“I’m over here!” she yelled.
Katelyn smiled and giggled as she ran around the corner of the house and into the backyard. She was playing with her new puppy her father just brought her for Christmas. He was yelling for her to come in to breakfast.
Eating was the last thing on her mind. Her little puppy was just what she asked Santa for. She couldn’t believe she actually got what she wanted. At eight years old, she still believed Santa was real. Her father told her Santa dropped off the puppy to his place so he could feed it before giving it to her.
Katelyn’s parents Elisa and Harper Dixon divorced when she was five-years-old. Since then, she shared her time equally between her mother and her father. It was hard, but she was growing used to it. She was with her father this Christmas and the next day she would spend with her mother.
She loved going to her father’s house. His girlfriend Brook was nice and was a good cook. Her mother rarely cooked. She was too busy working and in fact, the times that she was at her mother’s place, Katelyn was with the babysitter until bedtime. Her mother usually got home in time to tuck her in. Elisa wasn’t a bad person; she just didn’t spend much of her day thinking of Katelyn or her needs.
Harper, on the other hand, seemed to always make time for her. Rarely did her father work late or leave her with a babysitter. He doted on her, making sure she had everything she needed; not just the material things, but an actual home environment.
It was early in the morning on Christmas and she already unwrapped all of her gifts. None of them held her attention like her puppy though. It was a Labrador and Harper told her he would get big. She asked what his name was and her father told her Santa said it was up to her to name him. She looked at his big ears, which he would soon grow into and named him Floppy.
Floppy chased her around the yard. She toppled to the ground, rolling around in the snow and the puppy leapt on her. Katelyn giggled, loving it. She couldn’t be happier. Again, her father called her for breakfast. She ran to the back door of the house and was brought up short. Suddenly, she was at the home her parents shared before they divorced. She was confused.
“Daddy?” she whispered. Then louder, she yelled, “Daddy? Where are you?”
* * * * *
She couldn’t believe it was happening again. She woke up in a sweat, sitting straight up in bed. She’s sure she screamed again. Jackson told her she always did. Her husband knew her nightmare well. Katelyn said she feared there would be a time she didn’t wake up from it; she would forever remain a child, looking for her father.
Her psychologist told her it stemmed from the death of Harper, but she didn’t quite believe him. Something deep down inside told her that her father was looking for her as well. She didn’t understand it, but knew the dream meant something.
Now twenty-eight, she was still unable to get past her father’s death. It was winter and Harper was on his way to pick her up. She was fifteen and very rebellious. She hated going back and forth between her parents’ homes. All of her friends lived near Elisa and because her father lived an hour away, she couldn’t spend time with her friends when she was at her father’s house.
She waited for over an hour past the time her father was supposed to show up. Elisa was, once again, at work and the babysitter Florie was there. Furious that her father was late, she flounced out of the house, screaming to Florie that she was tired of waiting and was going to her friend’s house. Gloria lived the next block over and during the entire walk she murmured to herself about how she refused to go to her father’s anymore.
The night before she got into a fight with her father on the telephone; she wanted to stay home so she could go to Gloria’s today and her father said no, insisting he would be there to get her as scheduled. She yelled at him, telling him she wished he was dead.
Since then, she prayed to be able to take her words back. On the way to get her, Harper was killed. He was crossing the train tracks, the arm was up, no signal was heard and the light was green. A train bore down on him and hit the driver’s side full force. He was killed instantly. The report indicated that he must have been listening to music loud not to have heard the train’s warning whistle.
Katelyn saw a psychiatrist since then, insisting it was her fault because she wished her father dead. Night sweats and dreams were a part of her life. She’d wake up screaming for her father. She was inconsolable for a long time. She kept telling everyone her father was looking for her, but every time she tried to run into his arms, he disappeared.
As an adult, nothing changed. Getting married didn’t help; she still felt the need to look for her father and deep down, she knew he was looking for her. There was no plausible explanation for her irrational thought that her father was out there somewhere. She knew he died.
She refused to have children of her own because she didn’t want them to go through a divorce like she had to endure. Instead, she threw herself into her career, much like her mother always did.
Now after having been startled awake by her confusing reverie, she got up from bed and decided to begin her day, despite the fact it was only four thirty in the morning. Jackson was working the graveyard shift at the hospital and was not there to comfort her.
Downstairs she made coffee then checked her cell phone. Two calls from her mother telling her it was urgent she call her back. Everything was pressing to her mother. The last time Elisa requested an immediate call back, it was to tell Katelyn that she was getting remarried. Her mother remarried and divorced twice since her father passed away. Maybe this newest call would be to say she was getting divorced again. Katelyn often wondered if her mother knew what the word ‘stability’ meant or the phrase ‘until death do you part’. The closest Elisa ever came to getting that right was with her father.
After the coffee was done, she prepared a cup and took it into her home office. She was a budding, young architect who was trying to take the world by its reigns. She was in the midst of a proposal she intended on submitting to her boss. While rearranging some specifications on her drawings, her cell phone rang. Because it was barely after five o’clock, she wondered who could be calling her so early.
“Hello?”
“Katelyn,” the word came out as a mere whisper.
“Yes, who is this?”
“Katelyn,” the person repeated.
“May I help you?”
“It’s…father…need…you…help,” all the words came out garbled from a bad connection.
“Who is this? I can’t understand you.”
“Help…”
The line went dead. She looked at her cell phone for caller identification. It said it was a private number.
The call rattled her. The voice seemed familiar with a note of desperation. She was certain it was a man, but had no idea who it was or what help he needed. She was hoping the person would call back. She couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that something was wrong, very wrong.
She tried to go back to her work, but couldn’t concentrate. She got up, got another cup of coffee and went out on the back porch. She lit a cigarette, trying to calm herself down. It was a habit she started when she was seventeen and one she kicked five years ago. In the last few months, she found herself tense and on occasion smoked a cigarette. Jackson wasn’t pleased, but never gave her any grief over it.
She mentally went through the list of male people she knew. The caller did not sound like any of them. He knew her name and seemed to be asking for help. How was that possible if she had no idea who it was? The man did not call back, not that day.
Three days later, she and Jackson were loading the car for a long weekend in the mountains. Both of them needed to get away from the city and relax in each other’s company. Jackson’s job as a doctor was demanding and she rarely saw him. He was able to get another doctor to cover him for a few days.
The phone rang as they were walking back in the house to make sure all the doors and windows were locked. Jackson picked it up.
“It’s for you. Meet you in the car in five minutes.”
“Who is it? Everyone knows I’m leaving today.”
“He didn’t say.”
“Hello?”
“Katelyn, where are you?”
“Who is this?”
“I’m waiting.”
It was the same person who called her a few days ago. Again, the voice was soft.
“Waiting? For what?”
“How’s Floppy?”
“Who is this!” she demanded.
The man spoke of her childhood dog, which was long since dead.
“I need you. Please come.”
The line went dead.
She was confused, but most of all she was angry.
“Who in the hell is he?” she asked aloud.
In the car, she told Jackson about the recent call.
“You never mentioned the other call.”
“I know. I didn’t want to worry you over what was probably nothing.”
“You have no idea who this is?”
“No. Nor do I know what he wants.”
“He mentioned your dog?”
“Yes.”
“Besides your family and me, who knows about Floppy?”
“Friends I knew as a kid, whom I haven’t seen or spoken to in years.”
She was pensive as they crossed the bridge leading out of the city. She really didn’t have a clue as to who this caller could be. She was mad. He talked like he knew her and kept telling her he needed her. For what? And where was she supposed to go? She had no answers. Just as with the last call, it left her feeling worried. Something wasn’t right. She had a feeling that soon something was going to happen. She tried to put it out of her mind. She wanted to spend a nice, relaxing weekend with her husband. It was time they both needed.
The next few months passed without incident and Katelyn forgot about the calls. She was readying for Christmas and promised her mother both she and Jackson would be in attendance. There were only three days left to purchase gifts. She took off early and was on her way to the mall when her cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, honey. Whereabouts are you?”
“Almost to the mall. Why?”
“I just got off and was hoping I could join you.”
“Absolutely; that would be nice. Do you want to meet me there?”
“Sure. I’m almost home. I want to change. Give me twenty minutes. Shall we meet at the front main entrance?”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“That’s good, Katelyn. That’s really good,” he responded and hung up.
“What’s good? That’s weird,” she said to herself, while tossing her phone back into her purse that was sitting in the passenger seat. She stopped at a red light and that’s when she saw him. “What? That can’t be.”
As soon as the light turned green, she pulled over and parked. He was walking just ahead of her and she called out to him. When he turned around he was smiling.
“I knew you’d come.”
“I don’t understand. You’re…”
“Dead? No, I’m not. Well, yes I was, but not anymore. It took me a while, but I found you.”
“Please, I don’t understand. You can’t be my father. You were killed.”
“I was, yes. Come on,” he led her through a door that was sandwiched between two shops. Climbing the stairs with Katelyn in tow, he continued, “I know you need an explanation and I’m going to give you one.”
Even though the rational part of her was telling her not to go with him, she felt an immediate sense of trust. She couldn’t explain it, but she knew this was her father. He looked the same as he did the day he died. He hardly aged in the thirteen years since she’d seen him except for a little more gray in his hair. Although scared of the unknown, she found faith that she would have her answers and she was finally going to be okay. This was the day she had been waiting for all these years.
At the top of the stairs, he opened the door and stepped aside for her to enter first. She was taken aback by the sheer size of the apartment. From the outside, it looked rather small. She walked over to the sofa table and picked up a picture. It was of her and Floppy that Christmas day when she got her dog; one of the happiest moments of her life.
“I remember this day.”
“I have many more pictures, but this has always been my favorite. You don’t know how hard it was to locate all my things when I came back.”
“Came back?” she set the frame back down and turned to him. “What is going on? How can you be alive? You were killed by that train.”
“Yes, I was; instantly. At the exact same time I died,” he paused and went on, “so did you.”
“What?”
She was shocked and beginning to think she was wrong to trust this man.
“You see, it was Fate, the woman who controls everything. We were supposed to have died in that accident together, but I was running late picking you up. You were supposed to have been in the car with me when I crossed those tracks at the specified time. I was alone.”
“I need to leave,” she said, heading for the door.
“No, please. Let me explain.”
“There is nothing to explain. I don’t know who are you, but you are certainly not my father and I am certainly not dead.”
Her hand was on the door handle and she was ready to open it when he said, “Remember Floppy? Remember how happy you were when Santa brought you that dog?”
Something about his tone of voice made her drop her hand. His mood was both reflective and desperate for her to listen.
“I remember a lot of things. It took me a while, but I finally understood. Let me help you understand now.”
She turned to look at him. His eyes seemed to be searching hers, just as she searched every day for him since he died. She stood there silently.
“Like I said, I died that day. But Fate wasn’t happy, you were not with me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but you died at the same moment. You were walking to Gloria’s. Do you remember?”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“That’s when it happened. You were hit by a car when you crossed the street. It was a teenager, high on drugs. He smashed right into you and didn’t even know it. He drove away and left you there.”
“You’re dead, I’m dead…what? Is the whole damn world dead?”
“The one you’re in, yes.”
“You’re crazy,” she turned and this time opened the door.
“Wait. I’ll show you,” he put his hand on her arm. “Please.”
She shut the door and allowed him to guide her to the front windows of the apartment. What she should have been looking down on was the street she was just driving on. Instead, she saw thick, white clouds. Harper waved his hand and the clouds parted. What she saw then both repulsed and shocked her to the core.
It was her father’s car driving toward the train tracks the fateful day of the accident.
Involuntarily and on impulse, Katelyn began to shout, “Stop! Dad, stop!”
She watched as the train bore down and took her father from her. In the next instant she was watching herself walk to Gloria’s. She didn’t see the car coming at her, nor did the driver see her. Tears began to form on her cheeks and she wiped them away while she watched the car hit her head on and keep going. He never even touched his breaks.
She was openly sobbing now. She just witnessed her father’s and her own deaths.
“I don’t understand. If we’re both dead, what about my life? Mom? Jackson?”
“It was all fabricated. Fate stepped in and gave you a life to call your own until we could be reunited.”
“But Mom didn’t die. She’s in my life. I see her all the time.”
“You saw what you needed to. A child that young needed a mother. When you were grown, you wanted someone to love and Fate gave you Jackson. He’s been biding his time with you until he can be with his family again as well.”
“You mean my life was all a lie?”
“Not really, it was just different than the one you may have lived on earth, but Fate got as close as she could.”
“Why? Why did we have to die and do so together?”
“Because of this,” he waved his hand at the window again and a different image appeared.
She shielded her eyes with her hand as a bright blast of light penetrated her vision. For a few minutes, her eyes were clouded with dots. When they cleared, she screamed and backed away from the window.
There was fire everywhere. The world in front of her was a black void filled with flames. The feeling of doom surrounded her heart.
“Is this Hell?”
“Yes and it’s where you would have been if you didn’t die that day.”
“What?”
“Your life was to take a turn for the worst and you would have ended up a worshipper of evil. You would have killed many people before finally taking your own and ending up there,” Harper explained, pointing to the window.
“I was going to be bad?”
“Before you were born, I was approached by a man by the name of Harmogy, who was sent by Fate. Your mother was nine months pregnant and was due any day. Harmogy showed me what you were to become. When I begged to make it different, he said there was only one way.” He turned to face Katelyn and took her hand, “You had to die before you turned evil. If you did, you would spend eternity in a glorious place, full of love. If you died after killing all those people, you were going to Hell.”
“I still don’t understand. Where am I now?”
“I made a deal with Harmogy. Nothing mattered, you were going to die, but I didn’t want you to end up in Hell. I asked him to spare you from turning that awful corner into a dark world. He said he couldn’t do that. Harmogy had one job and that was to deflect a serial killer. In order to do that, he was to make a deal on behalf of Fate. He didn’t have the power to just take you before you killed all those people. Fate wanted more in order to keep a balance in this universe. That’s when I offered him my soul.”
“You were to die?”
“Yes, that is why you and I were to die together that day. Fate took mercy on us; at least we were able to die on the same day and time. It is why we both can live our days in Heaven.”
“You gave up your life for me?”
“It is what any loving parent would do.”
“Wait. I was getting calls from someone. I couldn’t tell who it was. They kept saying they needed help. Was that you?”
“Yes. You see like I mentioned, it took me a while to find you, but before that I needed to discover for myself what happened and why. Fate didn’t make it easy for me. She steered me in the right direction, but that was it. It took me almost thirteen earth years to understand. When I did, I tried to reach out to you, but found I wasn’t strong enough.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“I wasn’t human any longer, but neither was I dead in the way mortals think of death. I was breathing, but was still weak. Fate finally explained that for thirteen years I felt no love. It was love which I needed to gain my strength back. When I realized who you were and what happened, it was your love that helped me. When I said help on the phone, I was trying to say it was you that I needed. Just hearing your voice allowed me to continue on until I was able to get through to you. Now, here we are.”
Katelyn sat down on the sofa. Her mind was reeling. Is it possible she’s dead? Her whole life was one big deception? She looked up at her father, who sat down beside her. He took her hand in his and smiled.
“Dad is this really happening?”
“Yes, honey.”
She looked into his eyes and stated, “I believe you.”
“Then we should go. Fate is waiting.”
He stood, still holding her hand. She rose alongside him and he led her toward the windows. She felt no fear or disbelief, just this incredible love inside her chest. All this time she was searching, she knew this was the moment she was waiting for.
They walked through the windows and into their Heaven…together.
Undercover Reunion, a novel of romance and adventure for Baby Boomers,fans of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and anyone who has ever attended their high school reunion!
A young man’s need for respect and his search for love enables him to be coerced into becoming an undercover cop. Follow this man to see how others see him and try to understand why the job he becomes obsessed with and his quest for love, tear him ap
