Yesterday's prompt on the One-Minute Writer was Last Breath. Since it was Friday, we did Friday Fiction, which gives us the opportunity to write a short (short, short!) piece of fiction. We are allowed to write for longer than a minute. My piece is strongly based on a real event and a real person. A special friend from high school lost her battle with cancer on Monday of this week. Although I wasn't there at the moment of her passing, because of the person she was and what she stood for, and knowing she slipped away peacefully, this is how I imagine the events leading up to her last breath...

Quietly she lays, surrounded by family and friends. The girl whose life was always a shining a light to every single person around her. Her labored breathing settles to become slow and even. You can see she is at peace with herself, her life and, most importantly, her God as a small smile plays on her lips. 

Her life spoke of her deep faith. She was unashamed to claim Christ as the source of her joy, her peace and the light that naturally emanated from her being. And yet she had a way....even the most hardened, cynical, "no faith" person couldn't help but love her and be drawn to her.

She fought the fight valiantly. She celebrated the small victories along the way joyfully and courageously. When the doctors told her there was nothing else they could do, she accepted the news with grace. She did not get angry at the God she believed in so strongly and wholly for a miracle. She rejoiced that she would soon be in His presence. She encouraged her family and friends to rejoice with her as she was to "enter into His kingdom" very soon.

We prayed. We believed. And then, even with broken hearts, we rejoiced, because that's what she would have wanted us to do, as she took her last breath. We could hear it in the silence of the room, our own breath abated as we watched her slip away...the Father softly greeting her as He wrapped her in a warm embrace, "Well done, my good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of my kingdom."

When our breath returned, we wept. Although heaven was now brighter, the world was darker leaving a Wendi shaped hole in our hearts.

(dedicated to my dear friend who lost her battle with cancer the beginning of this week. What an appropriate prompt for my first day back on the blog. Thank you for giving me an outlet to honor her.)