Love Life!

Strange things had been happening lately that Melanie couldn't explain. She was beginning to wonder if she was going out of her mind. First she found the box of pictures taken when she was in school on the kitchen counter.  They had been in the closet for years.  Lying on top was a series of pictures taken on the senior class trip.  What a good time they had.  But how had that box ended up on the counter?



Then the mysterious shadow standing in the hallway outside her apartment; it seemed to be motioning for her to come near, but when she made her way down the hall it disappeared.  Even now, she felt an unnerving but yet familiar feeling of someone near her.  Could it possibly be Lori, her best friend who had passed away several months before?  Melanie missed Lori tremendously.  It saddened her to think she would never see her best friend again. No, that was ridiculous. She was not seeing things and she was not crazy.



Melanie walked through the common area of the brownstone she had lived in for the past year.  Living here was convenient to her work and downtown shopping district.  The other residents were nice and friendly but stayed to themselves. 



She leafed through the magazines lying on the coffee table but found nothing that sparked her interest.  She wondered over to the bookshelf and ran her fingers along the spines of the books gently, but again no interest.  She released a long sigh and plopped down in the Queen Anne chair in front of the fireplace. 



Her eyes focused on the coffee table again.  There beside the magazines she had just looked through lay her high school yearbook. How did that get there?  A copy of a graduation announcement booked marked a picture of a group of friends who had spent so much time together.  Lori, Melanie, Frank, Shelley, James and a third boy she couldn't remember his name. He only went to Central High his senior year and then had moved away.  Below the picture the name appeared as M. Harbor. 



Melanie heard someone approaching from the main entrance and looked up in time to see another resident walk into the room.  Matt lived in the apartment above hers.  They had met once after she first moved in and spoken to each other a few times since; but that is where it ended.  M. Harbor?  Could it be?



Just then the radio began playing a song from the past, “I want to know what love is…” She turned to look towards the entranceway where Matt was standing.  Behind him on the stairs was a white shadow; glowing like an angel.  The shadow seemed to be quietly leading her to Matt.  I could almost hear Lori saying “open your eyes. Love is before you”.  It was Lori!  And, she was encouraging me to live life; to love!  Dear Sweet Lori!  The shadow faded as I walked towards Matt, towards life. 



Word Count: 499