Episode
2: Ghost
"And
when her spirit left her body,
How
it split the sun.
I
know that she will live forever,
All
goes on and on and on."
-
From "Ghost" by Neutral Milk Hotel
At
the first night of the showing of the body of Gloria Michelle Dawes, these
lyrics clawed their way right into my mind. They really were fitting. I don't
believe in God or heaven or Satan or whatever, but I thought that surely when
someone so great dies, someone so full of life, it must jar the world. I was
still having trouble believing that Gloria was gone, though she was right in
front of me, cold and beautiful.
Lots
of people were putting things into her casket, so I wrote her a letter and put
a big G on the front, for her nickname, and put some designs on it. It was a
small, unobtrusive thing, a piece of lilac legal paper folded into a small
rectangle. On the back I wrote the lyrics to the song.
I'll
never forget
Not
being able to make myself leave the second day, knowing that the last time I
would see Gloria was at her funeral the next day. There weren't many of us left
and so I helped Shelley remove things from the casket that wouldn't need to be
in there at the funeral. When she got to my letter she asked if that was
supposed to stay, and I nodded. It was for her, and she'd never get to read it,
but I just wanted it in there with her.
The
next day Shelley asked me about the lyrics I had written on the back, and
whether or not they were of my own creation. I told her that no, they were from
a song that I thought of that night. The funeral was over and the letter went
to be burned up with Gloria's precious little body.
Now,
more than three months later, I sit here and cry like it's fresh, as I write
this out. No one reads this but I feel like this story needs to be somewhere.
My
mom called a few hours ago to ask what I'd written in Gloria's letter. She said
that Shelley wanted to know if I could remember it to write it down again. It
was a long letter and it wasn't something great and poetic so I was confused.
Then mom said, "You wrote something about splitting the sky."
"Oh,"
I said. "Those were lyrics from a song."
Well
Shelley wanted them, because
They
own this business and this guy walked in and got to talking to Brian, Gloria's
dad. They talked about Gloria and then this guy was telling Brian about how
this one day he was looking at the sky and saw that it looked really awesome,
the way the clouds were pulling apart. Like the sky was opening. So he showed
Brian the picture. Well where did that happen? On 77, near Seneca.
That's
where Gloria died.
Another
time, after that I believe, Brian was talking to the gentleman that hit Gloria.
To sum it up, this is what happened.
Gloria
was coming down 77, headed for her family's lake house to spend Labor Day with
them. It had been storming terribly. Somehow she crossed the median, I guess by
hydroplaning, and went into oncoming traffic, hitting this guy head-on. Gloria
was killed instantly, as much of a "blessing" as anyone could ask for
when one they love is no longer with them. Her passenger, a good friend,
survived and was rushed to the hospital. Gloria was taken to a funeral home to
later be identified by her parents. There wasn't a mark on her body.
She
had been 10 minutes from home.
The
gentleman who hit her was telling Brian that on that day, he was driving and
noticed that the sky looked funny. He kept looking at it and saw that the
clouds were opening, like the sky was splitting open. He had never seen
anything like it and was in awe. When he looked back at the road, Gloria's car
was in front of him.
I
don't believe in God, I don't like religion. I am not sure if I think that all
things happen for a reason. But I know that every time someone close to me
passes, I become closer with the people involved, and I start to see things
more clearly. I learn from it all.
I
don't think there was a reason that Gloria died but several people saw the sky
open up on highway 77 that day, and it seems to me that it was opening up for
Gloria.
Z
