The road stretched around the corner, illuminated by his car’s headlights. Karl looked over at Maria and smiled, and she looked back at him. Suddenly the side of her face grew brighter, much too bright. He turned back just in time to see another pair of headlights. And then there was a lot of noise, and then for a time there was nothing.

He pulled her from the wreckage, her body broken and bleeding. He knew she was dead but he couldn’t stand the thought of living without her, refused to accept it even as a possibility.

Thinking back, his memory of the time before the EMT ’s arrived is a blur. He may have performed CPR ; he may have cried out into the night, or to something in the dark; he may have said things that shouldn’t have been said. All he knows is that, somehow, she came back to him.

But in the weeks since, he has become increasingly convinced that something came back with her.