*16 Years Later*
Rrrrrrring! Rrrrrrring! I groan in annoyance as my alarm clock goes off yet again. It is already 6:00 in the morning. If I don't get up soon, I will be late for work. I hear a rustle next to me, and I turn over to look at Jennifer, my wife for 7 years. She opens a bleary eye and smiles at me, all beauty in this early morning light. Suddenly we hear our youngest daughter, Josephine, start crying, and we both sigh. "Time to get up," she says. "Time to get up," I agree.
While Jenn is comforting our crying daughter, I take a shower and get ready for work. I am a businessman now and have my own secretary and everything. I go into the kitchen, where Jenn is cooking up a delicious breakfast, our successfully quieted daughter on her hip. I go over to her and kiss her, then darling Jo. "Good morning, darling," I murmur to Jo. She babbles in return. Jenn smiles. "You know she's happy to see you, Levi,"
"I know," I say in return.
I eat the breakfast Jenn made, bacon and eggs with a mug of coffee, and then kiss her goodbye and head off to work.
********
After a productive day at work, I start to head home. As I'm walking down the street I see a girl-more like a woman, really-across the street from me on the other side of the sidewalk. She looks up and stops dead in her tracks. Her face goes violently pale like she had just seen a ghost. She looked slightly familiar, but that thought goes out of my head as soon as I see her collapse on the ground, shaking slightly. I rush over to her and start to help her up, but she holds tight onto my jacket collar, keeping me from standing up fully. In an awkward crouch-type position, I try to gently release myself from her grip. Something about her is definitely familiar now. The woman opens her mouth as if to say something, then closes it. Then she opens it again. "L-Levi? Is it really you?" She manages to get out. Now I am really confused. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" She doesn't answer."Miss? Are you alright? Do you need a doctor?" She finally opens her mouth again, and this time actually lets out a dry laugh."A doctor?" She repeats. "No, I'm perfectly healthy, physically, that is. And even if I did, I would manage, seeing as how I used to be a nurse." The woman smells nice, like ginger and cinnamon. Something finally clicks into place in my brain. Ginger. Cinnamon. Nurse. Of course! I lower myself clumsily down to the ground with her and look her in the eye. She opens her mouth to say something again, but this time I cut her off. I feel myself start to smile."How are you, Grace?"
THE END
