Kidnapped

Reunited

Oh my GOD! Oh my God, oh my God ...

James was sitting in a chair by my bed in the small hospital room. His hand was resting on my left thigh. His dear face was just like I remembered it. Soft and untroubled in his sleep. I reached out to touch him. I didn´t want to wake him but I needed to know he was real. Needed to know he was really here with me.

My fingers brushed against his strong jawline and a tear slowly made it´s way down my cheek. After so many months he was finally here. I was finally able to touch him, just like I always did in my dreams.

He slowly opened his eyes. Green, just like I remembered them to be. Our eyes met and locked and he completely took my breath away. I had forgotten how beautiful he really was. All those movies I had watched over and over again didn´t show off his real beauty. But right then, wit my hand against his warm cheek, I could see it all. I saw his soul, and at the same time I gave him access to mine.

He slowly raised his own hand and placed it over mine, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He turned his head and kissed my palm, sending shivers of pleasure through my entire body. His lips were soft. Oh, how I had missed those soft, warm lips. James´s lips.

"James."

It escaped from my lips as a whisper. He looked up again, a small smile on his lips. That smile. In that moment, all I wanted was to lean closer and kiss those lips. But I still remembered the conversation we had that last time in the basement. Here, on the outside, he was nothing more than a friend. And you do not kiss friends.

"Amanda", he whispered back. He let go of my hand and placed his hand on my cheek, slowly touching my lower lip with his thumb. "You have never looked so beautiful as you do right now."

I blushed and looked down at my hands, that I had placed in my lap. My left hand was covered with bandages. I knew that somewhere beneath all that white, there was only four fingers. One was missing. A part of me was missing. "Even with only nine fingers?"

My question made him smile and my heart skipped a beat in my chest. That smile.

"Especially with only nine fingers. It really suits you."

I gave out a little laugh and he sat down on the bed beside me, pulling me close to his body. My laugh turned into sobs and before I knew it I was crying my eyes out. James didn´t say anything and he didn´t need to either. Just being close to him was enough to bring back all the heartache and all the pain I had felt since I got back home. I´m not sure, but I think I could feel him cry aswell.

I don´t know for how long we sat there, but eventually I calmed down and stopped crying. We could hear the birds sing from outside. The sun was warming our skins. I realized that it was the first time we were together out in the open. Out of the basement. There was something beautiful about that moment and I didn´t want to ruin it by speaking.

I didn´t even notice the door opening.

"Amanda? Are you awake?"

It was Jonas, coming in to the room. James let go of me and quietly sat down in his own chair again, without Jonas hearing it. Even though Jonas hadn´t seen us my cheeks were burning red. What if it had been someone else? Someone who wasn´t blind!

"Hi, Jonas", I answered him and smiled. "Yeah, I´m up. James is here, in the chair by my bed."

Jonas turned towards the chair. How he knew it was there I have no idea, but he did. His eyes stared out into nothingness but he had a weak smile on his face. He had a real handsome face.

"Yes, we met a few hours ago", Jonas said, switching from Swedish to English. "When he came looking for you. Scared me half to death, ringing on the doorbell in the middle of the night."