"It Ended When You Said Goodbye"

                                    

                                          

~ New Year's Eve ~






Omniscient 
Death is feared. 
Definitely by many, but maybe even by all.
Most consider it the end. Whether it be in due time or in too little time at all. They attach fright to its name and horror to its thought. They see the light at the end of the tunnel flickered to ash, and they taste that eerie sense of loneliness that pairs with it. The reality, that it's all over. 
A person wishes for purpose. To be something, or somebody. To be remembered, or to not be forgotten. They wish to have mattered. 
In death, there is no time. 
Perhaps there is warning, or perhaps there is not. It is uncertain and unpredictable. Or maybe, it is not. 
Most think of the sorrow. Of the despair. Of the loss. They think of the grief that follows and the heartache that lingers. Of the memories that will fade and those that will haunt. They think of all they've done, and all they haven't, and all they want to do. They think of those they love, and those they lost the chance to. Of the possibilities gone through the window with the life ascended into an abyss. 
They think that it's the end... 
Although she assumed she probably should have been, Journee Rose had never really been afraid of death. 
Even as a child, it was no threat to her. And then as an adult, she found herself welcoming it. Time after time.
She had wanted rest. And peace... To merge beneath the earth and leave the world and its blinding chaos behind. She had wanted to feel that weight finally lift from her shoulders, unburdening her at last. Forever. She had wanted to go home. 
A place that had yet to exist for as long as she'd known...
She was tired. For so long, and for her to be so young. The years to come, she dreaded, because of it. She had dreaded yesterday, and tomorrow. She was sick and tired of living. 
Not because her family had died. Not because she was left alone. Not because James had been hitting her, and not because she was giving up. 
She just wanted to be free. 
The flap of her wings had felt broken beyond repair, to where she couldn't remember in the slightest what it felt like to fly. The metal bars of her cage had been set before her eyes for so long that they had become her home. All to where death seemed to be the only way out. At least that way, her mind could repose. 
Now, though, things had simply... changed.
Not that she knew exactly how or when, but the bars of her cage had not only seemed to have opened, but they had merely faded away... Disappeared, almost. And with no trace of returning. At least not anytime soon. 
She had a home, and she had known peace. Not because of her lover, although Tiana played a significant role, but she knew it was because of herself. Because of God. 
Tomorrow was not promised, Journee knew. And yesterday was a gift, she had learned. The memories it carried and the life it added was no small thing. It wasn't insignificant in the slightest. 
All of it, from the rise of the sun to the bake of a cake and the language of a tune, was utterly precious. And not at all to be taken for granted...


In Atlanta, it was snowing.
Tiana and Journee woke in the early morning to their windows frosted and white specks cascading like rainfall from the sky.