“Karen?” Karen lifted up her head and her eyes opened wide with overwhelming happiness.
“Joe!?” she screamed and we ran into each other’s arms.
“How’ve you been, Joe? I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“I know, it’s been a while,” I said as I stroked her cheek, “I’ve missed us.”

I pressed my lips against hers and I felt at ease once more. We were a couple a while ago, when we were in our late teens. Unfortunately, her dad was in the military so her family had to randomly pack up one day and move some place. I never even got the chance to say goodbye to her. I called her cell phone repeatedly, but I later found out she moved to a place with bad cell reception. I constantly called her just to hear the sound of her voice on her voice-mail. Her arms were the only place I ever felt safe, and seeing her again brought instant bliss into my life. I felt re-born.

“Where’d you go? I haven’t seen you since you randomly moved.”
“We ended up moving all the way to Alaska. I begged my parents to let me see you one last time, but they were insistent...”

We stared at each other and she held my hand lightly. It had been so long since I felt her touch, and the feeling of her skin against mine brought back memories of old times. I remembered her dog, Buster, who used to roll around and wouldn’t stop pestering me until I picked him up and scratched his tummy. I remembered our first date at the movies when we went to see one of the newest releases. That’s where I got my first kiss and so did she. We were unstoppable. We were the power couple everybody wanted to be. She was all mine and I was all hers. Gazing into her eyes was like staring into heaven.

“You look so excellent! What’s it been, 60 years, Karen?”
“61 years, 108 days, 14 hours,” she looked at down at her watch, “27 minutes and 38 seconds since I’ve last seen you.” She chuckled. Oh, how I missed that laugh.

I kissed her lips and felt a chill go up my spine. As I pulled away slowly, I noticed that Karen started to age rapidly. I was confused, was this all a dream? She started becoming sickly and her veins became more visible. She became shorter and her hair became thinner. Her eyes still were vibrant, but her hands were shaking.

“Karen, what’s going on?”
“Come with me,” she said, extending her hand for me to take.
“What?”
“You heard me… Please. It’s been so long. We need to be together again.”
“Okay… but there’s one last thing I have to do…”
…

“Doctor, doctor! What’s going on?” Marie, Joe’s sister, screamed.
The doctor stepped out of the hospital room and approached Marie.
“You might want to see this. He’s waking up from the coma,” he said.

The two walked into the hospital room and Joe’s weak eyes slowly started to open.

“He’s been screaming ‘Karen’ for the past 20 minutes. Do you have any idea who she is?”
“They were lovers back in their late teens. But they haven’t seen each other in over 60 years.”

“M-Marie?” Joe’s weak voice cried out.
“I’m right here, Joe,” cried Marie with tears streaming down her face.
“It’s time for me to go, Marie. I love you with all of my heart. Thank you for taking care of me for so long.”
“No, Joe, you’re going to get better. I promise!”
“Karen has come for me. She’s standing by my bed. She has her hand out waiting for me.”
“No, Joe, don’t take her hand!”

The heart monitor flat lined.