I awoke and visited the bathroom, on my returning I looked up – a woman was sitting in the living room. I asked why she was in my apartment, her reply “it is time”.

I questioned what she meant.

She replied – “it is time, your guardian cannot put it off again”.

I asked what she meant by “put it off again”, now with understanding.

Her reply – “he put it off when you were a child, you fell down the stairs and your heart stopped, it was your time then. The year after your father died, you died, he put it off for the second time. In 2003 you had cancer, it was your time, again, he put if off. He cannot put if off a fourth time.”

I asked permission to say goodbye to my daughter, permission was declined.

As I looked back, my daughter lay sleeping peacefully on the bed. I was in bed also, asleep, but a different sleep.