“Okay, in hindsight, maybe this was not such a good idea. I mean, we can’t even see each other.”
“Maybe?” Her mom butted in. “How can you even think that right now? It was never a good idea! I still can’t believe you went through with this. I know you love Lily as much as I do, but don’t you see now how this is affecting her? How will your relationship be now? All because of your selfishness your daughter has nearly disowned you. ”
Mom wasn’t really whispering anymore. Her voice had escalated to nearly yelling.
“You’re right; I should have left her alone. She doesn’t even want to talk to me, which was the whole point to begin with. What do I do now?”
“I can hear you, you know,” Lily reminded them.
They were silent for a brief moment and then her mother decided to take control of the situation.
“Well, I think we all agree now that this whole mess was wrong to begin with and needs to be set right as soon as possible.”
“How can we do that? I thought that we don’t have any control over when I wake up from this stupid coma.”
“That’s not what I meant. We don’t have control over that. You wake up when your body has healed enough. What I meant was that your father needs to make things right with you. He needs to make it up to you somehow.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I’m dead! What can I possibly do for her?”
“Well you arranged all of this disaster, I’m sure you can manage something,” her mother said clearly annoyed at him. “Now while you are working on that, Lily and I are going to have a little chat.”
***
“I still can’t believe this is happening to me, mom. How could he do this to me?” Lily had been talking to her mother for what seemed like hours. It was like old times, filling her mom in on her life at school and at home. As important as all those things seemed, they were almost trivial now that she was in a coma.
“I’m not entirely sure, hon. Your father was always a bit on the selfish side, but I never thought it would come to something like this. I think his desire to talk to you consumed him to the extent that he was willing to do anything to see you.”
There was still something that bothered Lily.
“How exactly did dad arrange for me to fall?”
Her mother’s usually strong, rich voice became almost timid and nervous.
“Well, first you must understand that where we reside is not actually our final resting place like many people believe. Right now we are in what is like a holding area. We exist in an in-between space where we await judgment. It is actually after we are judged that we are given our personal heavenly dwelling place. During our judgment, we are shown what is like a movie, of sorts. Each individual watches this replay of their life, and then they are judged according to how they spent their life on earth. I can’t say much more about it simply because I haven’t gone through it yet, but that basically sums it up. So while we are in this in-between place, we spend our time doing various assignments or spend time with other departed spirits. Some are assigned to watch out for those still living, like guardian angels, and others may be assigned to inspire the living to make good choices. They can also give them ideas to help them solve problems in their life. Not all spirits qualify for these assignments. Only those who are exceptionally good and can be trusted with such a task are chosen. I have spent some of my time watching over you. Not all the time, but when you really needed me, I was there.”
Lily smiled to herself. She knew in her heart it was true. There had been many times when life seemed overwhelming and almost too much to endure, but somehow she made it through. She had always felt that her mother was watching over her in those moments, and now she knew.
“I haven’t had any other assignments yet. Most of my time is spent with other spirits. Your father was chosen many years ago for an assignment to protect a little boy in New Mexico, but he was unsuccessful and has never been given another assignment.”