The room was cold and empty, except for the coffin and me. Everyone was gone, with the last person having left around an hour before, I was completely alone. It was to their surprise that I had told them that I was going to stay a while longer by myself. Well, maybe they weren't so much surprised, as they were concerned. The whole event had been such a devastation to me, and I had taken the news as a building takes the impact of a bomb. When I was told my whole world seemed to crash and I sat in awe and stupefied amazement and wonder for the next couple of days. However, I had begun to move on.
Anyway, as I was saying. The room was cold, but of course I wouldn't have expected it to be warm and happy when I sat next to the very coffin that contained my best friend's corpse. Yes, my best friend, Robin Hayden, was dead. She had died about a week before this event had taken place, and the thought still struck me as unbelievable, even as I sat there, my eyes fixed upon her very coffin. Well, I suppose that I should tell a little bit about the kind of relationship that Robin and I had, because if I don't, then you may not be able to comprehend just how much her death hurt me -- for years.
Robin and I, Brian Hardgrove, had grown up in families who simply adored one another. Well, maybe adore is the wrong word, but nonetheless, our families were the best of friends. So it came as no surprise that Robin and I became the best of friends as well. However, while our families could be considered best friends, Robin and I developed a much deeper relationship. Before I go further, let me make it clear that we never dated, and I don't even think that she was even attracted to me in that way. Now, continuing. Robin and I were each other's breath, soul, and heart. We were mirrors of each other, so to speak, save for the fact that she was of course a girl, and I was a boy. We knew each other inside and out, and it was for this reason that we were so close, and it was also for this reason that her death struck me harder then it may've even struck her parents.
Well, I believe that you should be caught up now, and maybe you can begin to even fathom how much this had hurt me. But, regardless, I'll continue. I sat there, beside her black coffin, with its blood red trim and roses of the same color. Robin had always loved roses, this I knew. I found it kind of ironic, as well, that these were the only flowers that had not been brought to her wake, at least not by anyone else, anyway. But, it was a bouquet of deep red roses which I held in my right hand, as I sat in a very uncomfortable wooden chair, my mind running over many, many memories. How they had become so much greater in the course of one day! How these memories were all that I was left with, aside from the nagging pain in my heart, the hole that would never go away, which had been where Robin laid her head to sleep, and put her hand to stop my crying. Robin was dead.
It was at this moment that I was suddenly overcome with a flood of emotions. My eyes welled up and tears began to fall down my face as water falls from the top of a cliff -- fast and furiously. I dropped the roses, which feel to the floor softly, and I dropped to my knees, facing the coffin. My hands covered my watering eyes, and I began to cry loudly. The sound of my crying echoed throughout the building like the echo of a thousand ghosts, or even a thousand memories. I began to speak out loud. I began to speak to Robin.
"Robin, why has this happened? Why have you been taken away so soon, and why have I been left here, crying and sobbing without you? Oh! This wretched world!"
My eyes were turning red, and I felt it a little hard to breath, but I kept talking, somehow without trouble, as if aided.
"I love you, Robin. I've always loved you! Even more then you could have ever imagined! I've always wanted to be with you, forever. But, not just as a friend! My heart has always desired more, and my soul has always longed to be more then just a mirror of yours. My soul has never wanted anything more then to be part of your soul. I have never wanted anything more then to be a part of you, to be yours. Robin, I love you! God! why have you been taken away so soon? Why? Why? ........why?"
Suddenly I felt someone else in the room, as I struggled to breath, choking back another flood of tears. It was then that I saw, and more importantly, felt her. It was Robin. But.. Robin was dead. How could this be? She spoke.
"Brian," I felt her hand touch my cheek. It felt warm and loving, "Brian, do not cry. I am here, I've always been here, and I will always be here. Your soul has always been a part of mine, and you have always been a part of me. That will never change, nor will I ever stop loving you, Brian. My love for you can, and will, span centuries, millenniums. You have meant more to me in the short time that I've known you, then anyone could have in a thousand lifetimes. We are part of each other, Brian. I am you, and you are me. It'll always be that way... always."
I stayed on my knees, transfixed and amazed. Even in death, Robin was as beautiful as ever. Maybe this had to do with the fact that it was just her spirit, but still, she was beautiful. A glowing light surrounded her, and it flooded the room with its warmth. I could barely speak.

"But, Robin.. you're dead. How can this be? Why?" I was astonished. "Brian, do not worry about me, I am well. And, as for why. I do not know why, Brian, and I may never know why I died, why it was my time. But, do any of us truly know why, to anything? Do we truly know why the sun rises and sets, why the Earth spins, why we breath, or why we die? Do we truly know why? I don't believe we do. However, I do believe that it is in death that we may get one last chance to show someone how much we truly love them, and that is why I am here, Brian. I love you, with all my heart, all my soul. There was no one in the world that I loved more then you, and there never will be. I too had dreams of us growing old, but I never told you. I never had the courage too. And, while I may regret it now, I see that it may've been for the best. Brian, you still have a life to live," she stopped for a moment, and I stood up.
She was beautiful. "You have an entire life ahead of you. There will be others, others that will love you, and you will love others. Just know, that no matter what, I will always be with you, and I will always love you. I came here tonight to tell you this, and now I must go. We will see each other another time, and until then, farewell. You always have my heart."
"Robin, wait!" I yelled out, but it was too late, she was gone. I stood there, my eyes beginning to water again, and I looked down. The roses which I had brought were gone. She had taken them, and with them she had taken my heart.