The Highest Summit © | ✅

Chapter 29: A promise

Bobbi

I wasn't allowed to see him until now. They told me family first. Melinda stayed in his room the longest. Clark went in with Rose, so that she could see her brother, and then brought her back out, leaving her with my parents. He then returned to his son's room. I wanted to enter and be with him, but I knew that once inside nothing could get me to leave. I needed to give his parents time with him.

I look around the waiting room. All his friends are here and even those who aren't very close to him came. Marisol came to offer her support, but I just want to be left alone.

Each time someone dared to come close to me got a death glare from me and retreated as fast as humanly even possible. I don't need them or anything they could say to me. I want Sam. I need Sam. I need him to be okay. I need him to hold me. I need him to kiss me. I need him to tell me he loves me. I need to feel his rapid heartbeat underneath my fingertips when we make love.

Clark exits his room and looks like he will fall apart any minute now. I know he isn't Sam's real father, but a dad is more than a sperm donor. It's the person who is there for you when you're sick and sad, who comes to your ball games, who gives you advice and listens to your problems, who takes a punch for you or from you because he knows that's what you need and he would do it all over again, because he loves you more than anything. Clark loves Sam that way and Sam loves him like he truly is his father, because in Sam's mind there could be no better father in this world than Clark.

My dad gets up and wraps his arms around his friend as we all watch the man break into pieces. He cries and mutters incoherent words that are like little knives cutting into my flesh. I can't hear him anymore. He is making me sick. I want to get out of here. I need to be with Sam.

I walk to his room and knock on the door. There is no answer. I grab the doorknob and unlock the door. I enter the dimly lit room and look to my left where his bed is and he is lying in it.

The air in the room is stale, the occasional smell of disinfectant tickling my nose. I look toward Melinda. Her head is lying down on his bed, right next to his body. His right hand firmly grasped in hers as she continues sobbing and murmuring how much she loves him. She either hasn't heard me enter or ignores my presence.

I look him over as best I can. He doesn't seem to be very injured. There are some black spots on his face, right under his left eye and a split lip, his left bicep is covered in bandages and I can only guess his leg as well. I guess that's normal when you get T-boned on the driver's side.

He looks so peaceful, like he has a dreamless sleep, unaware of the reality the rest of us are living. He looks so handsome even bruised up. His lips are slightly parted and I remember the last time I kissed them. They were so soft and moist and deliciously sweet. I could spend the rest of my life kissing those lips. I look for a sign to see if he will wake up, but there is none.

I slowly get closer to his bed and Melinda must have heard me. She lifts her head and turns it slightly to see who it is. She stares at me and I realize I'm crying. The look she gives me tears through my heart. I must wear a similar one since she stands up and comes closer to where I stand. She wraps her arms around me and we both cry on the other's shoulder.

The pain I feel in this moment is indescribable. I only felt it one other time before, but then I called Sam to come hold me. Now I can't, because he is lying in this hospital bed. I feel Melinda slowly letting go of me and walk into the small en-suite bathroom. My eyes never leave Sam. I'm afraid that if I look away, even blink, he might disappear forever and I can't bear that thought.

I walk forward to his bed tracing the edge of it with my fingertips until they finally reach his hand. I gently wrap my small hand around his large one. It's warm, mostly because Melinda held it so tightly and kept rubbing it.

I find myself lying down next to him as best as I can. My head rests on his shoulder while his right hand is pulled up to my chest where my heart is beating for him and I talk to him in a hushed voice, as if telling him a secret. But there are no secrets between him and me. He knows me and I know him. The only thing I whisper is a promise that is true today and will be true every day henceforth: I love you.

I caress his face.

I hold his hand in mine.

I kiss his lips.

But I don't say goodbye.

This is not the end for us, my love.