Where The Lotus Blooms.

Float

     I was suspended in the air, my eyes still closed. A warm feeling took over my body as I opened my eyes, the mist seemed to fade from around me. I shifted my body forward and looked down. Another mirror pool, this time I could see into it. It was the apartment E and I had gotten. I looked around for her. She was on the couch curled up with the blankets we bought. My chest began to pound, I reached my hand through the pool and pulled myself through. 

     "E, I'm right here, it was all just a dream!"

     She didn't move, as if she couldn't hear me. I continued to call to her with no avail. Tears started to run down my face. Was I actually gone? Did I fail her? I sat down next to her. Her eyeliner had smudged and ran down her face. She was shaking in her sleep. I put my hand on her face, I needed her touch just one last time. I'll always be by your side I thought to myself. As I ran my hand down her face, she woke up touching my hand. She was panicked. She looked at me with a confused face, and began crying again. 

     "I thought I heard you and wanted to believe it so much that you were still here. It was probably just my dream. I miss you." 

     From what I could only take was her talking to me, I screamed for her telling her I was right in front of her. She rolled over and cried into the pillow. I had to do something, anything. I went to brush her hand before my whole body went still. Something was stopping me from touching her. I tried with all my will to move forward and I couldn't. I looked behind me and the mirror pool had come back. I felt my body being pulled back to it. I screamed for E to wake up. She woke in a panic and ran to her phone. I was almost back to the void.

     " He what?! Please repeat that for me." I heard E dazed and confused on the phone. She was crying, and I saw a smile come about her face. 

     "Thank you, I will be there as soon as I can!" she ran to get dressed, the last thing I saw before being completely pulled through the void was the biggest smile on her face. What the hell happened?

     As I was pulled through the pool, it closed and it's shimmer vanished. I felt an even stronger pull as my body was lurched and drag at a tremendous speed. I was being pulled to yet another pool. I couldn't see what was past it. I closed my eyes as I entered through. 

     When I opened my eyes I was back at the hospital. My chest was burning, I heard the panting of someone nearby. My vision was blurry and fuzzy, it took a minute for everything to come to. The nurses and doctors were relieved. I asked what happened. The doctor took a moment to catch his breath and explained that they lost me for a couple minutes, but after several attempts to bring me back and control the bleeding, they had gotten a heart beat. I was in a coma for two days. I was weak, moving my arms seemed as if they were hard wood floor boards. 

     About twenty minutes passed talking to the doctors and re-situating what had happen, then E walked in. My eyes swelled with tears. She dropped her purse and everything else she was carrying. She ran to me and almost jumped into the hospital bed with me. She smothered my face with kisses and held me so tight I thought I was going to pop.

     "I thought I was going to lose you baby, they made it seem like you weren't coming back."

     " I'm not going anywhere baby, I told you I would be with you forever. I never break my promises."

     " I heard or saw you in my dreams. I knew you would make it."

     My heart began to swell, I wanted to tell her that I was there with her, I saw her on the couch. 

     "E, when I was in my coma, I saw you on the couch curled up with the blankets, and I saw you when they called you."

     She looked at me in awe. She searched my eyes for the words to say. I took her silence as approval of what happened. She told me she felt my presence before she left, which solidified her hunch that I wasn't gone. 

     The doctors kept me for three days before releasing me. Later the cops informed me they found the guy who shot me and took my cards. I wasn't able to call the credit card company, but E managed to handle it and in turn helped the police to catch the culprit. My work ensured that I would keep my job and gave me paid time off and to come back when I recovered. E walked with such bright radiant energy, I knew she was the one. These series of events that occurred not only brought use together, but melded our souls. I knew when I woke up that she would be by my side and that she wasn't leaving. She knew this as fact as well that I wasn't going anywhere. We would fight for each other, escape deaths grasp together, and take on the evil of the world as if we were each others super hero. After we made it home, I couldn't help but watch her in awe. Everything moved in slow motion as she swayed in the living room. This was the newest form of love she had showed me. This was the stuff movies and stories were inspired of. I thought I would never feel this, but she showed me it, and to think it all started in a record store. I smiled as we slow danced in the living room. Embracing each other, safe in the comfort of each other. Our hearts started to beat as one, as cliche as it sounds, but I felt her heart beat in rhythm with mine.

     I fell in love with you on the spot E. The moment I met you I could tell by your smile that you were different. You radiated energy so unknown to me, eventually you showed me how to radiate that energy as well. I knew that we would be unstoppable, and here we are. We had survived this, we could survive anything. Thank you E, you showed me what this world has to offer, and that sometimes it's better to travel it with someone who can show you the shortcuts on the path, or suggests taking the long way nice and slow to enjoy the view.