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Lori appeared on the catwalk, watching as Rick, Michonne, Tyreese and Daryl left to go back to Woodbury. Her form was translucent, barely a glimmer in the afternoon sun. Hair blowing on an unfelt breeze, her fingers curled around the chain link fence. The breeze was cold, even to her, the clouds overhead slowly rolling in. She could feel it coming.
Her ghostly form paced back and forth along the catwalk, feeling it getting closer. There was a tingling along her back, where her spine would be if she were still alive. When Merle had come and joined her, she’d felt the same thing, unaware of what it meant. Now that she knew, and she had already heard the name whispered on the breeze, it was a matter of time.
Where she stood, centered on the catwalk, Lori heard the resounding report of the gunshot. Rick’s Python, the bullet – Lori felt it herself. She raised her hands to her heart and her eyes closed in that instant. The breeze that had surrounded her all morning and afternoon strengthened.
“Lori?”
Lori’s chest expanded with a needless breath before she opened her eyes and slowly turned her head to see the blonde haired, blue eyed woman. Andrea came closer, the look on her face one of complete confusion so similar to the one Merle had worn not so long ago. Lori turned her formless body towards her, her arms reaching out to Andrea in a warm embrace of two women who had been somewhat close in life and now even closer after it. Tears slipped down both their cheeks, Andrea’s sobs wracking her body to the point that Lori and her fell to the concrete at their feet. Lori comforted her, the simple sound unheard by any living ears.
“Andrea, you’re safe now. Nothing can hurt you anymore. Ever again.”
Andrea pulled back to look at Lori, her blue eyes shining from tears unshed. Her cheeks were wet with glistening, sparkling tears that fell into the Ether. Lori smiled at Andrea, reaching up to smooth her blonde tresses from her forehead.
“Amy’s waiting, Andrea. Your mom and dad, too.”
Andrea looked over Lori’s shoulder and Lori could see the bright white light shining on her pale skin. Andrea turned her attention back to Lori, a momentary sadness as she knew why Lori was still here. Smiling reassuringly, Lori barely shook her head, indicating that it didn’t matter yet.
“Go, baby.”
Andrea’s fading, iridescent form rose up, feet barely touching the concrete as she stepped past Lori. Lori closed her eyes, feeling the moment of absolute warmth and love at the precise moment Andrea moved on. A single tear slid from Lori’s closed eyes, trickling down her cheek and dripped from her chin. Turning to a bright flash of light before it landed on the concrete, Lori vanished, returning to that place between the here and there, waiting for the next to come.