Restoring Hope

16. the hell?❤️‍🩹

Kaliyah P.O.V

"Li-Li?"

Am I hearing things? Is God playing tricks with me? Or have I finally gone off the deep end?

I keep my back towards her, still facing Power. I'm so scared to turn around. What if I was just hearing things and it's not really her? Will she be mad at me? Will she remember anything?

My rambling is cut off when Justin walks in front of me, blocking my view of Power, and places his hands on my shoulders. Justin is a few inches taller than me so his chest is directly in-front of my eyes.

With heavy eyes, I slowly look up to see him looking past me, with tears in his eyes as well. He looks down at me and gives me a smile as happiness dances in his bright eyes.

He turns me around slowly and I'm met with the heart-throbbing view of Hope wide awake, staring at me.

I stare at her in awe for a few seconds. Her hair is still matted down, but her curls are fighting their way through. You can visibly see the color coming back to her. Her lips are no longer pale and blue. Her eyes are wide as she stares at me like she's seen a ghost.

When it finally registers that she's awoken, I rush over and sit on the edge of her bed.

I cup the side of her face, feeling warmth instead of the coldness that used to be there. "Hope?" I ask in disbelief. "Li-Li? She asks, in the same tone as me. I waste no time, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close.

She mainly smells of a hospital room but I still smell that small hint of vanilla and shea butter that she always smells like.

She weakly wraps her arms around my torso and that's all it takes for me to break down completely. "I've missed you so much" I cry. I feel her shake, followed by a sniffle, obvious signs that she's crying too.

I hug her close but loose enough to not hurt her. I stroke her hair as our sniffles die down. We continue hugging each other, minutes after we stop crying. I don't wanna let her go.

"I am so so sorry, Hope." I say pulling away. She looks at me with tears in her eyes, I grab her hands and squeeze them once. Is she mad at me? She goes to talk but I stop her. I look around and come up empty, only for Justin to come up beside me. Me and Hope look up at him as he hands me a bottle of water. That's exactly what I was looking for.

Hope eyes him skeptically as I open the water bottle and hold it up to her lips as she drinks some. She drinks half the bottle before I take it away from her lips.  "Better?" I ask. She licks her lips and nods, giving me a small smile.

Justin walks back towards the door and I look back at Power to see him watching us intently. Like he's studying two new species interacting for the first time or something.

His eyes snap to mine and I quickly look away, turning back to Hope.

"Where's mom and dad?" She asks. I freeze up, not knowing how to answer her. "They umm...they left." I wince

Her beautiful dark brown eyes light up and a huge smile takes over her face, emphasizing her dimples and freckles. "Really?!?" She asks loudly.

"Yes really." I chuckle a little, moving some hair that's fallen onto her face. "Do...do you want to talk about what happened after your God parents dropped you off? You don't have to if you don't want to." I ask her.