Day 13 of the 250 Word Prompt

"A man is given the ability to go back in time and change one event in his life."

“But, how is this even possible?” Frank looked in the mirror, shocked to see the 20-year-old man looking back at him.  He touched his face, looked at his physique in the mirror, and smiled in disbelief.  It had been a very long time since he had been able to see his feet over his large belly; but now it was trim and his muscles taut.

Searching his memory, he recalled being on the bridge, overlooking the raging river, readying himself for his final swan-dive when she had appeared.  She looked so familiar to him, but Frank could not place her face, or the sweet angelic voice that called to him.  She had coaxed him down from the ledge, tenderly holding his hand in hers as he placed his feet on the firm ground along the shoulder of the road.

“Why are you doing this, Frank?” she had asked, her voice a melody he knew from somewhere in his memory.  “Why are you willing to take your own life in this manner?”  Her head tilted to the side, and she had an inquisitive, confused look in the beautifully captivating eyes, filled with a nameless color that Frank had never seen before.

“My life has been wasted,” Frank cried, despair wracking his body.  “Nothing has gone the way I planned it; nothing will change in the future. There is nothing for me.”  

“But what would you change about your life, Frank?  What would you do differently?”  

“I would have never left the party that night; never gotten behind the wheel of the car so drunk, and I would not have taken that innocent woman from her children and husband.”

“Are you so sure?”  The voice was behind him, close to his ear, but Frank could no longer see her face.  “What if it was her time to go?  What if the decisions you made in your life, that you are now regretting, actually came after you made all the decisions you speak of wanting to change?” 

Her breath was on him; enveloping him in sweet, soft warmth.  It was as if a cloud had drifted around him, and was carrying him away to places unknown.  Frank was not scared.  He felt at peace for the first time in a very long time, but could not explain why the feeling penetrated him so deeply.