From somewhere, something kind asked, Would you like to go back? It’s completely up to you. Your body appears salvageable. No, I thought, no thanks, I’ve had enough. My only regret was Mom. I hoped someday, in some better place, I’d get a chance to explain it to her, and maybe she’d be proud of me, one last time, after all these years. From across the woods, as if by common accord, birds left their trees and darted upward. I joined them, flew among them, they did not recognize me as something apart from them, and I was happy, so happy, because for the first time in years, and forevermore, I
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