A Small Voice

Chapter Forty-Four

"But now therighteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the lawand the prophets."Romans 3:21

Heaven exists. I felt so at peace. I could feel the arms of Rachel around me, hugging me, bathing me in her scent. The perfect aroma of Rachel. I breathed it in slowly.

Yet, I started to feel really thirsty. I couldn't understand why. My parched mouth was dying for water—cold, clear Canadian water.

"Jesus!" I mumbled. "Angels, Peter. I need water. I need water, Jesus."

The arms holding me began to stir.

"Dan!" It was Rachel's voice. "Dan! Are you awake?"

I opened my eyes, and her pretty face was looking right at me, so close our noses almost touched.

"Rachel? What are you doing here? Do you have water?"

She laughed, and bounced out of the bed, rummaging around on a side table and producing a cup of water. I lifted my hands to grab it, but my arms felt really weak and my fingers trembled.

"Let me do it," she said. She put the cup to my lips and gently tipped the cool liquid into my mouth. It tasted better than any drink I'd ever had.

I glanced around and realized I was in a hospital. "I'm not dead," I whispered. It wasn't a question.

Rachel jumped into the bed beside me and hugged me tightly once more. "No, Danny, sorry to spoil your plans." She had tears in her eyes.

I used all my effort to get my right arm up, so I could wipe them away. Feeling a big grin involuntarily widen on my face, I repeated, "I'm not dead."

Rachel buried her head in my chest. "You promised you would never leave me again. When we first came to Chicago."

"I'm sorry." Everything seemed so surreal, and my mind was still trying to process it. "I didn't want to disappoint you, Rachel."

She lifted her head to look at me. She had streaks running down her cheeks where her tears mixed with her mascara. "I know about your son, Dan. You have been in a coma for two weeks. Sammy heard about your accident and reached out to me."

I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see the disappointment on Rachel's face, nor the disgust.

She put her hands on my cheeks. "It's okay, Danny. I forgive you. You've been sick for a long time. From now on, we are going to get you the help you need."

"Thanks." It's all I could say. All of my energy was being used to hold back tears.

Rachel continued, "When I realized you had left the party and took the car, I had a bad feeling."

"Ominous," I supplied.

"I called the police to check on you, especially since you were seeing visions of Tammy again. I was worried. By God's grace, they found you in time."

I sighed. "So you left the party?"

"Yeah, with Jan. It seems you were not the only one going through a tough time."

"How so?" I asked.

"Pastor Richard... Well, he was very anti-social that night, and we all thought he went to bed. He was found dead in his spa a few days later. Apparently, he drank a bottle of whiskey and drowned."

"Jesus," I muttered. Then the memory came back, of my hands pushing him in the water. I got goose bumps.

Rachel smiled at me.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because that's not even the craziest part. Last week, an anonymous person from the church gave us one million dollars."