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Email From the Other Side
The email she received today was marked urgent. But, how could this be? She trembled when she saw it. The senders address belonged to a very close friend, who had tragically died two years earlier. This was impossible. As she stared at the un-opened email, her mind began to drift off to a much simpler time.
She had just moved to Michigan from Arizona, she was in the fifth grade. She remembered it was her first day at a new school, and how nervous she was. Until, she heard her voice for the first time.
"Hi, I'm Jenny" the sweet voice said. As she turned around she replied, "I'm Sydney", with a shaking voice.
After that day the two girls were inseparable. As the years passed by Jenny and Sydney remained very close, all the way thru highschool.
Wherever you would see one, the other would by close by.
It was the summer after their junior year in college when it happened.
As she gazed at the computer screen, it was as if she was right back there, in that terrible moment.
It was a warm evening in early June. Jenny had prepared herself for her usual bike ride, as she had every evening. She loved those bike rides. This was her time to clear her mind and just release any negative energy she may have had. There was just one difference about that evening. This day, Jenny had decided to take a different route so that she could ride by Sydney's shop, where she had worked. It happened to be Sydney's 21st birthday this particular day, and Jenny wanted to wish her best friend a happy birthday, she also had just found out she A-ced their final exams, amd she definitely wanted to share that with Sydney as well.
This would not happen however, because Sydney had just so happened to be let off with early, because it was her birthday. She was super excited to get home to surprise Jenny and start the birthday celebrating they had planned.
Sydney had just left work when her phone began to buzz, and as she fumbled to retrieve her phone from her purse, she dropped it onto the floor board. Foolishly, she took her eyes off of the road to reach for it, and before she knew it, her vehicle had spun out and slammed into another vehicle. As she struggled to maintain conscienceness, she could see a crowd of on-lookers gathering. But what were they looking at? What had she hit? With all her strength, she emerged from her vehicle and stumbled over to the crowd of people. As she began to see what the people were looking at, her heart began to sink. That was Jenny's crumpled bike, and next to it lay her lifeless body. Sydney could not believe her eyes. Had she done this? Could this really he happening? Her legs began to feel weak and losing conscienceness again, Sydney fell to the ground.
When Sydney awoke again, two days had passed. Realizing where she was, images of what had happened flooded her mind. She began to call for her friend. "Jenny!" "Jenny!" , she frantically yelled. Finally, a nurse ran in and promptly injected Sydney's IV with a liquid that almost immediately began to calm her. As she began to feel the affect of the medication she heard the nurse say, "There was a terrible accident, and your friend did not make it. I'm so sorry honey, but just know this was not your fault. " The nurse began to explain that another car had hit Jenny as a result of the accident, but it wasn't Sydney's fault. The nurse told Sydney that it was an opened man-hole that caused her to lose control. It had been the fault of the city in their negligence of leaving this hole unattended. As the nurse kept talking, Sydney was filled with a deep sense of guilt, because she knew what had really happened. Out of fear and shame, however, she did not ever tell anyone the truth.
Day after day, month after month, Sydney lived with the terrible guilt of what happened to Jenny. It had gotten so bad that she had quit her job, and isolated herself inside her apartment. She spent everyday hardly ever her bedroom Barely managing to make enough money to survive, by taking online notary jobs. She literally had nobody. She was extremely alone, in her pain and guilt.
As she came back from the realistic images of that day, she had been so far so into thought about, and still staring at her computer she glanced and the date. She was shocked. Today was her birthday. But that meant nothing now, as it was also the two year anniversary of that horrible day. Was someone playing a terrible joke? Why would someone do this? She reached for the mouse, hovered the printer over the un-opened email, and after almost a minute she finally clicked to open it.
She stared at the senders address, it was definitely Jenny's email address. Sydney was sure of it. With one final breath she began to read the message.
"Sydney, the wreck was not your fault. I need you to know this. It was me that had called you that night. I was calling to tell you I'd be by the shop because I wanted to wish you happy birthday. You see, it was my phone call that caused you to drop your phone. You have to believe this Sydney because it is the truth. You have to let go of the guilt you carry because it is that guilt that prevented you from crossing over with me. You see, you died that night as I did. You unbuckled to reach for your phone, and when you crashed into the other vehicle you were ejected from your car. Your body lay right next to mine that tragic night. But because you believed my death was your fault, the guilt and pain did not allow you to see the light and cross with me. I had to find a way to tell you, so that you can finally come be where I am. It is because you also died that you have felt so alone. The truth is your loved ones have been grieving your loss, as my family has been mourning mine. Please Sydney it's time for you to come to the other side and be free with me."
At first Sydney could not grasp the fact that she had also died that day. But as she read the email over again, it all started to make sense. As her surroundings started to fade, she began to see the most beautiful light. Then a feeling of peace rushed over her, and she knew this must be what Jenny was taking about. All of a sudden, the heaviness she had carried was gone and she had the sensation she was floating. As the world she had known began to grow more and more distant, she raised her head to look at the magnificent light that was drawing her in. Sydney began to see a faint silouette, and tho she thought she recognized it, she couldn't quit make it out. It didn't look like Jenny. But who was it? As her body floated ever said weightlessly towards the light, she began to recognize the figure before her. Immediately she felt immense joy that she hadn't felt in a very long time. Sydney now knew exactly who it was. Tho it was not Jenny who had come to greet her, she burst out with joy and without hesitation exclaimed, " Hi, Mom!" Sydney was only 10 years old when her mom had died, so this was a very welcomed reunion. Then one by one, all those who had come before her, began to emerge from the angelic light. Then finally, Sydney heard a familiar sweet voice say,
"Hello." Finally she and Jenny had been reunited, and the hell Sydney had suffered thru was finally over. Now she could finally be at peace with the ones that she loves.
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