When My Heart Joins the Thousand(88)

Intellectually I know there is no such thing as forever. Someday we will die and our bones will turn to dust. Someday humankind will be gone and the earth will be ruled by sentient rabbits, or by the machines we leave behind, or by creatures we can’t even imagine. And then the sun will go supernova and swallow the earth and all the other planets, and the universe will continue to expand until the bonds of gravity loosen and all things drift away into the darkness, and all stars will go silent and cold, and matter itself will break down into nothingness. Time will end, and there will be nothing but vast, cold, empty space. The atoms that once composed our bodies will be dispersed across unimaginable distances.

But then, subatomic particles are connected in ways we don’t understand. Two particles that have interacted physically are bound by quantum entanglement. They will react to each other even after being separated, no matter the distance, linked by intangible cords across space and time.

I tilt my head back, looking into the bright sky, and smile. Stanley reaches for my hand, and I take it, fingers slipping easily and naturally between his. And I find myself thinking of that moment, years ago, when I awakened in the hospital after swimming to shore. I remember the doctor’s words: She’s a lucky girl.

For the first time, I believe it.