Chapter 17 #2
She stared at him, not sure that he understood what she was trying to say. She sighed. “I know I’m not dead. So, it’s back to the fact that I’m dreaming.”
“Or it’s back to the fact that you’re not dreaming, but you are here helping people cross over to where they belong.”
“I don’t think you understand,” she argued. “That’s not really who I am. I’m just here trying to help.”
“Of course,” he said, “and just trying to help is a wonderful thing to do.”
And again she wasn’t sure that she understood what he was trying to say, but it seemed as if he had some idea he was trying to convey to her. She shook her head. “I don’t think you understand.”
He gave her the gentlest of smiles and added, “Devon, … why don’t you go home, and you give me a call, and we’ll talk about it.”
He reached out a hand and gave the tiniest flick against her shoulder. She opened her mouth to protest, then suddenly was back in her room, in her bed, sitting up, staring around, wondering what the hell had just happened. And, right on cue, her phone rang.
*
“Hey,” Camden said into the phone when she answered. “Are you okay? I woke up with a really strange feeling.”
She snorted. “Yeah, well, not quite the same strange feeling I just had.”
“Explain,” he stated.
She quickly described the dream that she had.
Camden asked, “Can you describe the person you were talking to?”
“Someone extremely annoying, a big gentle smile, and deep eyes,” she muttered. “It was hard to see him in a way, as if some features were visible but with most of him cloaked.”
“In what way?”
“Just so much light was around him,” she explained. “I don’t know who he was or whether he was even real.”
“I’ll send you a picture, and then you can tell me if you recognize him.”
He sent over a picture he had on his phone, and she responded, “Yes, that’s him.”
“That’s Stefan,” he replied. “I’ve got a call coming in, and it’s him.”
“Then make it a three-way,” she suggested, “because, honest to God, he as much told me to piss off, and then he basically sent me home.”
He burst out laughing. “Hang on.” Seconds later he had connected the phones into a three-way conference. “Hi, Stefan. Devon is on the other line with us.”
“Good,” Stefan said. “I’m glad to hear she made it back okay.”
“Why did you send me home?” she cried out.
“Because you were looking a whole lot more interested in crossing over than you were in coming back again.”
Camden chilled at the thought. “Seriously?” he cried out.
“It just seemed so … peaceful,” she explained. “Everybody was so happy, and they just seemed … I just really wanted to go home.”
“And is that home to you?” Camden snapped.
“Absolutely that is home,” Stefan declared, cutting off Camden, “but it’s not where you belong right now, Devon.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Whatever this is”—they could almost hear her waving an arm in the air, as if trying to describe what this was—“just makes my life very difficult.”
“I know,” Stefan agreed, “and I’m sorry, but crossing into the light before your time certainly won’t help anybody.”
“It would certainly stop Tabitha from coming back though, wouldn’t it?” she snapped. “I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be a body for her to come back to.”
“And is that what you want?”
“I don’t know what I want. I don’t want to be possessed, for sure.” The fatigue in her voice was real. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I’m not explaining myself very well.”
“I think you’re doing fine,” Stefan said. “You’re doing fine in a situation that is incredibly overwhelming, and you are not to blame for that.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, with a snort. “Because it feels that way. I should have seen this coming.” And then she stopped and added, “Did we really help all those people cross over?”
“We did, indeed,” he confirmed cheerfully. “Nice to know I can get some help along that line when I need it.”
She gasped in shock. “Oh, I don’t think so.”
“Oh, I do,” he countered. “And because you did it very quickly and very easily, you must have been doing it for a while.”
“Yes, I suppose. … I didn’t really know what I was doing.”
“And that’s not a bad thing either,” he replied. “Just because you might not know doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.”
She grew silent, as if not knowing what to say either.
“I’m not looking for any answers,” he told her. “I just need to know that you’re okay and that, if you go back over there, you don’t try to cross into the light yourself.”
“I can’t believe that’s what you were looking to do,” Camden muttered in shock. “You realize you would die, right?”
Her loud heartfelt sigh came through the phone, loud and clear. “I know. I wasn’t trying to do that,” she shared, now with tears apparent in her tone. “It just felt like home all of a sudden.”
Camden winced. “I know that you’ve been alone for a very long time and that this situation has been very hurtful with everything that’s going on right now,” he began.
“It’s not fair, especially coming from people you have invested so much of yourself in, and the betrayal you feel has to be disconcerting.
They can’t do it without your permission, so keep that in mind,” he added.
“Apparently I’m doing stuff that I’m not even really aware of in the night,” she wailed. “So maybe I already gave them permission.”
“And that is something we must look at,” Stefan chimed in.
Camden asked, “Is that really a concern?”