The Soldier of St. Waldren

Saint Waldren’s hospital was the oldest medical facility in the county. It was a landmark that was so well known that it was often used as a checkpoint for directions. Not that Thana ever needed to, since she never left the hospital anyway. With all her health problems, it was almost easier to tell people what she DIDN’T have. She couldn’t keep many friends her age since not a lot of people consider being in a white room with beeping noises and overpriced buffet food a fun Friday night. As a result, her only ‘life’ was online with the exception of an occasional guest or nurse.

There was only one other visitor, and he was the most consistent face she would see. He often came to visit in the evenings while waiting for his husband to get off work. He and Thana hit it off when she had become reserved to the realization that she would spend the rest of her life there. He passed by one day looking for his husband only to strike conversation with this sick, terrified little girl. He was really interesting to talk to, and he was a great listener, which gave Thana an ear when she was upset or excited about a new trend she got into.

Thana lazily browsed through videos, having watched everything already and all her friends online either went to sleep or were busy with other things. There was a familiar knock on the door frame. “Can I come in?”

Thana looked up to see Rodrigo Constanza in his usual suit and smile. “Have I come at a bad time?”

“No, this is perfect timing, actually. I was getting pretty bored.” Thana’s face brightened as she gestured him inside. “Husband working late again, Rod?”

“As always,” Rod laughed. “How are you?”

“Bored, as always,” Thana replied. “Though I did find this new show called ‘Better Than Martin’ and it’s supposed to be pretty good.”

“Oh? What is it about?”

Thana leaned back on her bed. “I only saw the trailer so far, but I guess it’s about impostor syndrome that this guy named Martin has? I can already tell it’s going to be very emotional.”

“I never liked sad things,” Rod admitted. “But I hope that you’ll like it.”

“That’s fair,” Thana replied. “But I think that sometimes it’s good to be sad. Do You ever just have that feeling when you’re crying with someone that you are connecting with them at that moment? You know, like a farewell, or when someone dies in a movie. It’s like, I dunno, it feels more okay to cry when someone is there crying with you.” Rod tilted his head to the side lightly. Thana gave him a shrug. “It’s hard to explain. But you know, it’s fine that you don’t like sad things. Oh, do you want to hear about a happy thing?”

“Yes, please,” Rod perked.

“My brother Kamal and his wife Sandy are going to have a baby soon, which means I’m going to be an aunt!”

“That’s great news,” Rod grinned. “Any idea of what their name is going to be?”

“I guess Sandy’s mom told her that she didn’t know what to name Sandy until the day she was born. Because of that, they’re talking about it, but not making any real decisions until the baby comes.”

“I see.” Rod pondered. “What are you going to do once you’re an aunt?”

Thana grinned. “I’ll spoil them, of course. Auntie Thana is going to be the most fun person in that baby’s life.”

Rod chuckled.

“And Sandy is going to have the baby at this hospital, which means I get to be there when they’re born. As long as, you know, I’m not in too much pain or having a seizure. But even if that happens, I should be able to recover soon enough to hold them while they’re still here.”

“You don’t think you’ll be well enough to be home by then?”

Thana scoffed. “I’m home maybe three months out of the year. I’m not holding my breath.”

“Well, for as long as my husband lets me, I’ll always come by to visit you,” Rod promised.

Thana laughed, “That’s good. I enjoy spending time with you.”

Months went by slowly for Thana, and yet if she were asked to recount the things she did on any given day, it would come to her in a haze. She got her wheelchair with her to move around with. She wheeled around the hospital to get some exercise when she could. Some days, she needed an attendant to help her. One day, she pressed the button for assistance and the person that came was someone Thana had never seen before.

“Oh, are you a new employee?” Thana asked.

The young woman smiled and gave Thana a nod. “My name is Shanae Daniels. You’re Thana Amir, right?”

Thana nodded, “Yeah, that’s me. How long have you been here?”

“I only started training here a few days ago,” Shanae shrugged. “What do you need?”

“Oh, well, I’m in a lot of pain. It’s still manageable, but I can’t wheel myself around with my chest hurting. Can you wheel me to the cafeteria and back so I can get some food?”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to just get you some food?” Shanae asked.

“I’m really tired of being in this bed. I need a little change of scenery.”

“Fair enough,” Shanae obliged.

The first few minutes of their journey was filled with awkward silence. Thana wasn’t used to meeting people for the first time. Shanae seemed nice, but Thana didn’t know anything about her. “So, do you, um,” Thana began. “Do you like ‘Better Than Martin?’”

Shanae lit up. “Oh man, I’m really into that show right now. Have you seen the mid-season special yet?”

“Yes, oh my gosh!” Thana gushed. “That part where Kaylie told him he was good enough had me bawling.”

“Me too,” Shanae put a hand to her chest. “And seeing Martin’s mom for the first time? Ugh, I just wanted to punch her in the face.”

“She’s so horrible,” Thana agreed. “She’s terrifying, too. No wonder Martin didn’t want to talk about her.”

The conversation was easy from there. Thana took a moment to marvel at how amazed she was that a single thing in common could spark a relationship.

Shanae ended up taking her lunch break with Thana to spend time with her more. They had a lot in common from favorite shows to divorced parents and one annoying brother. “My brother is expecting to have a child in the next month. They’re gonna have the baby here so I’ll get to be present. I’m so excited,” Thana confessed.

“Congratulations! My brother is too young for kids. I think he told me he’d rather adopt when he gets older.”

“Oh, that’s cool!” Thana replied. “More people should do that, I think. There are a lot of kids who need homes.”

“I hear that,” Shanae agreed. “Not a lot of people think about adoption in my opinion.”

There was a moment where Thana wondered if Rod and his husband ever thought about adoption.

Shanae had to work with some other patients, but after she left, Thana thought about how she couldn’t wait to tell Rodrigo about her new friend. She nearly hopped when she heard the familiar knock. “Can I come in?”

“Rod, hello!”

“Have I come at a bad time?”

“Not at all, I’m glad you’re here,” Thana grinned. “How are you?”

“As always,” Rod laughed. “How are you?”

“I made a new friend today. Her name is Shanae and she’s really cool,” Thana started. “She likes the same shows I do. She has a brother, too.”

Rod chuckled.

Thana moved her laptop away from her. “Hey, I just thought of something. Have you and your husband ever thought about adopting a child?”

Rod seemed taKamal aback. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Shanae mentioned that her little brother wants to adopt when he’s older. I thought, since you were so good with kids, did you ever think about doing that?”

“Well,” He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. “It’s a little too soon to be talking about that, I think. We’re both still young, and neither of us are really home. He works and I… I wait for him.”

Thana blinked. “Do you think you ever will adopt?”

“It would be nice, I admit. I could see myself doting on a little girl like Annie.”

“Who?”

“You know, from the radio show, ‘Little Orphan Annie?’ Oh, but I suppose you may be a bit too young for that. I used to listen to it on the radio when I was a kid.”

Thana blinked. “Aren’t Radio shows really old though?”

“Hey now, I’m not that old, I’m only 32!” Rod laughed.

“No, I mean,” Thana decided to drop the subject. Sometimes Rod would mention listening to something or watching television shows that old, but those could be recorded on VCR or played on tapes and CDs. To her knowledge there weren’t any radio shows that played in the early 90s, but maybe she just didn’t know. Rod seemed to love vintage stuff, so it would make sense his grandma or someone had radio shows recorded… Somehow.

The next morning, she couldn’t stop thinking about what he said. Thana looked up ‘Little Orphan Annie.’ “That doesn’t make sense,” She thought out loud. There were recordings of it now online, but Rod said he listened to it as a kid. If he was 32, then he had to have been born at least 50 years after radio shows were a thing. “Maybe someone got him like, a CD of it or something.” It was the only thing that made sense.

That was, at least, until later that evening. Shanae came back during her break to talk with Thana while she ate. “So, I hope I’m not being weird or anything Thana, but do you usually talk to yourself at night?”

“Huh?”

“I ended up working late last night and I figured I would come say goodbye before I left, since you said you’re usually awake really late. I heard you talking with someone else though so I didn’t want to disturb you. I walked to the computer to clock out when I saw the camera to your room and you were talking to yourself. No judgement, just curious.”

Thana leaned forward. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t alone. Maybe the camera couldn’t see him, but I was talking to someone. His name’s Rodrigo, he has a husband who’s a doctor here and he chats with me while he waits for him to clock out. You could have come and said hello if you wanted.”

“Rodrigo, huh?” Shanae raised an eyebrow. “What’s his husband’s name?”

“I,” Thana blinked. “Oh, I guess I never asked.”

“How long have you been talking to him?” Shanae crossed her arms.

“It’s just never come up, okay?” Thana cried defensively. “What does it matter, anyway?”

“Just something that I was told before I started working here. It’s a legend about this hospital which dates back all the way to the war.”

Thana raised her bed up a little to help her straighten up. “What legend?”

“It’s about the Soldier of Saint Waldren. Have you heard of him?”

“I don’t exactly talk to a lot of people around here,” Thana admitted.

Shanae took a sip of her apple juice. “Okay, so let me tell it to you and let me know if anything sounds familiar, alright? Are you squeamish about horror and murder?”

Thana hesitated. “No?”

“So this happened sometime around 50 years ago,” Shanae got right into it. “It was shortly after the war. This hospital took care of a lot of casualties since the border between sides was close to here and they could get help quickly. When peace finally came, still a lot of soldiers and civilians affected would come here for aid. The mental health wing used to be up here before it was moved to the first floor, and this story is why. There was a soldier back then that also had a husband who worked here. The soldier volunteered his time to talk with the mental health patients since it seemed to help a lot of them to talk to someone who saw the same things they did. But he wasn’t immune to the trauma. I guess he developed an unhealthy dependency to his spouse.”

“Since he couldn’t go with his husband everywhere yet he would panic when left alone, keeping the other patients company seemed like a perfect solution. But I guess he didn’t really have any training on how to care for patients with mental health, and during one guy’s manic episode things got violent.”

Thana felt her chest tighten. She put a hand to her chest to make sure she was still breathing alright.

Shanae continued. “No one was in the room when it happened, but someone threw a chair out the window, shattered it, and the soldier fell out. People who believe in ghosts say that they see him wandering this floor sometimes.”

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Thana asked.

“I believe that there are strange occurrences that we can’t explain with science as it is now. I don’t know if it’s ghosts, necessarily. What about you? Do you believe in ghosts, Thana?”

Thana fell silent, letting her arm drop to her side. She looked down to her legs. “I don’t know.”

Night crept over the hospital, and for the first time Thana feared Rod’s return. She wondered if she closed her hospital door this time, would he not arrive? She preferred to keep her door open for the little light that came from the hallway, but now she had to contemplate if she was more afraid of ghosts or the dark. But it was Rodrigo, surely he wouldn’t do anything awful to her even if he was the soldier in the legend.

There was a familiar knock. “Can I come in?”

Thana’s words caught in her throat.

“Have I come at a bad time?” Rod asked.

“Sorry,” Thana willed herself to respond. What was she doing? She was being stupid. Rod wasn’t a ghost. She could see him solid as stone. “Come in. Are you… Okay?” Thana asked.

“Same as always,” Rod chuckled. “How are you?”

Thana didn’t realize until now, but were his words and phrases the same every greeting? How did she not think about it before? Was it because she never considered that she was talking to a dead person before? She realized that she hadn’t replied to him, yet he was just standing there in the same spot he always did. Was it a trick of the light or was he unnaturally still? He didn’t sway and his chest didn’t seem to indicate any breathing. “Hey Rod, what’s your husband’s name?”

“Donald Constanza. Why do you ask?”

“Oh,” Thana was taKamal aback. “He took your name?”

“Well, we’ll just say my family was a little more accepting of him than his family was of me.” Rod chuckled awkwardly. “His parents had pretty high standards which was something Don couldn’t stand. Taking my family’s name was partly to be closer together, but it was also a little bit of a statement to his parents. He’s always been looking out for me.”

“Okay,” Thana made sure to keep the name in mind. “What year were you born, Rod?”

“What?” Rod asked. “Strange question, but alright. I was born,” Rod trailed off. His eyes started to wander. “Why, it was,” He trailed off again. Then his face blurred. Thana felt a jolt through her body. Was it a trick in the dim light? His face was just a blur for a second, but it came back as though she just had to focus on it. “How are you?” Rod asked.

“I’m fine,” Thana hesitated. “Rod, you know what year it is, right?”

“Of course I do,” Rod replied, but as he started to think about it again, he turned to step closer to the window. “Wait, no? I remember,” He began to say, but then his whole body blurred and he was back where he was, as though he ran back almost too quick for the eye to see. Thana went to scream but her voice caught in her throat and it hurt. She clutched her chest.

“How are you?” Rod asked.

Thana’s breathing became hollow. “Honestly I think I’m gonna have a heart attack,” Thana cried. “You’re dead, Rod.”

“I’m what?” Rod replied, taking a step back.

“Y-you’re dead, you’re a ghost, you're not really here. I’ve been talking to a ghost this whole time,” Thana started screaming. She tried to remind herself that this was Rod, her friend, but the eerie blurring movement he was making all of a sudden as he came to the same realization seemed so erratic and uncanny and unpredictable. She began to feel light-headed, then her head hurt, and then her vision went dark.

The next thing she could remember, there was light. There were noises around her, and there was familiar beeping of a heart monitor, but closer than usual.

“She’s coming to,” She heard someone say. “Thana, come back to us.”

She opened her eyes to see her brother Kamal and his wife, Sandy. She saw her mother and her stepdad as well as her uncle. Among them, there was a doctor and Shanae. Her mom, tears in her eyes, kissed Thana’s cheeks several times and hugged her before taking out her phone presumably to tell her father overseas that she was alright. “That was the worst seizure you’ve ever had,” Kamal cried. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I just,” Thana felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. “I just had a scare.”

“We all had a scare,” Thana’s uncle wailed. Tears rolled down his face as he held one of Thana’s thin hands in both of his so gently, as though they were cupped around a butterfly. The doctor started checking Thana’s vitals as her family swarmed her with concern and relief. “Ms. Daniels was the first to respond. It was a good thing she was close by, and she was the one to call us to come see you.”

Thana looked over to the young nurse, but she just smiled in return. She kept her distance while the doctor did their job and Thana’s family visited for as long as they could. Thana’s stepfather brought her some ma'amoul that he made the day before before they left her to rest. Shanae stayed behind. “What happened?” She asked, a twinge of unevenness in her voice.

Thana bit into the cookie with the pistachio center and offered one to Shanae, who took it somewhat skeptically. “I confronted Rod. He’s a ghost for sure. He started, I don’t know how exactly to describe it, blurring. It was like fast-forwarding and rewinding, and he was going out of focus. That never happened before.” Thana looked down to her legs as she finished chewing. “Do you know anyone in the hospital named Donald Constanza?”

“I know Dr. Donald Park in the nursery department,” Shanae admitted. “But I think he’s only like in his 60s. I’ll ask him though, if I can.” She took a bite of the ma’amoul and made a face at the taste of the date in the center. She started to eat the bread part and attempted to discreetly throw away the date. Thana thought it was funny watching a middle-aged woman try to not insult a teenager about her stepdad’s cooking, but Thana knew dates weren’t exactly to everyone’s taste.

“What am I gonna do about tonight?” Thana asked. “Will Rod show up again? I’ve never seen him do anything like what he did last night. He’s always been a source of comfort for me but now,” Thana hugged herself. “Now I don’t know what to think.”

“Well, maybe he won’t show up tonight?”

“The only nights I don’t see him are the nights that I fall asleep before the time he usually arrives. Maybe I can just make sure I sleep before then?”

Shanae gave a look of concern. “Will you be able to sleep with that much anxiety?”

“As a kid, we lived in this trailer house in the country and the sprinklers would hit against the building late at night. I had to make sure I fell asleep before that happened, so I sort of set up a way to do so. I’ll just have to play one of those old movies that used to put me to sleep and I should be okay. It worked when I was little, at least.”

Thana did manage to fall asleep, but there was no escape from her dreams. She was in her wheelchair, wheeling down the hallway to the cafeteria which seemed longer than normal. When she got to the end, instead of the cafeteria she was back in her room. She thought it was her room, at least, but there was a different man in the bed. He was rocking back and forth. There wasn’t any sound in her dream. Instead, she wheeled hesitantly closer. She felt sorry for the man and wanted to help him. But when he looked over at her, his eyes were suddenly filled with rage. He got up and started shouting, but she didn’t hear anything. She tried to talk back, but her mouth wouldn’t move. He backed her up against the window. Her chest ached. She tried with all her strength to open her mouth, to speak, to cry, but her mouth might as well have been wired shut.

The eyes of the man were terrifying. Thana couldn’t help but stare at them. She held her arms up and when she did, the eyes transformed from rage to fear. He turned away from her. She thought with a second of relief that he was running away from her, but the man grabbed a chair and chucked it at her. Out of reflex, she tried to catch it, but it came at her with more force than she anticipated. The only sound she could clearly hear was the sound of shattering glass. Then she was falling backwards. Falling. The image of the broKamal window became smaller and smaller until…

Thana’s body jolted from the feeling of her bed against her back. She laid there, eyes as wide as she could make them, while she slowly began to register the world around her.

It was a dream. She was laying in her bed. It was morning. She was alive; Rod wasn’t. Her cheeks were wet with tears.

Throughout the morning, she tried to kill time until Shanae got to work by watching videos and talking with friends online, but after a short while, she needed to get a little exercise. She wheeled herself around the hospital for a short while. Out of curiosity, she stopped on the second floor where the nursery wing was. She wasn’t sure what she would see. She really wasn’t allowed to wander around places that weren’t lobby areas or her own floor. Thana realized what she was looking for when she read the name ‘Dr. Donald Park’ on an office plaque.

The office was empty, no surprise. The door was open. Thana took a peek into the office, but she wasn’t about to invade the man’s privacy and wander in. She saw a few diplomas hanging on the wall, a couple statues and papers scattered everywhere.

The office was pretty small. It was a little crowded, but Thana figured that doctors didn’t spend a lot of time in their offices anyway. She saw a portrait in a frame by the computer screen. Thana squinted, trying to get her eyes adjusted to the dim room so she could see the portrait. The glass of the frame was reflecting too much to see the picture inside, but there was a small square of paper stuck on the lower right hand corner. She wheeled in just at the door to try and catch a glimpse of it.

“Can I help you?”

Her heart leapt into her mouth and cried out. She swallowed it back down and turned to see an old man behind her. He was hunched over, eyes tired, black hair turned silver, yet despite this, he didn’t seem as old as Thana imagined. Perhaps this wasn’t the same Donald after all. “I’m sorry, I just,” She fought the urge to lie in order to spare getting in trouble.

“I’m looking for Donald Constanza. I thought you might have been him but,” Thana shrank in her chair.

“Strange, you are the second person to confront me about that,” Dr. Park replied. “You don’t happen to be Thana, are you?”

“Yes, sir, er, doctor,” Thana replied. “Were you talking to Shanae before?”

“The nurse in training, yes,” Dr. Park replied. “Tell me, how do you know about Don Constanza?”

“I know-... I mean, I knew his husband, Rodrigo Constanza. I just had a few questions.”

Dr. Park’s tone became a bit lower. His smile was a tad bit more forced. “I see.” He inhaled audibly and straightened up his posture a little. “I might be able to help you, but I’m terribly busy now. This is a hospital, not a museum. You can’t go wandering around everywhere you please. But if you’ll allow me five hours, I will visit you in your room and we can talk then. Does that seem adequate?”

“Yes Mr, I mean Dr. Park, so sorry sir, er, doctor. Thank you, I’ll be in my room,” Thana uttered as she tried as smoothly as she could to wheel around him and head back to her room. Once she was there, she laid back onto her bed and hid under the covers. She felt so embarrassed. She was essentially caught sneaking around, asking for a complete stranger, all because she couldn’t wait for Shanae to come back.

An hour later, Shanae knocked on the door of Thana’s room. “Can I come in?”

Thana jolted and dragged her body to sit up. “Yes, of course.”

Shanae walked in hurriedly. “You won’t believe what I found out,” She cried excitedly before she saw the look on Thana’s face. “You look a little pale, Thana. Are you okay?”

“Not exactly,” Thana admitted. She told Shanae about the dream she had last night. She also told Shanae about her encounter with Dr. Park and that he was going to visit with her in a few hours.

“I want to be here, is that okay?” Shanae asked. “I can take my lunch then.”

“Yes please,” Thana replied. “I think I would feel more comfortable with you here, anyway.”

“Okay, because,” Shanae grinned wide. “Do you wanna know what I found out?”

Thana nodded eagerly.

“Well, yesterday I went to talk to Dr. Park. He was on his way home when I caught him outside the building. I asked him if he knew Donald Constanza, and his expression changed like I asked to talk to someone who had died. The fact that he’s coming to talk to you means he knows them, but by his expression, he knows them well. I happened to casually bring up that they might be older than Dr. Park, and he responded, ‘I’m older than I look.’ I think Dr. Park and Donald Constanza are the same person. It’s impossible not to be at this point. But that’s not the really interesting thing.”

“What’s the really interesting thing?” Thana whispered.

“Thana, it’s your room.”

“What do you mean?” Thana asked. Her whole body tingled.

“Your room, Thana. This is where Rod died.”

There were a few long seconds of silence. Thana looked to Shanae, the dream she had last night replaying in her mind. She thought about the first day she met him. She was eight years old. Her parents and the doctors were still trying to find a cure or a source for her list of problems. Finally, someone said it. ‘Maybe we should focus less on how to cure her and more on how to make her remaining time alive comfortable.’

Thana’s parents had been told that she wouldn’t live very long ever since she was born. Her name was proof of their hopelessness, though with every year she remained, there was a sliver of pride. They tried to keep her expected demise a secret from her, but she could hear everyone talking about it outside her door or when they thought she was asleep. Thana often felt like a burden by just existing. Her first night in her ‘semi-permanent’ room, she cried so hard she thought she would die from it. There was a knock on the door frame.

“Can I come in?”

Rod stood at the door, and the rest was history. Rod was always there. He had been there for years. He was a source of comfort for her; a familiar face. Thana couldn’t help but feel betrayed. All this time she thought that he heard her crying and he came in to check on her. In reality, he was just in a loop, possibly replaying the last greeting he ever made before he fell. Did he ever even respond to her before then? Did she make up their conversations? Suddenly, Thana wasn’t sure what was Rod and what was her just pretending. Perhaps she somehow made Rod respond to her in an act of desperate loneliness. She felt drops of water hit the back of her hands.

“Thana,” Shanae hurried over to the young woman’s side and embraced her. “I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have told you that. I didn’t know-,” Shanae began to apologize.

“No,” Thana sniffed. She hugged back, weak as her grip was. “I’m glad you did. Thanks for your help, Shanae.”

The nurse was reluctant to leave, but she promised she would be back in a few hours when Dr. Park was supposed to arrive. Thana couldn’t think to do anything except sit in bed and meditate over the last few days. The only thing that seemed to give her any semblance of relief was to write down questions she had for Dr. Park when he arrived.

Shanae got there first. After the first 20 minutes passed, Thana thought he wouldn’t arrive at all. “Trust me, you can never leave on time at a hospital. I’m sure he’s just caught up in something.”

“How are you feeling about all this?” Thana asked.

“Well, after everything you’ve gone through, I don’t think I can say that I don’t believe in ghosts now.” Shanae chuckled. “But really, this is some freaky stuff. Kind of exciting, too. There’s a real story here. I’m invested in knowing the life of Rodrigo Constanza. More than anything else, I hope everyone gets their closure.”

A few minutes later, Dr. Park stood by the open door. He tapped the door frame. “May I enter?” He asked.

“Yes please, Dr. Park,” Thana replied. Her posture straightened at his arrival.

Dr. Park adjusted his glasses and scanned the room. He took a couple steps in. “My, this room looks a lot different since,” He trailed off, then he chuckled. “Though I suppose that’s to be expected. It’s been a very long time.”

“Doctor,” Shanae cleared her throat. “You came here to talk about Donald Constanza. How did you know him?”

Dr. Park turned his gaze to Shanae. “Well, to put it simply, my name used to be Don Constanza.”

Shanae grinned. Dr. Park turned back towards Thana. “May I have a seat?”

“Yes, of course,” Thana gestured to the chair next to Shanae. Shanae patted the seat beside her for good measure.

With a groan, Dr. Park lowered himself onto the chair. He rubbed the back of his neck and his legs. “Thana, you said you knew my late husband, but you’re much too young to have met him.”

“It’s a little complicated,” Thana explained.

Thana began to tell Dr. Park everything. She recounted Rod’s visits, the pattern, how she found out about his passing, and what happened when she confronted him. Dr. Park listened intently, occasionally giving a nod or a faraway look. His eyes started to water, but he held it in. When she finished, Dr. Park slowly breathed in, and then he let out a long sigh.

“Ms. Daniels, will you give this to Thana?”

Dr. Park took out a small, yellowed picture and handed it to Shanae. Shanae took a look at it, her eyes widened, then she stood up to hand it to Thana.

“I keep this in my office attached to the picture I have of my husband and I in front of our house. You might have caught a glimpse of it when you were snooping in my office, earlier.”

“I wasn’t,” Thana began to retort when she saw Dr. Park’s smile. Thana took the small portrait. There, in his uniform, was Rodrigo Constanza. It was really him. Thana turned her gaze back to Dr. Park, still smiling.

“Keep it. I have some others.”

“Thank you,” Thana held it closer to her chest. All of the questions that she wrote down evaporated in her mind. There was only one thing she wanted now. “Can you tell me more about him?”

“Rod,” Dr. Park readily began. “He was courageous, charming, and disarmingly sweet. He never raised his voice, never said a bad thing about anyone. He was drafted into the war three years after we were married. I was overlooked because of my poor eyesight, but I took it upon myself to become a doctor so that if anything happened to him, maybe I can be there to save him. That war lasted seven years. We wrote letters to each other often. He was so scared nearly every day. I swore to him that once the war was over, we would never be apart again.”

Dr. Park’s tone changed. He looked down at his knees where he rested his hands. “When the war was declared over, I thought things would go back the way they were. But war took a toll on everyone. I worked long hours with the wounded and traumatised, but Rod couldn’t bear to be left alone. The first time he screamed at me, as I was rushing to an emergency care patient, it startled me. When I turned, the sight of him trembling, a hand reached out to me, has been engraved into my memory. Even after the war, he was so scared.”

“The hospital let him stay at the hospital and talk with other patients from the war with the condition that he not disturb me during working hours. This worked really well. Rod never liked sad things, but he managed to help patients think about the positives and it was great for them. I think it did wonders for Rod as well. I promised Rod that I would be there for him always. You know, of course, how it ended.” Dr. Park balled clutched his hands tighter. “I didn’t get to him in time.”

Thana sniffed. She hardly noticed before that she was crying. She locked eyes with Shanae. She was crying, too.

Dr. Park took off his glasses as they started to fog. He placed them into his chest pocket. “I’ve since moved on. Iseul is a wonderful man and he’s been so patient with me, but even as I reached retirement age, I couldn’t leave this hospital. When I heard the ghost stories, I hoped that I would get the chance to see him, but I never did. I didn’t work nights anymore and being on this floor, let alone this room, has been too painful to endure. At first I thought, maybe, he was avoiding me. I thought he was angry with me for not saving him like I promised I would. I should have known. It was never in his nature to be angry with anyone. He was just doing what he did in life; trying to make people feel better.”

“He’s just following a pattern,” Thana replied. She loosened her grip on the portrait. “This whole thing could have happened to anyone. I just happened to be the one assigned to this room.”

“Do you think that matters?” Dr. Park asked.

“How can it not,” Thana demanded. “You’re the only one who knew him. I only have a memory.”

“My dear young child,” Dr. Park’s legs trembled as he pushed himself off from the chair. “It’s the memories that bind us together in the first place.”

Thana locked eyes with Dr. Park as he rested his hand on her ankle.

“People are too complicated for anyone to have known everything there is to know about them. Instead, especially after one’s passing, we are left with pieces of them which we call memories. We only gather more of that person by sharing these memories with others. You seem to believe your connection with Rod doesn't count because you never knew him when he was alive. You don’t have to know someone personally in order for the memory of them to change your life.” Thana’s eyes widened. Dr. Park continued, a sense of gratitude in his voice. “If your memories of him give you a sense of peace, that’s all he would have ever wanted. You sharing what pieces you have of him has, in a way, united us.”

“Maybe,” Shanae intercepted. “We can unite the two of you in a literal sense, as well.”

“What do you mean?” Dr. Park asked.

Shanae stood up and joined Dr. Park beside the bed. “You haven’t been able to leave this hospital because you don’t want to leave him. He has been visiting Thana while he’s been waiting for you. Maybe, if you two can see each other, it might put his soul to rest. Maybe it’s just what you both need to finally, actually move on.”

“You may be right,” Dr. Park responded with a knuckle to his chin.

“How do you think we can do that?” Thana asked. Shanae’s grin widened.

There was a familiar knock.

“Can I come in?”

Thana smiled at Rod. “For a little bit, I was worried you wouldn’t come.”

“Have I come at a bad time?” Rod asked.

“This is the perfect time, Rod. Waiting for your husband?”

“As always,” Rod chuckled. “How are you?”

“Rod.”

“Don?” The soldier turned to the door to find his husband standing at the entrance. His face faded from joy to confusion, however, as he took in the image. “Why do you look so different?”

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting for so long, Rodrigo.” Dr. Park took a few steps inside. Rod took a couple steps back.

“I don’t understand.”

“My love,” Dr. Park kept his voice as steady as he could. Thana could hear the strain as he tried to approach as calmly as possible. “Don’t be afraid. I’m right here.”

“What’s going on? Why can’t I,” Rod’s figure began to blur again. He began rewinding and fast forwarding until the moment his back was against the window. Dr. Park stopped walking forward.

“Listen to me, Rod,” Dr. Park spoke softly. “Everything is going to be okay, but you have to listen to me, alright?”

There was a pause. Rod’s image became clearer. “Alright, Donny. I’ll listen.”

Don responded with a sad smile. “To think you’ve been waiting for me for 50 years, and to you it’s like no time at all. Gosh. Seeing you here in your uniform, it almost feels like you’re going to war all over again.”

Rod kept his eyes trained on Dr. Park. He kept silent so he could listen, just like he promised.

“Do you remember that day when you were sent off to the border? We didn’t want to let each other go. I told you that I would always think of you and that I would write to you every change I got. I wrote to you almost every day, telling you how the neighborhood was doing, sending you some treats when I could, giving you progress on my doctorate. My heart broke in two with every morning that I woke up and you weren’t sleeping by my side.”

Rod nodded. “I felt the same.”

“Losing you was hard. Living without you was even harder. I had to learn how to go on because I knew that was what you wanted. You never liked knowing that you caused anyone pain. Then I lost you a second time, but this time, you couldn’t come back.”

Rod’s shoulders fell. “Donny… I’m dead, aren’t I? How?”

Dr. Park shook his head. “You died doing what you did best. You wanted to be there for everyone who was hurting. I’m just sorry I couldn’t get to you in time.”

“It’s not your fault,” Rod replied instinctually. “I could never be mad at you.”

Dr. Park laughed through his tears. “But I stayed at this hospital thinking that maybe, in some bizarre way, I would get a chance to see you one more time. And here you are, waiting for me.”

“I,” Rod blinked. His eyes trailed off. “I wanted to say goodbye.” His gaze landed on Thana. “I just couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.”

Dr. Park took a couple more steps. This time, Rod didn’t retreat. Don looked up at his soldier; a man who was courageous, charming, and disarmingly sweet. “Now is our chance.” Dr. Park put a hand up to Rod’s cheek. He felt nothing except for a cold draft, but he kept his hand still. “I’ll keep writing to you as much as I can. Don’t worry, I won’t be far behind. But you have to move on, my love.”

“Did you move on?” Rod asked. His voice was as strained as Dr. Park’s.

Dr. Park hesitated, but he nodded. “I fell in love again. But I never stopped thinking about you.”

Rod smiled. He put his hand over Dr. Park’s. “I’m glad. Maybe I’ll get the chance to meet him, and thank him for taking good care of you.”

“Maybe you will,” Dr. Park sniffed. “I love you, Rodrigo Constanza. I always will.”

“I love you too.” Rod turned his gaze to Thana. “Thank you.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes. “Goodbye.”

There was a faint flash of light, and as though he were mist in the wind, he was gone. Dr. Park turned to Thana. She looked back towards him, chest heaving. Dr. Park took a glance towards the door.

“So it’s over,” Shanae broke the silence. She stood just inside, arriving just before Rod disappeared. Thana was crying too hard to respond.

“I suppose so,” Dr. Park took off his glasses again and wiped his eyes. He walked to Thana and the two embraced.

Shanae’s chest tightened. Her voice wavered. “Well, good. I’ll be going then.”

“Where are you going,” Thana cried as she took a few rapid breaths.

Shanae hesitated. “I’m giving you two some space. He was your friend. Your husband. I only know his story from the two of you. It’s not my place to feel bad that he’s gone.”

“That’s just silly. To think that you have no right to grieve because you never met him is just not how the heart works. There is no requirement for love,” Dr. Park assured her through his tears. “There is no requirement for mourning.”

Shanae couldn’t hold her composure anymore. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Dr. Park and Thana both extended their arms to her, and she joined the hug. They cried together, brought on by the grief one feels after a great loss. Though there was sadness, there was also relief. Though they lost someone, they found each other. Connected by their shared love of one man, brought up by one thing in common, they created a memory that would bind them together for the rest of their lives.

The big day arrived. Sandy was having a baby. Dr. Park was called in to work while Ms. Daniels met on call to assist. Thana sat in the room with her brother Kamal holding his wife’s hand. Eighteen hours of labor later, a baby’s cry could be heard throughout the room.

“Congratulations,” Dr. Park announced as he handed the little boy to Sandy. With tears in their eyes, she and Kamal quieted down their newborn son.

Dr. Park stood with Shanae by the sink as they started to clean up. “What a final day before my retirement,” He chuckled.

“You deserve it,” Thana replied from behind. “You’re still going to come visit me, right?”

“Every day if I can,” Dr. Park assured her. “Though Ms. Daniels will also be very good company when I can’t make it.”

“You bet I’m not going to stop coming to see you,” Shanae grinned towards Thana.

Dr. Park turned towards the couple and their baby. “Have you decided on a name for him, yet?”

“We were talking it over,” Kamal replied. “We think we’ll name him Rodney.”

“Rod for short,” Sandy chimed in. She cooed towards the bundle in her arms. “It suits him.”

Thana and Shanae exchanged surprised glances. Dr. Park just laughed. “Rodney Amir. Rod for short. It’s a perfect name.”