"Hey kid, you lost?"

Devi stood in the doorway. She looked down at Squee with concern.

"No, Devi. I'm not lost. In fact, I'm right where I want to be." It was Nny's voice. Not Squee's.

Devi collapsed. Never had she anticipated this. She fell into a chair and could only sit as this kid held her one hand in his two and talked with Nny's voice.

"Devi, I don't know if you will listen. But I'm dead. Oh, not the kind that a depressed person would say. I mean truly stone cold dead. At this moment my body's probably lying in the morgue and will never leave. But I had to say one last thing to you before I leave this world for good.

"See, I've died before. I've been cold dead before. And once was enough for me. But apparently once isn't my lot in life. So here I am. But enough about my problems.

"I just came to say that I truly am sorry. I never really meant to kill you, and I don't expect you to believe that. I could say that even if you don't, my conscience is clear and I go to heaven or hell with a lighter heart. But that's just not true.

"I really do care about how you feel about me. And I just want to know how you stand on the subject. No, don't bother struggling for an answer. I know this is incredible and you'll look back on this moment for the rest of your life and think how unreal it is. I can't say I blame you. Even I find this a bit hard to place, and that's me.

"So, don't tell me a lie, Devi. Because I'll know. And it will hurt me just as much as this idea is hurting you. How dare I, you ask yourself. How could I come back and shove the proverbial blade deeper into your heart? Well, I don't know. But isn't that what love is? The unknown? Someone once said, 'Foolish is the man who will abandon many certainties for one uncertainty'. Well, that person must've missed putting 'loving' in place of 'foolish'.

"I'm done now. Be strong, and remember me, for what I was worth. Please, don't remember the one mistake I made. I'm not saying forget it. I'm saying don't associate me with it in the future. Goodbye, Devi. I'll see you when the sun sets on more than just another day…"

Night had come to an end. The first rays of dawn filtered through the thin curtains on Devi's windows. As a child stirred somewhere in the city, waking up from a particularly nasty dream about sitting in a room reading horrid old magazines, Devi looked at the sunbeam falling across her lap. For weeks afterwards, she could swear she saw a pair of folded hands on her legs, and looking into the sun a second later, she caught a glimpse of a certain face smiling sadly. Then, the vision disappeared.