Page 157 - Musings 2020

the living room to the kitchen. The kitchen table used to be rotated ninety degrees… little
things.

The other strange thing was that all the lights were on, but there were no people. I began to
walk around the house. I walked slowly down the hall to where the bedrooms were. First, on
the left was Jake’s. The door was open so I didn’t need to pass through to peer in. The room
was empty. Even the carpeting was gone. It looked like no one had used that room in years. A
knot was beginning to form in the pit of my stomach. Something wasn’t right. I continued
down the hall, and to the right was our old bedroom. The decor was certainly more… modern
than how I remember it. The walls were a different color. As I panned across the room, my
eyes finally reached the bed. Under the covers lay an old man, tucked in tight and looking
like he was on his last legs.

Who was this guy? And then I thought, Katie may have remarried and time had passed, this
may be her new husband. I looked around the room for more clues. I didn’t see any pictures
of Katie and me, or Katie and her new husband, so the identity of this man was still a
mystery. His breathing became more forced and he began to cough. Whoever this guy was,
his time was almost up. Suddenly I heard a clatter coming from the hallway. I turned to look,
as a group of people slowly walked down the hall and into the room, surrounding the bed. I
looked at all of the people and surprisingly didn’t recognize a single one. “HEY!” I shouted
out. I turned around and He was right behind me, holding his device up and reading its
display.

“What is this? Who are all these people?”
“This is your family, Mike.”
“What?!” Then, I heard one of the children speak. They had approached the old man in the
bed and held his hand. Tears began to roll down their cheeks, as they could barely get the
words out. As the words left the child’s mouth, that knot in my stomach forced its way up
into my throat and I immediately began to sob giant tears of regret.
“Goodbye Grandpa Jake.”

The old man turned his head to the child and I could finally see his face clearly. The eyes, the
mouth, the one crooked eyebrow. It was my Jake. All grown up and now, at the end of his
life. He was able to do it all without me. I started to look at the photos on the wall and saw all
the experiences he had that I missed.
“I missed it all.” I mumbled to myself. He came up behind me and put a hand on my
shoulder.
“I tried to tell you, but you were too stubborn. I figured you had to learn for yourself. As soon
as you get whisked away, we have a constant connection back down here, you could have
watched it all, been there every step of the way.”

Tears were uncontrollably running down my face now.
Suddenly, Jake gasped, his eyes rolled back into his head and the color faded from his face. A
loud sound blared from the device and He took notice of it. He pressed a few buttons and
then put it back in his pocket.
“Well, it looks like I have to take both of you.”
“What?” I spun around. It started low, but a wind began to blow inside the house. I couldn’t
feel it, but I could definitely hear it. It grew louder and louder until it was as boisterous and

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