“Have you walked Ben yet?” asked Sam.

Jen slammed her book closed. “No, and if it needs to be done, you are free to do it.”

“Calm down, I was just asking.” Sam flicked off the TV and grabbed the leash.

Jen put her book on the table, feeling bad. “You know what, let’s both walk the dog.”

“Are you sure? I know you have an exam tomorrow.”

“Yes, but I’m obviously getting cranky. I need a break.”

Sam slipped the leash on Ben, and the couple took their dog outside for his nightly walk.

They walked up to the corner of the street. It was a busy thoroughfare, with 12 lanes intersecting together at the center.

Jen wasn’t paying attention to the light or her husband who was holding the leash.

At the last moment, he switched sides, wanting to cross to the north of the street. The whistle on the Walk sign started tweeting. Jen walked.

She was in the middle of the street before she tripped from not paying attention to where she was walking.

“Jennnn!” came a scream from behind her.

She fell to the ground. The car in the lane ahead of her slammed on his brakes, narrowly missing her.

She picked herself up raced to the other side of the street.

Sam came running up, with dog in tow. “Are you okay?”

“Who are you?” she asked. “You look like my husband but you are too young.”

***

“I’m sorry, but I believe your wife is experiencing some form of PTSD,” explained Dr. Owens.

“But, she is fine, the car didn’t hit her!” Sam was so frustrated. It had been a stressful year.

“She should get her memory back in 24 hours. For now, take her home and see she eats a good meal.”

Jen was hesitant, but Sam let her hold Ben’s leash. That seemed to calm her down.

Back at home, she ate the delicious meal her husband made her.

“One moment I’m out walking, the next, I’m here,” she said looking around. “I haven’t seen this place in a while.”

“This is your place,” Sam said.

“No, I now have a small one bedroom on the other side of the building.”

Sam looked at her in disbelief.

“I deliberately walked in front of that vehicle,” she confessed.

Sam was dumbstruck.

“I was sad because you and my cat died in the same year. This was after Ben had gone.” She smiled down at Ben begging for a treat.

He didn’t know what to say. None of this made sense.

***

Jen lay in the street, badly injured. People were milling around her. Ambulances were heard in the distance.

“She just jumped in front of my car!” said the driver.

“Where am I?” she asked. She could have sworn that the car had missed her.

Above her she saw a light. Within that light was a dog, no wait it was a cat. The cat shook her head to the negative.

“Who are you?” The cat lifted a paw and gestured “go away.”

Jen closed her eyes.

***

In the morning Jen woke up. “Oh, thank god, I’m back home!”

Sam lifted up his head. “Oh good, you feel better!” He rolled over and gave her a hug.

“Oh, my god,” she said, sitting straight up. She got out of bed and paced the room.

“What’s wrong?”

“I saw myself in the future,” she explained.

“What?”

“I wonder if I lived after I was hit by the car? Okay, if I think about it logically, I can work this out.”

“Yes!” Sam said, rushing over to her. “No matter what is wrong in our lives, we can work it out. We must value our time together.”

The couple hugged, and Ben ran over to join them. Jen tried to mentally calculate how much time she had left with her husband. But slowly, her time in the future was erased from her mind. Soon she thought it was her husband who had made it all up.

***

The Jen of the future woke up in the hospital room.

“Are you all right?” asked the nurse.

“No, but I will be,” she replied.

She smiled as she recalled how she had seen both her husband in her dreams and her beloved dog. But it hadn’t been her choice to return to life, it had been a choice she had made in the past.

The End.