He sat in a darkened corner, head down and heart heavy. He couldn’t believe she was gone. Not out-of-town gone, but gone forever. It happened so fast; he could have stopped it from happening like this.
He sighed sadly. The echo of his sigh fell on his ears heavily, but curiously; like someone else had sighed with him. Looking up, all he saw was dusty air. Or was it? He saw a shape of a young girl dancing with the dust & slanted beam of light penetrating the murky windows. She turned to look at him, then turned away, shyly giggling. Slowly he stood up, not daring to take his eyes off the apparition on the other side of the room. She turned to look at his sad face, joyfully skipped over the grimy floor to where he stood, & motioned for him to come down towards her. He crouched to the floor slowly, still watching her in wonder. She brushed his cheek, gave him a hopeful smile, & kissed him. She skipped away, finally fading.
He held his hand where she had kissed him & smiled a knowing smile. They would be okay.