Her Last Wish Read Online Free PDF Page B

appeared as fragile
as a child. How it went from witnessing him giving competent, in-depth lectures
to adult students to seeing him stripped down to almost nothing, I had no idea.
But I did know that I didn’t like it. Not one bit. His pain tore at my very
being, something I found especially strange for someone I didn’t know very
well. I briefly wondered if Jackson was right to feel as put off by Professor
Mason as he had been.
    “I need to go
somewhere,” he said. “Will you come with me?”
    I stared at him a few
moments, unsure of what to say. My common sense said I should probably have him
just take me home. Or even the next building over so I could walk without him
knowing exactly where I lived. Better yet, I should probably have had him call
a cab for me. But something else, entirely, told me to go with him. Something insisted that he shouldn’t be alone at the moment. I simply nodded in response.
    He slowly inhaled a
deep, calming breath and nodded back at me. Before I knew it, he pulled his car
back on the road. Fortunately, his driving seemed steadier than his emotions.
    About halfway home from
our last stopping point on the side of the road, he turned off onto a small
side road. The open surroundings of the highway were replaced with miles and
miles of trees. I watched in awe as we drove deeper into the wilderness.
    After a few minutes, we
pulled into the tiny parking lot of a small chapel. The church, itself, didn’t
appear to be all that spectacular. Stacked rock exterior had been embedded with
several large stained glass windows. I couldn’t see them well from the outside,
but I could tell that from the inside, they’d be stunning.
    Professor Mason
clumsily stepped out of the car and stood in front of the church. He never
looked back at me, but I could tell he was waiting for me to catch up. I
quickly hopped out of the car and followed him inside.
    Through the doors, the
church was even less to look at. It was tiny, holding only ten long bench seats
in the back and a single podium in the front. However, as I’d suspected, the
sun shone brightly through the stained glass, illuminating the room with
breathtaking rainbows of color.
    The calm spell that had
fallen over me when I entered shattered once I saw Professor Mason stumble
weakly to the pew closest to the front. He dropped onto the hard, wooden bench
and stared at the crucifix that hung on the wall in front of him. I wanted to
sit by him, but some level of fear stopped me. However, I walked over to the
side of the pew where he sat and quietly stood watch over him.
    Although no music
played, the room had its own sort of ambience. It was almost as if you could
hear the angels through the structure, itself. Despite the fact that the
professor and I were the only two in the room, I felt as if we were not
actually alone. I found it oddly comforting.
    “She loved it here,” he
said quietly, never turning to look at me.
    “Who?” I asked after
double-checking to make sure he hadn’t actually been talking to someone else
who might have come in behind us.
    “Elizabeth.” He was
silent a few seconds before adding, “My wife. This was her family’s church. She
grew up here. We were married here. Sometimes I can still even feel her
here. I never understood her fascination with the place. I’ve never been a
spiritual man.”
    “Perhaps it’s just
comforting to believe in something,” I suggested. I recalled his conversation
on the phone. He’d said he was a widower. Something clearly happened to her. I
wondered if that was the cause of his despair.
    As if answering my
thought process, he sighed. “She died a few years ago. She was in a car
accident.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said. I
wasn’t sure what else to say. What could I say to make any of that better? It
was obvious that he loved her dearly. Nothing could bring her back. As much as
I wished otherwise, words would be completely useless, but they were all I
could offer. I couldn’t even