The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

 

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

By Frank Tremayne

 

 

Francis was in a state of shock. He had lost Abby 10 days previously. Her death hadn’t been unexpected. She had been ill for a few years with a combination of dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Even so when the end came, his heart and mind couldn’t cope. Their children Rachel and Alex who were twins and the youngest girl Tina supported as best they could. The children had to explain to the grandchildren about death as well. A perfect nightmare.

Francis had met Abby when he was 28. He worked for an Insurance firm called Prudence Plc. He had been recently promoted and moved to new offices in Horsham, West Sussex, England. One Monday morning Abby walked in. She was the new girl on the block and she had an extraordinary effect on Francis. She was an Angel of Beauty and as soon as he saw her face and said Hello, his body went into a state of shock. He couldn’t stop shaking and at lunchtime he went to the King’s Arms and had three pints of beer to calm his nerves. He blamed it on the effects of a boozy weekend. With hindsight, it had become clear the state of shock was meeting Abby.

Abby was 6 years younger than Francis. Francis was in a relationship with another employee of Prudence Plc at the office, Mandy. This turned out to be a very brief relationship. Abby was with Richard. Francis and Abby became good friends. Secretly, after he had ended with Mandy, he hoped that he and Emma may become a couple. There were two problems with this. Firstly, Abby was still with Richard and secondly in Francis’ eyes Abby was out of his pay league.

And then a miracle happened. One sunny July evening at about 7pm, he received a phone call at home. It was Abby. She sounded very nervous and asked questions about how had Francis’ day been and how was his family. Francis thought this is all a bit weird. And then Abby had got to the point. She had broken up with Richard a month previously and wondered whether Francis would like to go for a drink with her. Before he knew it, he had blurted out ‘Yes’ before his mind had processed the question.

His birthday was on a Saturday a few days away and he didn’t have any real plans to celebrate apart from to go down the pub with his mates and they decided that would be a good day. The weather looked good and Abby suggested maybe they could have a day at the seaside and they decided to go to Eastbourne as Abby had relatives there and could kill two birds with one stone.

They first called on Abby’s relatives to say Hello and then visited Eastbourne Pier and as they strolled along the promenade, Francis found his right hand reaching out and at the same time Abby’s left hand reached out and they were holding hands ! They had brought their swimming gear and went to the Seven Sisters for a swim in the English channel. Abby in a swimsuit was Venus from the Waves. Francis was trying to play it cool whilst everything was exploding inside him. Later they went to The Lamb pub where they had a birthday meal and a few drinks.

Abby was the driver and she drove Francis back to his flat just outside Horsham. Before he got out of the car they kissed passionately. Very passionately. Abby left and Francis went into the flat and lay down and thought ‘I think I’m in love with Abby.’

The relationship progressed. It was intense and passionate. After three months Francis wondered whether he should ask Abby to marry him but he decided against it. He had read an article which says you can’t truly tell if the relationship is serious or not until after 15 months and also there were upheavals at Prudence Plc with the introduction of computerised systems and wasn’t sure how financially things would pan out.

Francis left Prudence when it became clear there wasn’t much of a future there and he then started his paramedic training. Abby remained at Prudence and after two years of dating he plucked up the courage and asked Abby to marry him. And she said Yes !

They were married at St Paul’s Church in Partridge Green. Never in his life had he seen a sight so beautiful as when Abby walked down the aisle. Their married life before the illness was 90% wonderful and 10% not so wonderful. Abby had a period of post partum depression after the birth of the twins, Rachel and Alex, and Francis had become obsessed with his job as a paramedic. With the birth of the twins, Abby left Prudence. Abby was a fantastic violinist and eventually was much sought after by orchestras and even played at the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in England. This also involved travelling around the globe and Francis’ shifts didn’t fit in with child care so that added to the stress. The grandparents were a great help with this.

It did calm down though and they fell back in love again and six years after the birth of the twins, there was a further child Tina. They lived in a beautiful house in the English village of Pulborough and for the next twenty years everything was all roses. The children were wonderful and they all married and had their own children.

When Abby reached 55, the first signs appeared. At first they put it down to ‘Senior Moments’ and would joke about her not remembering and her slightly odd behaviour. And then it got worse. And it got worser. Abby was diagnosed with dementia and also was complicated by Parkinson’s disease. Francis investigated a cure which involved researching cryogenics and also took in a pilgrimage to Lourdes in France. Neither of which helped. Abby would have occasional months of being back to normal and then would relapse into dementia. When she was 63 Francis and the children decided it would be best if Abby was put in a care home as she need 24 hour professional care by this point.

She lived in the care home for the next two years and then one morning came the phone call from the care home. Abby had died in her sleep and Francis drove to the care home. There had been a mystery with Abby. Since they were married, in the eyes of Francis, Abby had never got older. To everyone else she looked her earthly age. Up to the point she died, she looked 25 to him, which was her age they were married and when he saw her body, with shock he observed she now looked like a 65 year old woman. For the next three hours Francis held Abby’s hand until a nurse came along and said ‘You will have to leave now. Your wife has passed over.’ Francis looked at Abby’s body and thought to himself ‘I will find you.’

Ten days later, Francis left the Funeral Directors and was attempting to make sense of it all. And then out of the blue he found himself on the pavement. He knew from his paramedic training what was happening. He was having a stroke and it was a big one. He vaguely sensed the ambulance and paramedics and then he heard the words ‘Non Responsive.’

Abby and Francis were buried next to each other in the churchyard of St Rosa a few weeks later. On their tombstones it reads Side By Side Forever Together.

Francis knew he was dead. He had wondered if he would resuscitate but that didn’t happen. What he sensed now was Darkness and a lot of it. He waited patiently. An age seemed to pass and still the darkness. He thought ‘Where is the tunnel of light and the angels and Jesus and God, etc. More importantly than any of them ‘Where is Abby ? She should be with me.’ He knew he had left his earthly body and was now non physical spirit and he was still very much alive. Which was OK he thought apart from the never ending darkness and being alone. Aeons seemed to pass and the darkness didn’t end. There was no sound, smell or sights or any earthly sensations. Just being in the dark. Totally pitch black. And he was scared.

Then after what seemed like forever, he sensed something. Slowly it was becoming warmer and warmer. He heard a pulsating beat, which from his paramedic days, sounded like pumping blood. He liked this place all of a sudden. It was like being in the snuggest bed in the world. Lovely and warm and then he felt Love. He wasn’t too sure exactly where this was coming from. He just knew it was Love. He thought this is an ‘OK Place’.

A while passed and then his peace was disturbed. At times it felt like he was in a storm with big waves which would then calm down and then return. By this point he had understood what was happening . And then later slowly in the distance he saw a tiny dot of light and the light got bigger and bigger and the waves became more turbulent. The pumping blood sound got louder and the heat temperature had turned up.

And whoosh. Down a tunnel at the speed of light. Out he popped. There were bright lights everywhere and he heard human voices again. He started crying and a teat was put into his mouth and he sucked and sucked.

And the first thought in his new body : ‘Where’s Abby ?’

 

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