A Prayer for Love

April 4th was my brother, David Frost’s birthday.

While I lay alone, helpless, down on my last breath, my parents sat together at home, celebrating the birthday of their beloved son.

A sharp pain suddenly clenched at my heart, and tears blurred my vision, making it impossible to see the calendar in the lobby or the nurse’s face.

“So, being a ghost is just like being alive… you can cry, you can feel pain...” I thought to myself.

The nurse seemed as stunned as I was.

After a long pause, she gathered herself, her voice quivering slightly as she conveyed the news of my death to my parents.

“Could you please let us know when the family will come to arrange for the death certificate, claim the body, and—”

Before she could finish, a sharp voice on the other end interrupted her.

“Claim the body? We’ve severed all ties with her. She’s not part of our family anymore. Do whatever you want with her. We don’t care.

“Bury her, burn her—just don’t bother us again. You’ve ruined our day.”

The nurse, stung by the harsh words, stood frozen for a moment before she erupted into a tirade, yelling into the phone.

"What kind of parents are you? Where’s your compassion and love for your own daughter?

"Do you even know... do you know that when she was suffering through her chemotherapy, delirious and unable to distinguish reality, she kept calling for you and Mr. Frost?"

Her voice grew softer, and the sobs she had been holding back finally broke free.

But my parents had already hung up, the only sound was the busy signal on the other end.

"I guess I’ve got super-hearing now," I said as I forced a laugh through my tears.

"I definitely wouldn’t have been able to hear so clearly through the phone otherwise."

I reached out to wipe away the nurse’s tears, but my hand passed right through her. Just as I sighed, a distant, ethereal voice reached my ears.

It was hard to decide whether it was a man or a woman, real or an illusion.

The voice asked me what I wanted most in my life.

I thought for a long time, then whispered the word, "Love."

In the next moment, blinding white light filled my vision.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day I had won the lottery.