Lucidity

Chapter 20 - Dance with the Devil

On the dark rooftop of the helipad, the rain had stopped. Clouds parted as if by an unseen hand. Grace shivered, the thin cotton scrubs she wore no match against the March Pittsburgh night. Today was the first day of spring, but winter didn’t seem willing to surrender.

“Do you remember?” Jimmy repeated. “That night? Our first night?”

She remembered. It was the only time in her life she had believed in magic, in the unknown, in hope.

On that ancient hilltop, surrounded by sacred stones that sang, caressed by his strong arms, she had dared to believe.

“There was a meteor shower,” she said. “A thousand falling stars. I felt dizzy like I was falling with them, I didn’t know which way was up.”

She craned her head to look at him, reached a finger to trace his strong jaw line. A shiver swept through her. To be able to touch him again, after all this time. The illusion was marred only by the sight of the Tower shimmering through his transparent form. Why couldn’t her imagination fix that?

“I remember falling and you catching me,” she finished.

“Then look, Grace.” He turned her so that she was snugged against his chest, his arms wrapped around her, both facing west. The sun was now hidden by the Tower, but reflections of its golden glow could be spied in the clouds above. Then the wind scudded the few last wisps of clouds aside, revealing an indigo twilight sky. “Watch, Grace. Do you see them?”

She did. Falling stars, shooting through the night above the Pittsburgh skyline.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Make a wish, Grace. Wish hard, for what’s most important. Wish carefully. Wish for what you want most in the world.”

She understood now why her diseased mind had brought her here—hadn’t she imagined this rooftop as her last resort when she found herself trapped in this hell on earth? Grace squeezed her eyes shut. Jimmy’s arms tightened around her chest.

This should be easy, she’d been wishing for the same thing ever since she woke during the brain biopsy. To go home and die, to be with Jimmy again, to finally leave this world that no longer held any light or joy or magic.

But now as she tried to form the thought, she saw Alex and Kat. Their laughter rang through her mind. She thought of what they’d suffered in their short lives, what they still faced. She wished that they could experience the love and joy she’d been blessed with, that they would find the strength and courage to face what was to come, that they wouldn’t have to face their future alone.

“You wished well,” Jimmy said, his breath caressing the side of her neck, feeling warmer than any ghost should. “Open your eyes.”

She did. Overhead, the meteors continued their dance across the sky, shimmering faintly against the city lights.

“Just like that first night,” she whispered into the darkness.

“A thousand and one stars. I wished on every blessed one,” Jimmy said. “Do you know what I wished for back then?”

“No.” She lied. She had a very good idea what he wished for, it haunted her to this day. “Don’t tell me, don’t say it,” she begged.

She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that threatened to spill out. He turned her within his embrace, tilted her chin up, smoothed away her tears with a callused fingertip.

“I wished to spend the rest of my life with you, Grace.” His lips caressed her forehead. Grace kept her eyes shut tight, suddenly terrified of what she might see if she opened them.