"Are… are you real?" Alicia's voice cracked in her uncertainty. She did not turn back to look at the person hugging her from behind, fearing that he might be nothing but a hallucination borne from her desperate desire of seeing him again. She was certain she had not managed to open the gates yet!
"I am, Alicia." His low-pitched and raspy voice sent life surging into her dying heart. "Turn around. Look at me, my wife…" he whispered as his hand slowly moved to hers.
Alicia trembled and her tears burst out in a renewed flood when she turned around to face him. Seeing that familiar and beloved face looking back at her, she shot her hands out and desperately touched his face. He was real. He was…
Her body froze, finally seeing the thick swirl of shadows right behind him, coming out from the now partially opened gate. They were akin to large tentacles made of smoke and he seemed to be tied to it or was he connected to it? But before she could ask him about it, his lips parted to speak.
