|
*beep*
The woman in black sat in the waiting room of the MegaTokyo West Intensive Care Center. Her youthful face was set in a hard mask, not revealing anything of what she felt. She seemed to be staring off into space.
"She's proabbly thinking of all the money she's about to inherit." a nurse whispered to the tech at the desk.
"Who is she?" the tech asked.
"Doctor Stinglay's wife." the nurse whispered.
"But she's so young!" the tech hissed, "He's an old man. What'd he do, rob a cradle?"
"Just about. They've been together for a while, though. I think she's proabbly gotten a cyb-job done on that face... and concidering that she IS Stinglay's wife, she's proabbly got the best."
"Do they have any kids?"
"Ya, a son, but he disappeared under mysterous circumstances..."
"What a soap-opera!" the tech laughed. At that moment, the surgery door swung open and a doctor walked out.
"How is he?" the woman demanded, jumping up. The doctor gave her a pained look, and shook his head.
"He wants to talk to you." the doctor informed her. The woman nodded, then walked into the surgery room.
Inside, another tech was finishing up some erand. Other than that, there was no one in the room but the woman and an old man. The old man had several tubes running from his arms and mouth. His skin was prematurly aged with the effects of McCamer's Syndrome.
The woman sat down in a chair next to the bed. For a long moment she looked at her husband's face, remembering how he had looked forty years earlier...
"Forty years since it was me laying in the bed with you standing over..." she whispered. At the sound of her voice, his eyes came open. A faint smile touched his old, wrinkeled lips as he looked up at her.
"Thirty three years since we married..." he rasped. "Time flys."
"Don't joke." the woman implored, "Machie... I don't know how I can live without you. I... I love you so... how can I go on? There's nothing left for me..."
"Stop that!" the old man said with sudden strength. A wizzened hand shot from the bed to grasp hers. The woman jumped as he held her with almost inhuman strength. "You'll go on because you have a destiny. You have to find it."
"How do you know?" she asked.
"I know 'cause everyone has a destiny." he replied, "Mine was to love you..." the old man coughed, rasping like he was about to fire a lung across the room. The woman tenced, squeezing his hand.
"But... without you... I..."
"Go on, Nikira. Go on for me." the old man insisted, squeezing her hand back. "Like the song says, the heart will go on. Trust me. I'll be waiting for you. Live. Find your destiny for me. Make a difference, like we always tried to do. Live for me, Nikira..."
"Oh Machie..." the woman whispered, leaning over the bed to hold her husband one final time.
"Don't let go..." Machie whispered, his eyes sliding closed. A second later, he flatlined. Nikira held him a few minutes longer, crying.
"I won't, Machie." she sobbed quitely.
A time later, the black clad woman emerged from the surgery room. The tech and nurse were still at the table, gossiping.
"She's been crying..." the Tech whispered, "Maybe she really did care for him..."
"Or she's good at putting on a show." the nurse suggested.
The woman in black walked slowly up to the desk. The tech and nurse froze, looking extreamly guilty as she reguarded the both of them.
"Do you believe that souls can touch?" the woman asked calmly. "That, if you open your heart, another soul can hold on to yours? That love can connect people for a lifetime?"
"I don't know miss..." the nurse muttered.
"That's very sad..." the woman replied, turning away. She took a few steps, then paused and looked back. "Oh, if you ever say such things about my husband again, I will find you and kill you." That stated, just as calmly, she continued to the elevator...