• A woman stood by a glass door opening out to a balcony. She had her brown hair up in a messy bun; a stray sun-streaked strand fell to frame her face. She looked sad as she gazed out at the night sky. There was a full moon out, bathing the spacious room, with its four-poster bed and luxurious dressers and furnishings, in its light. A light, serene music flitted through the night, probably from someone's apartment below hers.

    She looked back into her bedroom, her eyes settling on a picture. It held a man with black curly hair smiling back out at her while he held their Australian Shepherd next to him. Tears filled her eyes but refused to fall. She would miss him, the man she had planned to spend her life with, but her life was about to end abruptly and she couldn't bear to tell him. He wouldn't understand.

    She felt a shiver run through her. It was starting. She looked down only to see that her legs were dissolving into a flurry of glowing dust. Her hands were transparent as well as the rest of her body. She looked away not wanting to see it anymore. She was scared and didn't know what would happen once she was gone. Refusing to succumb to her fear, she kept vigil for herself as her body slowly disappeared.

    Finally it was almost over. A faded, transparent face looked out onto her world, giving it a last goodbye. Then he walked in and stopped dumbfounded by the vision of his wife's head in the bedroom. She smiled a sad smile at him and was gone in a glowing flurry that drifted out the window to be lost in the stars. Lips ghosted on his mouth and a small voice whispered in his ear, Goodbye James.