Chapter 28 Eleven
Eleven
My room returns in a blurry haze.
“Are you okay?” Kat’s question is soothing, gentle like she’s afraid to say anything.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Everything is clear now.” My voice is hoarse, but the pain in my chest isn’t so sharp now. It’s like a weight has been lifted off of it, and I can breathe deeply now.
A faint brush of air against the side of my neck sends shivers down my spine.
“Van is here. She said she’s proud of you, and that she’s sorry it happened this way.”
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. It wasn’t mine either.”
Kat smiles. “You can be together again, you know?”
“When I can pass on into the beyond?”
She nods. “You could go now if you weren’t tied here to the property.”
“How can I leave?”
My question filters through the room with conviction.
Kat wastes no time in talking through what needs to happen.
Hope blooms in the hole that once filled the space in my chest. And I can imagine it.
The two of us together again after all this time, as if no time had passed at all.
Just warmth, love, happiness. Starting each day with her by my side again, no longer alone.
It’s not even something I have to try to imagine.
I can see it so clearly. And with each brush of air against my skin, and the scent of strawberries getting stronger, the world grows a little warmer.
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