It was both the longest road and the most painful journey they would ever take. In their arms lie their dead son. All around them, the body of an alien whose actions had contributed to the boy's death. It was as if they had fallen into a nightmarish fantasy, whose finale was most uncertain. All that mattered, though, was that the alien had offered them hope. Hope that the lifeless form cradled ever so gently could be given life again.

Darkness. Cold. Now black.

"Mom?"

"Dad?"

The words echoes into infinity.

"Where am I? Mom? Dad?"

Panic. He could not even see himself. He could not feel any part of his body. "Help me!" The darkness enveloped his consciousness. It ate away at him until there seemed to be absolutely nothing left of ..."

"Jeremy?"

His mother's voice called out to him. The soothing voice pushed the darkness aside.

"Jeremy?"

His father's voice sliced through the cold. The warmth and strength merged with that of the mother's voice, and in that singular voice, in his name, he found the light.