---- Chapter 27 Jeremy Glass POV: | opened my eyes. | was standing in a place of white, endless mist. There was no sound, no sensation. | knew, with a strange, detached certainty, that | was dead. A pull, gentle but insistent, drew me forward. The mist swirled and parted, and | was no longer in the void. | was standing in a sunny kitchen. Her kitchen. Haylie was at the stove, humming softly as she flipped a pancake. She looked... happy. Genuinely, breathtakingly happy. Her face was fuller, the dark circles under her eyes were gone. She glowed. Elliot came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck. She laughed, a sound that was pure music, and leaned back into his embrace. | stood there, invisible, intangible, a ghost in their paradise. | reached out, my fingers aching to touch her, to feel the warmth of her skin one last time. My hand passed right through her. | let my hand fall, a bitter, phantom smile on my lips. Of ---- course. A little girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes ran into the room, launching herself at Elliot's legs. "Daddy, up!" He swung her into his air, and she shrieked with laughter. Haylie turned, her face alight with a love so fierce and pure it was like staring into the sun. | watched them. The perfect family. The life | should have had. The life | had thrown away. But as | watched them, something shifted inside me. The jealousy, the regret, the all-consuming pain that had defined my last years... it began to fade. It was replaced by something else. Something quiet and clean. Peace. She was happy. She was safe. She was loved. Truly, unconditionally loved, in a way | had never been capable of. That was all that mattered. | had spent my life chasing power, possessions, and a twisted, selfish version of love. | had looked for fulfillment in all the wrong places. | finally found it here, in the afterlife, watching the woman | had wronged more than anyone find a happiness | had denied her. My purpose, | realized, was not to have her. It was to see her ---- thrive without me. The mist began to swirl around me again, pulling me back. | took one last look at her, at her beautiful, smiling face. Be happy, Haylie, | thought. And for the first time, the words were not a desperate plea, but a sincere, selfless prayer. And then, | let go.