ThunderSnow

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: You are my world.

"Come on... come on... slower than molasses in January!"

Lyn stood in the elevator lobby, wringing her hands as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other in anxious impatience. "Dang elevators."

Every few seconds, her eyes would shift apprehensively toward Eli's room. Just on the other side of that door was everything her heart had ever wanted, ever yearned for. And yet, it was also everything that could bring her the most pain.

Lyn bit down on her lower lip, her eyes darting back and forth between the cold steel of the elevator and the rich warmth of the hotel room door that seemed to beckon to her. Acting without her mind's permission, her feet inched forward, propelling her body in slow, hesitant steps toward Eli's room. Everything about her was drawn to him, like an inescapable gravitational force.

---

Eli sat in stunned silence, staring at the closed hotel room door; the door through which all the air had been siphoned out of the room just moments before. What just happened?

His mind raced as he replayed Lyn's words in his head like a playlist on repeat. No us ... you're leaving ... opposites ... two worlds ... 

He shook his head to clear the crushing words, dropping his head into his hands as his fingers tightened in his hair. "Lyn..." he groaned softly.

His fists clenched, causing a shock of pain to course from his scalp into his brain. "Lyn... Lyn..." he moaned, rocking back and forth in anguish as his cries grew louder with each reiteration.

"Lyn!" His voice grew in intensity and desperation. In that instant, he froze and lifted his head, swiveling it toward the door. His blue eyes glittered with determination as he leaped from the couch in one stride.

---

Lyn closed her eyes. She could almost hear Eli's voice ringing in her head, calling her name. The ding of the elevator invaded her thoughts, breaking the spell and causing her feet to halt. She retraced her steps, retreating to the confined, suffocating space that would bring her out of the lofty clouds of the penthouse and back to the hard ground of her world.

With one last longing glance, she stepped into the elevator. Her eyes locked on the hotel room door as it was slowly squeezed from view. The unsympathetic doors closed with a cold, hollow finality. And just like that, the vision was gone. Lyn collapsed against the wall of the elevator, gasping for breath as the cracks in her heart ruptured and a flood of grief and pain poured from her in choking sobs.

"Going down," the saccharine voice intoned, almost mockingly.

---

Eli gripped the handle and swung the door open wide. "Lyn, wait!" he shouted, as he barreled through the doorway.

Tears pooled in his eyes as he scanned the elevator lobby expectantly, greeted only by excruciating silence. He pressed his forehead against the cool metal of the elevator door. "Don't go," he whispered.

With an agonizing groan, he struck the elevator with the palm of his hand. As he lifted his head, a soft red glow caught his attention in the corner of his vision. Exit... the stairs... He sprinted through the stairway door, his mind calling out desperately as he raced down the stairs. Lyn... don't go... I'm on my way.

---

Lyn wiped at her eyes furiously as she ran through the back hallways of the hotel, dodging the staff and their bewildered glances. Her lungs gasped for air as she burst through the door into the garage, desperate for the comfortable familiarity of her little car. As she settled into the seat, she turned her head, looking longingly at the glaringly empty seat beside her. Her fingers traced over the soft cloth fabric. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, bittersweet hints of wood and spice... of Eli... simultaneously tantalizing and torturing her senses.