standing in front of me. “I had to be with you,” she spoke. Her bright blue eyes twinkled. “I had to spend forever with you. Like we promised.”

I saw her looking out the window and I walked up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. “Forever and always,” I whispered in her ear. She chuckled and leaned her head back against me. “Forever and always,” she repeated.