It wasn’t their fault…they were ready.

Just as he is now.

He laid back on his bed, finally at peace with himself…with the world. He had done everything he had wanted to do with his life. High school, college, a career as an artist…and marriage. Marriage to his Maria. They had been so happy together. They all had been happy…Isabel and Alex…Maria and Michael. The only people missing from his wonderful life were Max and Liz…….

He was ready to join them all now, though. It was time.

Michael closed his eyes and breathed in deep.

He died with a smile on his face.

Dark…there was darkness but, on the horizon, was a blazing white light. Dimly, he wondered if this was a sight all of his friends had been greeted with over the years but as quickly as that thought came to him, it disappeared….

For there, silhouetted in that light, were five unforgettable figures…..figures he had been waiting for….his family….he had waited years to be with them all again.

Smiling, he began to walk forward. He could feel the change come over him with every step he took.

Slowly, the lines in his face eased away to that once youthful face of when he was 16.

His hair, which for years had been a unrelenting grey, turned back to the rich brown Maria used to ran her hands through.

He stepped forth and was once again 16…forever.

Unspeaking, letting their smiles do the talking for them, all six came together in a rush. As one unit, they joined hands and renewed the connection that was decades old, rebound the love they all felt. In one blinding flash, they relived life’s triumphs, sadnesses…they lived through each other. They were one.

They wouldn’t be separated….never again.

They were joined.

In Death, In Life.

For eternity.