Lucidity

Chapter 25 - The In-Between

Jimmy paced furiously along the Annex side of the Skyway, his gaze focused on the double doors at the Tower end, willing them to open. Eight steps, that was all he had. Eight steps. Any farther and the world span out of control, turning him inside out, whirling him into blackness.

“Bloody hell!” His anguished shout echoed from the glass ceiling and windows, returning to mock him. He pounded a fist against the window closest to him, cursing the pain.

What was the good of being alive if he was forced to stand here, useless, reduced to sending a dying boy in his stead to protect Grace?

If Leo were here, Jimmy would have gleefully chucked him through one of the windows, heaven and hell and damnation not withstanding. He’d never felt so helpless in his entire life.

The thought brought him up short. He stared at his reflection in the dark glass; the overhead spotlights cast him in an unearthly glow. Wind shook the glass and the image wavered as he remembered another time and place when he’d felt even more desperately helpless.

A night four years ago. Grace had rushed in to save him, despite the risks to herself, while he’d watched in a half-trance as he drifted in and out of consciousness, seeing exactly what that monster did to her, listening to Grace plead not for her own life, but for his...

His shudder threatened to topple him as the memory crashed over him. Maybe oblivion had its upside, he thought as he forced the memories aside. Maybe there were some things worse than death.

Like living with the torment of that memory every day.

He whirled away from the window and charged down the narrow Skyway once more, determined to save Grace.

Please Lord, this time, let me help her.

A vortex of blackness overtook him. Lightning struck the glass roof above him, shaking the entire structure. An arc of electricity split the darkness, ribbons of blue cascading from one lighting fixture to the next. Brilliant sparks flew and the lamps exploded, the noise and light and smell of burnt wires thundering through his brain. He felt himself falling; it seemed to take an eternity for his body to fly through the air.

When he opened his eyes, he was sitting on the floor, back against the Annex doors. Right where he started.

Patience, the word whispered through his brain. Have faith.

Jimmy struggled to his feet, every muscle groaning in protest. Oh, he had faith—faith that Grace needed him, faith in the power of their love, faith that there was no way in this life or the next that he was going to let her down again.

He braced himself for another attempt, swallowing against the waves of pain that lanced through his body. Grace was over there. God only knew what was happening to her...

The doors opened and there she was.

The light behind her bathed her in a golden glow for a moment, her and the boy she cradled in her arms. The door swung shut again and she was shrouded in the shadows that engulfed the Skyway.

Speechless with joy, he watched her stumble through the distance that separated them. He rushed forward to meet her, stopping at his eight-pace limit.

Then she was there, in his arms where she belonged. The boy didn’t protest as Jimmy’s bear hug crushed him between them. Jimmy wasn’t certain it would matter if he had, his joy at seeing her was that overwhelming.

She raised her head and before she could say anything, he captured her lips with his, burrowing into the kiss as if that one taste would need to sustain him a lifetime.