Free Lost Soul by Kellie McAllen

time and a few minutes of forced relaxation,” Karen joked, pouring coffee into the only two cups left unpacked.   The two sat on boxes and rested their coffee cups on the windowsill beside them as they chatted.
    Meanwhile, Jessica was saying her goodbyes to Colby and his brothers.   Her mother had explained to her that this was probably the last time she would see them, but it was hard for her to wrap her head around the idea.   She knew she was starting kindergarten soon and she’d make new friends at school, but she would miss her little Colby terribly when he was gone.   That was how she thought of him, as her Colby, and she suspected that if Colby could talk he would lay the same claim on her.   They had a connection that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to the rest of the world, but there was no one Jessica loved being with more than him.
    Michael ached as he watched her say her goodbyes and he tried to do the same.   His hold on her had loosened some in the years since he had been with Colby, but he still loved her so intensely he thought his heart would burst in flames every time he saw her.   Would this really be the last time he saw her angelic smile?   He was supposed to be the angel, but his own glory dimmed in comparison with her perfection.   She was pure joy, and life, and light, and he couldn’t imagine how dark his world would be without her in it.   His heart squeezed as she whispered encouragements in Colby’s ear that could just as easily be meant for him.
    “Don’t worry, Colby, you’re gonna have a whole new life in Minnesota!   The doctors are gonna fix you up so everything will be all better.   And you’ll be so happy you won’t even miss me!”
    Colby gurgled and flopped his useless limbs.   Jessica wiped the drool from his chin, ignoring the tears dripping from her own.   She straightened his tee shirt and smoothed his hair then planted a kiss on his cheek.   “I got you a present!” she announced, pulling a large doll with black yarn hair from a bag.   “It’s called a Cabbage Patch Kid and we picked out one that looks like me so you’ll have something to remember me by!”   The plastic dimpled cheeks and large brown eyes were cute, but with porcelain skin, silky, coffee-colored hair, and topaz eyes framed by long black lashes, Jessica was the real doll.
    Colby waved his arms spastically, trying to reach for the doll, so Jessica tucked it against his chest.   His hands squeezed the soft fabric limbs.   Jessica reached in the bag and pulled out another doll, this one a little boy with a dust mop of brown hair and a set of bibbed overalls.   “Mommy got this one for me, cuz it looks like you!   Now when I go to school, I can pretend you’re going with me!”
    Michael stared at the toy in Colby’s hands and tried to imagine himself finding consolation from Jessica’s absence in the doll’s lifeless smile and he knew his heart would only rip wider every time he looked at it.
    Soon, Sarah and Karen joined Jessica in Colby’s room and Sarah lifted Colby from his bed for a hug.   Karen took a turn hugging Jessica and before Michael could prepare himself, they were saying goodbye.   Michael felt his soul rip in half as Sarah and Jessica walked out of the room.   The pain was unbearable, a worse agony than he thought possible to survive, and for the first time in three years, Michael left Colby’s side to chase after her.   As they stood at the doorway sliding into their shoes, Michael’s emotions vacillated wildly between his love for Jessica and his duty to Colby.
    Every moment of his time with them flashed before his eyes and he relived each precious memory: the anxiety and exhilaration of the day he first saved Jessica, the rush of pride as she learned to walk and talk, the intense love he felt every time he stared into her eyes, the sympathetic pain he endured when she was hurt, and the anguish and heartbreak he felt when he learned of Colby’s injury