The sky was bright with the sunset colors radiating through the thick clouds. The sun’s reflection glimmered on the river water which was a clear blue in sharp contrast to the orange sky. His boat moved slowly through the water. With a hypnotic gaze on his face, he had nowhere to be and nowhere to go. He sailed along in silence until he heard his name, no more than a soft whisper in the wind. Was he imagining? He turned to the sound slowly and saw her. She stood on the bank of the river looking directly at him. Her long hair flowed in the breeze, her auburn curls bouncing on her back and on her shoulders. Her long dress was wet at the hem; she must have waded into the water. He knew it was her. Lucy.


But was she really back? It had been nearly four years since the accident, but there was no mistaking that it was his love. Her eyes sparkled, the light blue almost transparent glass as she stared ahead. She never blinked and she cocked her head slightly to the left. He watched her in awe; the corners of her mouth curled up into a smirk, then a smile.


The sun’s reflection blinded him for a moment- the light was like a million little diamonds. He blinked and looked back again. She had turned and was walking away. He realized that she was leaving and he didn’t want to lose Lucy again. He scrambled to row the little boat to the shore, but realizing that he could not row fast enough, abandoned it and jumped into the water. He splashed madly trying to reach Lucy before she went too far. He dragged himself over rocks where the water ended, exhausted from his frantic swim. He headed off through the grasses and flowers, bright and colorful, as he still stumbled and crawled while dripping wet. The man stood, pushing his way through the tall flowers with almost transparent yellow petals. He was momentarily distracted by their beauty and slowed in pace, losing Lucy in the woods ahead. The man ran, screaming for his girl.


“Lucy! Lucy my love! Lucy! Come back to me! Come back to me, I beg you….” He trailed off as his desperate cries turned into tears. He sat down on the bright green grass and sobbed, whispering to himself in a lulled way. “Lucy, if only I could see your face, beautiful, beautiful face…. To kiss your soft lips, taste the sweetness in them…. Stroke your ever-so-lightly blushed cheek with my fingertips…. look into your sparkling eyes…. That blue, I have never seen another like them…oh, my love, my Lucy…..” He put his head in his hands.


Suddenly he heard the same whisper in the wind calling his name. His head snapped up just in time to see Lucy motioning for him to follow with a single finger on her right hand. He leapt up running towards her once more. She turned with a smile on her face to continue along the edge of the woods. Though he was running after her and she was only walking, or it seemed to be gliding, he was never closer than a few hundred feet from her. A rather odd phenomenon he thought.

He followed her on and soon began to recognize the place. He and Lucy had been here before, he could swear. Lucy continued walking, occasionally turning back to make sure he was following, and they soon arrived in a meadow-like area. Near the meadow was the northern part of the river; it was much deeper here and there were more rocks. There was a small fountain of water coming through two rocks that were pressed together. The rippled water gave a serene feeling.

As he looked around, he saw Lucy climbing onto a bridge that crossed over the fast moving water. He went to hurry after her. The flowers continued along the bank of the water, and now he was noticing people looking at him. There were many, all just standing by. They were happy, smiling, and celebrating something. They were all dressed in white, simple clothes and ate only white food- puddings, cakes, and pies. A tall woman stepped forward with a large smile showing off perfect straight teeth. She was holding a plate with food on it and she offered it to him, but he refused and hurried to catch up to Lucy who was now standing in the center of the tall bridge looking out at the river.

The sun was nearly setting and the stars began to come out, a light dusting of diamonds, matching her eyes. He reached the top of the bridge and stood next to her.

“I have missed you, love,” he said reaching out to embrace her. She said nothing. He gazed into her hypnotic eyes, confused, as she leaned over the edge of the bridge and let herself fall, down, down, down, into the now dark river. He screamed and looked down. He saw her body floating, unmoving. He jumped into the water to swim and retrieve her, but she was floating away and he was being pulled by some unknown force back to the shore. There was a line of small water boats, almost looking like taxi cabs. They were numbered, but also had many words and pictures. He saw as he was pulled closer that they were obituaries from newspapers.

Slowly, the people he saw celebrating on shore were lining up to get into the taxis. They didn’t go straight down stream though, they levitated off the water and began rising to the sky. The man watched as a thick fog set in, lower and lower, into the water. He was levitated into a taxi and he kept his head up, looking into the fog to see where he was being taken. The view was completely obscured, however, by the now dark shy and the lowering clouds. He drifted up and soon was in the sky. He couldn’t see two feet in front of him; all he saw was white clouds and the faint sparkle of the diamond stars.

When the fog cleared, he saw that he was standing in a terminal. It appeared to be a train station. Grand Central perhaps? Maybe King’s Cross? Or someplace different, he could not tell, everything was white and there was no ceiling, only the dark blue, star speckled night sky. He saw men directing people in white. They were peculiar looking, an almost waxy skin, and they were stiff moving. Their clothes seemed to be a part of them and their ties were the strangest he had ever seen. They were reflective. A looking glass. The light of the stars shone in the porter’s ties.

The man looked around in circles and up to the sky, when suddenly, an area in the crowd cleared and there was a sparkle of small, faint, blue, piercing eyes. Lucy. She has appeared out of nowhere. He shouted her name and at that moment everything went dark as he ran to her. Only the stars shone and Lucy was illuminated, staring at him from the turnstile as her eyes sparkled once more- the diamonds he loved.

He embraced her and kissed her cheek, “My Lucy, I do not know where we are, or how we got here, but your beautiful eyes led me!”

“We are in the sky,” she replied. “Isn’t it beautiful here?” she asked.

He looked around. The station had disappeared and they stood together with only the night around them.

“Yes,” he smiled. “And I am with you at last. My Lucy in the sky with diamonds.”