Frank

Zanya held the letters in her hand, still trembling, while an array of tears trickled down her pale cheek. An Army officer had visited her couple of hours back and had notified her that Army Spec. Frank had been killed in a car bomb incident early that morning.

The officer handed her two envelopes and a chest containing some personal artifacts of Frank. He had long gone before Zanya closed the door shut.

The first letter was from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service addressed to her, informing her about procedures for collecting death benefits.

She threw it on the coffee table.

She opened the other letter. Unlike the first letter, this one was hand-written. She immediately recognized the handwriting.

"Darling,
If you are reading this, it means that I cannot meet you any longer - cannot feel you, cannot kiss you. The time that we spent together was the best of my life. I wish that things would have been different - that our country had not declared war on Iraq. Life could have been so different. I could have been with you. I miss you and I love you.
I love you more than you will ever know.
Yours,
Frank"

For the third time in her life she’d lost someone she loved.
First it had been her mother. Then her Golden Retriever - Cuddles. Now it was Frank.

Frank was a warm, caring, religious man who made her laugh and forget her lonely past. From the day he had entered her life, it took a turn for the better. She had begun to appreciate life more and more. He showed her that no matter where one came from, or who one was, life was an unwritten script waiting to be filled in and changed at one’s own will.

But now stark reality awaited her. Her husband of 7 years was no more.

She heard a thunder.  The dark clouds rolled in and the sky darkened. It was going to rain.
A crash of thunder again… A drop here, a drop there…
The gentle tap of rain on the windows engulfed the sad silence.

She wept aloud to break the rhythmic tap of the dancing raindrops. Tears roll down her cheek again. The intensity of the rain is increased too - Each trying to keep pace with the other.

A sudden lightning struck and a strong breeze rocked the trees. A split second image of a person passed before her eyes. 

"Frank!" she cried out aloud. Her mind was probably playing tricks.
There came three rapid knocks at the door.

——————————————*****———————————————-

When Zanya woke up in the morning, it was still raining. The marbled floor that had been her bed for the night was hard and cold. She got up slowly to her feet.
She knew that the everyday then onwards was going to be just a little more painful than the previous day. She missed Frank but life had to go on.

She picked up the letter from the floor and placed in on the table.

Suddenly a man stepped out of the kitchen into the little circle illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the window. Was it Frank or a figment of her imagination?

He smiled and disappeared, never to return to her life again.

Cheers,
Rosh