(Just Like) Starting Over

Live and Let... Live?

"Uh, yes!" She yelled, "My daughter will get it for you." Rita looked at her daughter. Jackie, still in shock, leaves the room in a hurry.

"Hi, Mr. Lennon. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just have a headache, but why exactly I'm I here?" He paused, "Also, where is Yoko?"

She didn't know what to say or where to start. "Um, do you remember anything from the last time you were awake?"

John tried to think, "The last thing I remember is being in the studio..." He trailed off when he saw Jackie come back into the room with water and medicine; he moved to the edge of the bed. He grabbed the items and thanked her. Jackie gave a nervous smile. "Are you okay, love?" She nodded and gave a shy smile and hurried off to the corner of the room.

John went and popped the pills in his mouth and washed them down with water. Rita watched him nervously.

He put the items on the side table of the bed and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I was saying, that I remember leaving the studio with Yoko and we were about to leave, we asked Jack if-. He paused, "Jack Douglas; if he wanted us to drop him off, he said no, and we left."

"Is that all you remember?"

"My brain is a bit murky at the moment," He tried to recollect his thoughts. "Wait, I remember walking to the Dakota and-. His eyes widen in terror, " Oh God, I was shot." He felt his chest in worry. "I was in an ambulance and then everything went dark..." John trailed off, "I think I died."

He shuddered, "Did I?" She gives him a sorrowful glance. "Yes." She looks towards the ground.

His eyes filled with tears. "No, I can't," He quickly got up from the bed. "No, I was doing better. I can't be dead. I have Sean and Jules and Yoko. I can't. I can't." He broke down and dropped his knees to the floor. The older woman kneeled and rubbed her hand on his back. She glanced at her daughter, "Go to your room." She mouthed. Her daughter nodded and left quietly.

Rita continued to rub his back while he cried.

John lifted his head from his hands and looked at Rita, "Where I'm I? Is this supposed to be the afterlife?" He cried.

"I'm not sure." She confessed. John gives her a look of confusion. "You were dead, you've been dead for thirty-seven years now, but now you're alive."

"I've been dead for thirty-seven years now?" He moaned, "Oh, God what year is it?"

"It's 2017, John."

He stared at her in shock. So many thoughts were running through his head.

"How are my children? Yoko? Paul? Ringo? George?" John notices the look on her face when he mentions George.

"Um, they're good..."

"Please be honest with me..." He looked at her expectedly. "Rita." She said. "Be honest with me, Rita."

"No, I'm being honest but," She sighed. "George... George is gone. He died from cancer in 2001."

John took in the information. George was dead. His George was dead. He blinks back his tears.

The man looked away from Rita and cleared his throat, "Who else is dead?" "John, I don't think you're are ready to hear-"

"Tell me." He barked, staring at her with anger. The air was thick with tension.

"What I'm I supposed to tell you, John? A lot of people have died, relating to you or not." John opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted, "Plus, I don't think you ready to hear about this kind of stuff. Didn't you just come back from the dead?" She gave him a sad look.