The Houseguest

"I'll always miss her, Henry. It doesn't matter that it's been over a year. She's my mother, after all."

Henry sighed, and sank further into the sofa. "But that's what I'm trying to say, Maggie. She's not gone. She never left."

Maggie put her hands on her hips. "Henry Stivner, I never took you for a cruel man. But what you just said..."

Henry studied the swirling black pattern on the plush maroon carpet. "I'm not trying to be cruel, Maggie. I'm trying to tell you that I've felt her presence in our bedroom every night since she passed. Why do you think I've not been able to spend an entire night in there since the funeral?"

Maggie studied his face. "What made you decide to speak up now? After so long?"

Henry looked up, his eyes slowly widening. "You believe me?"

She nodded. "The nights I got up, I always found you on the couch. You'd never done that before. What happened to make you decide to tell me?"

"It was last night, when I saw a door that shouldn't be there. It was over by the dresser. A bright sunshine yellow. You told me that was her favorite color, when we were picking out the wedding colors. I always suspected the presence I felt was your mother, but that confirmed it."

"Did you see what was on the other side?" Maggie whispered, glancing in back of the couch at the open bedroom door for a second.

Henry shook his head. "I was afraid to touch it, or even go near it. I'm sorry, Honey. I know how much you want a message from your mom."

Maggie sat beside him, and took his hand. "No, you did the right thing. I don't want to lose you too."

He smiled sadly. "I don't think she would have hurt me."

"Of course not... I just worry that something could have gone wrong. There's a barrier between the living and the dead for a reason."

"Don't worry, I would never be able to bring myself to touch that door. I seriously thought about grabbing a chair, and sitting near it. But I couldn't even bring myself to do that. I guess I'm just a coward..."

Maggie dabbed her eyes, then hugged him. "You're the bravest man I know! Thank you for wanting to do that for me."

She sniffled. "Why didn't you wake me?"

He went pale. "Well, I saw this movie once. A mother who passed away missed her son so much that she tried to get him to cross over early. I guess I couldn't get the idea out of my head, I'm sorry."

She stiffened. "Mom would never do anything like that!"

He sat straighter, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I know. I just couldn't stand it if anything happened to you, Honey. Like you said, something could go wrong, even though she'd never deliberately hurt us."

She relaxed, leaning against Henry. A few seconds later the couple curled up together on the couch, arms entwined and eyes closed.

Unknown to them, a bright sunshine yellow door appeared in their bedroom, and opened a crack. Out of it rolled a small, bright sunshine yellow ball, with a smiley face on one side, and the word goodbye printed on the other.

A second later, the door was gone.

---

---

Cover image made in Canva Pro using their gallery