The gun barrel burned into her temple, still hot from the two shots he fired into  the wall.  Lydia lay naked on the bed, paralyzed.  Tears clouded her vision.  Fear blocked all feeling, noise, thought, pain.  Time stopped.  Literally!

A bright light from the archway to the hall filled the room.  Lydia lifted from her bed. Walked without walking into the light.  Back in time to her family home, four states away.  She sat in the kitchen of her youth across from radiance.  A glowing figure, not a man, not a woman, just happiness.  

Without words Lydia knew she had made the wrong decision. She always was uneasy around Jake, but she thought he would change if she just loved him enough.  She heard that voice, that we often hear, the first time he asked her out.  She ignored it.

Suddenly the room began to spin.

"Lydia", Jake hesitated, "I was hoping we could get dinner sometime?"

Lydia had to catch her breath before she responded, " I really don't think it's a good idea, I'm sorry!"