Gently, I reached out my
hand and brushed the dark, damp hair from my mother’s face, a tiny smile
tugging at the corner of my lips. "You'll be fine without me?" I ask,
my mother's face growing more tightly in agony with every word I speak. She
nods slowly, giving a tremendous amount of effort to keep her cool, for me.
"Yes..." she mutters uncertainly, and the smile that had threatened
me for a time dropped, then and there."If you don't say yes, completely
certainly, I won't die in peace." She sighs, and finally her liquid brown
eyes harden to a serious gaze. "Yes." Rachel -- My mother -- says
quickly. My own eyes softened, and my smile reappears. "Yes, that is what
I needed to hear." I close my eyes quietly against the wind, my rapid breathing
slowing to a stop, and my bloodless body falling limp in my mother's arms. As
my last strangled breath escaped my lips, the clock struck 12:00.