Jack felt as though he were floating through the darkness. Strange images imposed themselves, sometimes vague impressions, sometimes flashing brightly. Occasionally, he felt as though he were hearing someone speaking, but the words were indistinct, incomprehensible, and he tried not to pay too much attention.
He didn’t know where he was, or how much time had passed, but eventually he came upon a bright light, glowing in the darkness, forming a tunnel of sorts. He saw people moving around the entrance to the tunnel and came closer, wondering who they were.
The light blinded him for a moment, but eventually he recognized his parents, standing at the front of the tunnel, blocking his way. He wanted to continue down the tunnel; it seemed to offer peace, and a freedom from pain, but they wouldn’t let him enter. Joining hands, they stood before it, shaking their heads.
Jack had been confused at first; after all, his parents had been dead for nearly seven years, but he soon realized what was going on. He was dying, and they were trying to prevent that, knowing that he could recover, that he could live out his life.
He stopped in front of the tunnel, not knowing whether to insist that he be allowed to enter, or whether he should turn back and go back through the darkness to whatever life awaited him. The light was glowing, beckoning, but his parents’ faces were stern, their voices insisting that he return to the land of the living. He wanted to stay with them, wanted to be a part of a family again, but they pushed him away, their faces compassionate but determined. He had been given a second chance, and they wanted him to survive and live out his full life.
He looked at his parents, at their healthy, glowing faces, so different from what they had looked like when they were dragged from the burnt rubble of their house in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, by firefighters and paramedics who had been too late to save them. It wasn’t too late for him, they seemed to be saying, and he needed to go back before it was.
Jack looked at the expressions of love and pride on their faces as they assured him that they would see him one day, but not yet, and he wondered if they knew about the things he had done in his life, about the months he had spent in juvenile hall, about the people he had hurt by stealing from them. He opened his mouth to ask, and then realized that he already knew the answer. Their pride was in his ability to get past the bad things he had done, to accept that what he had done was wrong, to pay his debt to society, and to move on into a good, worthwhile life. He suddenly wished that they could have known Rose, certain that they would have loved her as much as he did, but a part of him suspected that they did know about her, as they knew about the other things in his life, and that they approved.
The voices in the background were louder now, more urgent, and he could have sworn that he heard Rose calling to him, begging him to come back. He looked back out into the darkness, and made up his mind. He would live. Rose’s voice seemed to echo around him.
"I love you, Jack...you can get through this...you’re going to be all right...you just have to wake up...I love you..." Over and over, the words echoed through the darkness, drawing him back. He looked back once, to where the tunnel of light had been, but it had disappeared, leaving only the voices echoing in the darkness, leading him back.
Strange sensations assaulted him—pain, heat and cold, more voices, Rose’s prominent among them. He tried to speak her name, tried to find her, but he felt as though he couldn’t speak. Vaguely, he heard her speaking to him, pleading with him to wake up. He spoke her name again, and this time he was certain he’d spoken. Jack felt hands holding his, restraining him, as he tried to move. Then the hands gentled, caressing his hands, squeezing them gently. He moved and felt a sharp pain in his head. A moment later, the hands had moved to his head, turning it to the side, easing the pain. The hands took his again, squeezing gently, the voice whispering urgently to him to wake up. He responded, one hand moving to wrap around those holding his, and slowly he opened his eyes to see Rose looking down at him.