Not Yet Alone

Chapter 20

What you do doesn't define you; who you are defines you.

I have yet to find who I am, but God knows who I am.

Just because I lie and make mistakes doesn't mean that I am a bad person. My actions can be covered with the blood of Jesus and then forgotten.

The choices that I make show who I am. They are made in my heart, and my heart is where my identity lies.

My choices define me and who I am.

****

Waking up, I found myself to be in a hospital.

It felt like I had a serious case of deja vu. The only difference from my first experience of waking up in the hospital would be that my parents were not waiting next to me. Instead, Austin was.

"Thank God. You're awake." Austin's voice sounded gravelly. His short blonde hair was messy, and I could see that he looked tired. But beyond his exhaustion, I could see in his eyes that worry dominated his countenance.

I gently rubbed the fatigue out of my blue eyes. Austin's fingers were lightly stroking my forearm. I took his hand and clung to it so that I would have something to hold on to. "It's great to see you too."

Austin was silent for a few minutes. It was as if he couldn't stop staring at my ocean blue eyes. Finally, he decided to break the stillness.

"Why? Why did you do it?"

That wasn't what I expected, but I never know what to expect with Austin. "Why did you save my life?" I asked instead of responding to his question.

I noticed that Austin was allowing me to hang on to his hand. He wasn't pulling away from me. "If I didn't do something, you would have died." He said.

"Well, then you already understand why I did it. That girl would not be alive otherwise." I found that my own voice felt rather rough too.

He just nodded, content to let me quietly rub his palm with my fingers. "How...how did you do it?" I asked. "How did you save me, I mean."

There were so many things that I wanted to ask him, so many unanswered questions. But I can only get out one question at a time.

"I'm so glad that you're okay." Austin said, instead of answering me. "I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you."

I didn't know that I meant so much to him, but his face is still serious, showing that he means his words.

"When you ran out into the street, I didn't know that there was a child about to be shot. I just knew that my father was going to kill you, so I stopped him." Austin said.

I traced my finger across a crease in his hand. "How exactly did you stop him?"

"I have an ability too. God gave it to me after that whole deal with my crazy step father. But unlike you, I didn't use my gift like I should have."

"What is your ability?" I inquired.

"It's nothing cool like reading minds, which you can do." Austin got up to pace in front of the hospital bed that I was lying on. I watched him run a hand through his hair. "I control actions."

I folded my hands across my chest since I no longer had anything to do with them. "Control actions?"

"Yeah, I can't move anything when it's sitting still, but if there's movement, I can control whatever is moving." He replied.

Wow. Austin's ability is amazing. "So when I was fired at, you stopped the bullets?"

Austin nodded yes. "Honestly, I never used my gift until then. I didn't know what to do with it until I saw my father pointing his gun at you."