A Secret Of Two Hearts

"I love you."
"I love you too."

Andy turned toward the door thinking the impossible and walked out into the inevitable. He left behind his wife of 26 years lying in bed, she had the day off. Andy walked down Sommer Street and stopped at the news stand and quickly got carried away in a conversation with the man behind the counter over coffee. The phone rings, "Honey, are you coming home straight after work today, I miss you?" Andy takes a sip of his cold coffee, "I will baby, I'll come straight, I can't wait to see you tonight." He never heard the bus zoom by behind him, failing to stop at the corner bus stop. Andy drops his cold coffee, throws the phone into his overcoat pocket and runs after the bus. Andy drops his newspaper and begins to run frantically yelling at the top of his lungs, "HEY, HEY, HEY WAIT WAIT FOR ME!" He sees brake lights as the bus pulls into the next stop at the next block. Andy sees a second chance and goes into full speed yelling, he can't be late for work again this morning. As he runs, he feels his heart pump, he feels the sweat begin to bead on his forehead and he never saw the car. The car that took his life as it sped passed the stop sign and slammed into Andy throwing him over the hood and smashing into the winshield. He is propelled 15 feet forward by the impact. Andy is killed instantely. Patricia has gone back to bed.

Many thoughts race through our minds when we awake, but never does the thought, 'this is my last day alive' ever ease into our minds. We are blinded by ignorance to a higher power. We are attached to our core belief of invincability and infallibility, but never to the creed that tomorrow is promised to no one. Patricia wakes up to the incesant knocking on the front door, she places her robe on and ties the knot around her waist and clumsly walks to the front door. She looks through the peep hole and sees two officers standing, knocking repeatedly. As she opens she notices that one of them has blood on his hands, nervously she asks, "How can I help you?" The officers invite themselves in and take their hats off, what they have seen today they could never conjure up in their wildest fantasies. Patricia's heart has now sunk to the pit of her stomach and now she demands to know why two officers are standing in her front entrance, one soaked with blood. "Mam, theirs been a terrible accident. I am afraid that your husband has been struck by a vehicle. He was taken to Memorial Hospital but doctors were too late; I'm sorry." Patricia never felt herself collapse onto the floor, her knees gave out and she stumbled speechless. Maybe it was just a dream, a nightmare. A loud screech can be heard just about anywhere in the building, and the two officers find themselves picking her up and carrying her to the couch. Her robe is soaked in tears and her heart is beating so fast its about to puncture through her skin. She faints again, but just before she does she whispers, "I never told him."

As the two police officers call for back up they find themsleves trying all they can to keep Patricia awake, when a love is stolen from you, no one can describe the hell that you go through. The officers have called in a special councelor who will talk to Patricia and accompany the officers as she goes to identify the body of her Andy.

Many family member and loved ones attend the funeral. Patricia has not stopped crying for two days, and her sister who flew in will be staying an extra week to make sure things are ok. After the service Patricia asks to be alone before they lower the casket into the earth where Andy will rest forever. In agony and tears she goes on her knees and tries to speak, but only a whimper is uttered from her mouth. She gathers herself and says, "Baby I never told you I loved you. I never told you I needed you. I never told you I was sorry." She bursts into tears again, regains her compsure and says, "I'm sorry Andy, I'm so so sorry baby. I need to tell you that..." She explodes into a gut wrenching sob, others begin to worry. "...that, for the past year I've been cheating on you. I met a man and I felt myself attracted to him and I continued seeing him. I'M SO SORRY ANDY!" Her sister runs to the casket and picks up Patricia who is about to faint again and gives her a hug. She needed to tell Andy that she was sorry for cheating on him, but amidst all the confusion she never once felt she didn't love Andy. No one dies with secrets.

I take my walk up the hill and see Patricia there, her knees drenched in mud hugging her sister. I walk up to the plot and place my flower on the casket and ask to speak to Patricia. Her sister lets go, and gives one last kiss to her older sister and walks away, turning around to glance at me every few steps. "Patricia, I am so sorry about Andy, I came once I heard." She wipes a tear from her eye, curiously she asks, "I'm sorry, how do we know you?" "A year ago I met Andy at a bus stop and we got to talking and began seeing each other. It turned serious and we were very much romantically involved. I was on the phone with him that morning. I called him the day he died." Patricia can feel her heart pumping, her body quivering and her mind racing over everything Andy told her the past year. "I'm telling you this becasue I feel you should know, I'm telling you this because he would have wanted you to know. I'm sorry." No one dies with secrets.