Chapter 22 Taryn
Taryn
The world around me is starting to feel very far away.
Like a dream I can hardly remember, or a promise I made when I was young that doesn’t mean anything anymore.
I can still sense it around me, but it’s all getting fuzzy.
My hearing is starting to go, I think, because I’m hearing things that can’t possibly be happening.
I heard a bear a while ago, roaring in the forest, and thought it might come for me.
Now I swear I hear Gabe calling my name.
Is this what it’s like to die? You get to choose the things you want just one more time, and you get them?
Because of all the things in the world, the one thing I want more than anything is to feel Gabe’s arms around me once more.
Hear his husky voice telling me that it’s okay, that he’s not leaving.
That he’s never leaving.
But I know he can’t actually be here. I’m in the middle of the forest in the snow. There’s no way he could ever find me.
When I feel arms around me, I’m sure that I’m actually dead. I’ve gone to Heaven and the first thing I get are Gabe’s arms. It’s as simple as that.
“You stupid fucking girl,” the voice says. “Open your fucking eyes. If you’re dead, I’m going to kill you.”
I frown, because it seems strange that Heaven Gabe is cussing. Isn’t that against Heaven’s rules? Would they allow that?
I force my eyes open, curious, and find... that I’m not in Heaven. Unless Heaven is the same snowstorm I just left behind. In the same forest. With the truck twisted around a tree in the distance.
Wait.
I turn my eyes up and see Gabe’s chin. His nose. His face.
“Bubba?” I ask, unable to believe my eyes.
He turns his face down to me, and his blue eyes are growing wider, half furious and half hopeful. “Oh my God, you’re alive.”
That’s the question, isn’t it? “Am I?”
He laughs, the sound suddenly joyous and delighted in the cold air of the woods. “You must be. Dead people don’t talk. At least that’s what I’ve heard. God, Little Bird, you scared me half to death.”
“You came for me,” I breathe, still incapable of understanding what’s going on here. Where did he come from? How did he find me?
This time he doesn’t look down at me. He keeps trudging forward, his eyes on something in the distance. “Of course I fucking did. I promised I always would, didn’t I? We always said we were all in, and that hasn’t changed. We have to go. The snow’s going to get worse soon.”
Moments later he’s climbing into some sort of vehicle, placing me in his lap, and holding me against him, sharing his warmth. I turn my face into his chest, trying to stay away and keep the tears away. Trying to hold myself together while my heart feels as if it’s shattering into a million pieces.
Because Gabe came for me. He chose me, in the face of a snowstorm that must be trying to kill us both.
And I’ve never felt more loved in my entire life.