Plain Sight

chapter forty-seven

Juliette

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Everybody has a story.

They have their own lives, they keep secrets and they carry burdens around just like the rest of us.

Everybody loses people.

They experience loss and grief. We try to hide it, to push it away, and think about anything but the thing that we've lost.

But the harder you try to keep avoiding it, the harder it gets. The more it lingers in our minds, it's not just a loss, it's a curse.

We all have somebody, it doesn't matter who you are, we all have someone we never speak of.

Not by choice of course, but because it's someone who meant so much that even hearing their name makes our souls tremble with the memories, and the pain. The hurt and the loss.

And now here I am, repeating that same name over, and over again.

Pleading it out loud, saying it like an enchantment, and repeating it like a prayer.

And each time I say his name, the more desperate I become. Everywhere hurts. My heart, my mind, and my soul. Everything.

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Tom

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"Tom—" Her voice echoes in my ears.

Juliette?

"Keep your eyes open Tom, I'm right here, okay?"

I can't see anything.

"Tom? Tom—" She breathes. "Please answer me." I hear the fear in her voice, and then I feel a hand slip into mine. Holding on.

What's happening?

She says other things, but I can't hear her well anymore as her words are scrambled together between her coughing.

"Everything is gonna be okay, I promise."

Oh no, am I dying? Is this was death feels like?

"We're safe now, we're safe Tom! Just open your eyes now." Her voice.....

I'm trying...

"Is he breathing?!" Bill says, so loudly his voice pounds in my ears.

"Barely! I don't know what happening, he's unconscious!" Juliette says.

I'm not dead, I can hear you.

I try to do anything I can to just tell her I'm alive, but it's impossible. I can't see, I can't move, I can't even speak.

"I'm sorry Tom, I'm so......" The sound of her voice fades away from me. Far, far away out of my mind now.

And now? I can't feel anything.

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Juliette

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My eyes open slowly, but it's instant when I feel the pain in my throat. I feel the pounding in my head only a moment later.

It takes me a second to realize where I'm at, but I do manage to figure it out even when it feels like only half of my brain is working.

I stand up, nearly falling over, I have to hold onto the edge of the couch to keep my balance, waiting for all the stars I'm seeing to disappear slowly.