"On some nights, I'd look out the window and wish you could be here with me. Even though I know you're watching down from above, I also know, for sure, nothing beats sharing this beautiful night with you by my side."

Days to months and, finally, to years. She watched as time slowly slipped past her eyes

No doubt, her youth was well-spent with sunflowers and butterflies, evening walks with her Shetland Sheepdog and Ben & Jerry's for supper. She enjoyed every moment of it. Every small detail turned into a fraction of her memory of which she looked back on with a smile. It was a heart-warming sight.

Her neighbors loved her sense of humor. Although, nowadays, she no longer speaks. Her only way of communication is through the look in her eyes which evidently tells her audience of the life she has led till now. It was a very tender look that would touch you softly.

She first met him some decades ago. She still in her second year in high school and, well, he would hang around the estate smoking weed and spray painting walls. That afternoon, it was probably God's play that brought him to her house. She had caught him in the act and he reacted interestingly to her threaten.

Eventually, she had him clean her vandalized walls though, now that she recalls the incident, he might have done it willingly without her asking. He was always the bad kid. People judged him for coming from an incomplete family, for having an incomplete education. Children used to teased him and no one would address him by his name. It was as though he was alive but not exactly living.

She, however, called him by his name. Throwing aside the first time she had caught him red-handed, she welcomed him into her life graciously. In her life, she stood out because her genuine kindness made her shine. Her undying willingness to reach out to others moved everyone.

In a way, they were very different. Perhaps, they came from two worlds on parallel orbits. Yet she opened her arms to him. Her parents gladly accepted him. Things went smoothly. Somehow, they always did. Then, with each passing year, their relationship developed further and before anyone knew it, they were starting a little family of their own.

It was God's gift to them both to have each other's company and the little ones who joined them along the way added to their bundle of joy. Just when everyone was envious of their perfect little family, all that came back one evening was loneliness. Since then, it had always been like that.

The man she married disappeared overnight. Police classified him missing while others predicted all sorts of outcomes. He could have died on his way home or he could have left her for somewhere better. No one knows for sure.

But she brought her children up bravely, with the help of her parents. She never backed down from fighting her battles and maybe others were no longer so envious of her but that didn't matter.

Every night, all that ever runs through her mind is the small talk she has with herself of what could have happened. Although, in recent years, the thoughts changed and she, probably, stopped thinking. All she did was to sit by her window with a tired smile.

With a note in her hand, she'd close her eyes and feel the sun's warmth. Slowly, it felt, extremely slowly, the grip on the note loosened and she let herself go.

Was it fifty years? Or maybe sixty? She waited, holding on to a dear note. She waited with no regrets and on her last breath, she smiled knowing it was time to see him again.

The note read, "I promise I'll be back soon."