Chapter Forty-Eight
THORIN
I don’t know where I am, but I’m weightless. I’m floating untethered in an open space with endless dark, and I’m alone. Other times, I’m sprinting toward a light that, no matter how hard I push, winks out the moment I reach out for it, whispering that I’m not ready.
“Hey, Thor. I’m back,” Khalil whispers. I hear the rustle of a bag, the scrape of a chair, and his tired sigh as he falls into it, but all of the sounds—like his voice—are a distant echo.
“I finally found that shaving cream you like, and not a moment too soon. You’re starting to look like you’re auditioning for a role in Sons of Anarchy. ”
You sound like shit, brother. You should get some sleep. But like all the other times they talk to me and I answer, my lips don’t form the words and I’m sprinting again.
Racing toward them.
Khalil and Zeke and…Aurelia. Where is she?
It’s been too long since I’ve heard her voice.
Before it was a constant, always there to keep that floating feeling away, but lately nothing.
Khalil and Zeke talk to me sometimes, but not as much as before.
They barely even talk to each other now.
I know Zeke’s somewhere close. I can feel him close by, but he’s quieter than I’ve ever known him to be, even after Isaac, but why?
Is it because of her?
Aurelia? Where are you, wolf? Why aren’t you here? They need you. I need you.
I’m not sure how much time passes before I hear water running and then feel something warm and cool at the same time lathering my cheeks and jaw.
I reach up to touch it, but my arm and hand don’t move from wherever they’re resting.
Once my entire lower face is covered, I feel the familiar scrape of a razor shaving a stripe through my lathered skin.
“I know your brain needs time to heal, but I’m begging you, brother. Please wake up soon. I miss you. Zeke misses you. And the food in this hospital tastes like shit.”
Hearing the devastation in Khalil’s voice and fearing that this time I might push him beyond repair, I start sprinting again, running toward that light that will take me back to them, only this time… I don’t give up.