A Chance Meeting

Part 2

The boy haunted Sara's dreams for a week, never seeming to leave her alone for even a minute. His brown hair and green eyes followed her even when she was awake. At the end of the week, when the nurse dropped off her food, she just had to ask.

"May I go see the girl in the room next to me?" she quickly inquired.

The nurse turned back around, confusion written plainly across her face, Sara proceeded to explain how the boy had accidentally stumbled into her room on his way to see his sister.

A look of understanding crossed the nurse's face but was quickly replaced by pity as she grabbed a pen and sheet of paper.

I'm sorry, the quickly scrawled message said, but we are unable to allow you into her room without expressed permission from her family. Her name is Hope though, if that helps you at all.

Sara smiled politely and thanked the nurse, who smiled back and gave friendly little wave of goodbye before she exited the room.

With nothing else to do, Sara calmly ate her food, then leaned back into her hospital bed and began to count the ceiling tiles in an attempt to fall asleep.

It was when she got to 27 and shifted to start on the next row that she had a visitor. She saw him first out of the corner of her eyes and began to turn towards him, a polite smile already grazing her face, although she didn't know who had come inter her room.

"Hello," she said. "Do you ha-"

She stopped abruptly when the grass green eyes she'd been dreaming of pierced through her once more. A crooked grin hung from his mouth, which he opened as if to say something before he remembered her disability and moved forward, grabbing a pen and piece of paper then sitting down. He quickly began to scratch his perfectly formed letters onto the crisp white sheet.

After he was done, a grin of satisfaction lit up his face, and he handed it over to her. Her breath stuck in her throat at that moment, the way his smile lit up his face and showed off his teeth, and probably would have stayed there for a while, except the heart monitor beeped unsteadily, and Sara had to let her hair cover her face so she could hide her face. The monitor returned to a normal, steady pace, and Sara focused on what he had written as the blush faded from her cheeks.

Well, I guess I've stumbled upon you again. It seems like fate. Sara could just imagine his cocky wink. I guess you don't believe in love at first sight, so I walked in again.

She looked up to glare at him, narrowing her eyes to slits.

"Why don't you turn around and keep walking- right out the door." As an afterthought, she cooly added, "And take your cheesy pickup lines with you."

He looked affronted, indignantly snatching the paper out of her hands and scrawling more words on it. A minute later, the paper was returned to her, and she shot a frown at him before turning to read his words.

Fine. I'll just leave you, all alone with your thoughts... and your jumping heart-rate monitor.

Sara looked up just long enough to shoot a dangerous glare at him, then returned her attention to his seeming essay. He hadn't moved an inch, Sara noted before she began to read again.

You'll be all alone; no company to talk to or sit in awkward-but-friendly silence with. So, I guess this is goodbye, I bid you adieu, hasta la vista, ciao, au revoir. Until we meet again.

Sara dropped the paper onto her lap and looked over to the boy, finished reading and ready to ridicule. She tried in vain to raise an eyebrow, but the other one followed it, as if they were glued together. Stifling a sigh, she gave him her best sassy look, and followed it with even more sass.

"Well?" she asked, eyebrows still arched. "Why are you still here, oh-mystery-boy? I still don't even know your name."

He quirked a corner of his mouth, apparently amused by her statement. A hand reached out to grab the paper from where she had dropped it, but Sara intercepted it, snatching his wrist before his fingers could curl around it.

"Tell me," she demanded. "Out loud."

His dark brows were furrowed deeply, but he opened his mouth and said one word, uttered one syllable that she had seen the doctors use so many times.

Then, he leaned in and said it again, his lips brushing her ear.

For the first time in two years, she heard a sound, just a whisper of wind instead of the stark silence. She heard the mysterious boy's name.

"Chance," he said, sending a shiver down her spine and spiking the heart monitor.

Then the drugs overcame her and she fell back into a deep sleep. The boy stared at her for a minute, watching as the subtle pain lines eased and then fell from her face, allowing a more peaceful expression to settle.

Chance shook his head and stood up, trying to shake away the thoughts that were plaguing his mind, thoughts he shouldn't be having after only their second meeting. He stood up, ready to turn around and walk out of her room and her life, but before he could, his gaze drifted to the paper that was covered in his words to her, still resting on her lap. A soft smile pulled his lips up, and he found himself reaching for the pen again, paper already in his hand.