I walked into his hospital room and barely recognized the body on the bed. That gaunt, emaciated body on the bed could not be the man who terrorized me for so many years.
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But features studied conspire to form the face of a man I once knew. In pain of body and of mind, afraid to let go of this life and move on to another.
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The sunlit window behind me casts a halo on my hair and he looks up to a face he hasn't seen for two generations. What did he see?
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A sister of his childhood? Or a daughter long forgotten? Or an angel of death sent to take him to the life beyond?
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His hand trembling, withered with age, grasps my hand - no power now. His eyes wide opened in shocked acknowledgement. Of what I do not know. His mouth wide open -- a scream, silently expressed.
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I rest my hand upon his brow and softly tell him the time has come to stop fighting life and let go. "Your mother waits for you. Join her."
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Less than twenty-four hours later he has gone. Fear and terror frozen in his eyes and face. Perhaps afraid to meet his maker and account for what he's done.