another five minutes before Jake and Jenny were left alone.
Jenny picked up the newspaper that had been left and flicked through it.
Jake squeezed onto the bed beside Kate, needing to be close to her, hoping she could feel him.
He brushed her cheek with his hand. Due to the apparatus protruding from her mouth he couldn’t trace her lips, so instead he ran his fingers lightly over her closed eyes. A slight movement that could have been imagined had him move his face to within inches of hers as he feathered her eyelids once more. It was only faint but there was no mistaking that she’d responded to his touch.
“That’s it, baby. I know you can feel me. Come back to me. I need you. Your parents need you. I know it’s hard, but you need to fight with everything you have. Show me another sign.”
He waited for another flutter but her eyes remained still.
“Maybe I imagined it. And even if I didn’t, how am I going to inform the nurse?”
That was no muscle twitch. He knew it deep down. Kate had felt him. Her soul knew he was with her. It was her body that was having a hard time functioning. Once that healed, she would come back to him fully.
Chapter Nineteen
“Mmmm.” Kate now felt like a warm blanket had been wrapped around her. A caress so wonderful that she forgot about the darkness. Whose caress? It didn’t matter. It felt right. Home was calling. She didn’t even know where home was, only that it was where the caress had come from. All her senses seemed to come alive in that moment and for the first time since the blackness had kidnapped her, something stirred.
Soft, featherlike fingers. Tickling. Soothing. Warm. She was responding to that touch as if she’d felt it before. It was part of her and yet separate. Familiar. Jake.
More. Yes, more. Please. It’s so dark here. So alone. I’m scared. Stay with me. Don’t leave!
The warmth flowing through her grew. Her soul seemed to open up like a flower in bloom, feeling the first rays of sunshine on its core. The unfurling of petals that had been squeezed shut could now stretch gloriously without restriction. So too could Kate’s limbs move about, released from the dark force that had been holding her prisoner.
With that release came a sudden free-falling through the nothingness. Her arms were flailing around as if she’d just jumped off a fifty story building. Falling fast. Down, down. There was no wind rushing by as she fell. Not a breath and yet her whole body was torpedoing down. She seemed to fall for ages until with a heavy jerk, she hit something. Was it the bottom? The bottom of where?
The sense of weightlessness had gone and had been replaced by a heavy, cumbersome dense sensation as if all her muscles had been knotted back into place, randomly with no thought as to where each one went. A jumbled mess of matter.
Sounds broke the wall. Strange sounds. Clanging. Beeping. A whooshing noise. Still, with all that going on, the caress held. Gentle, hypnotic. Everything was okay as long as the comforting stroking kept going. It was all she had to hold onto. A piece of herself had returned in that kind touch. Something she’d been missing. It was her lifeline. She’d been anchored back into her body from the Netherland.
Chapter Twenty
Kate’s whole body jerked just like it had when the medics had used the paddles, trying to re-start her heart. Except this time there was no visible reason for it.
Jenny threw the newspaper on the floor and moved to the bed in a flash. The heart monitor sped up on its own, signaling a change in her daughter’s condition.
Pressing the alarm for the nurse, she stroked Kate’s face, looking for any sign of life.
Nurse Maria came scuffling in. “What is it?”
“My daughter. She moved. I saw it. Her whole body jerked. The machine… it’s going faster. Look!”
Walking around the bed, Maria pulled the stethoscope from around her
Jenny picked up the newspaper that had been left and flicked through it.
Jake squeezed onto the bed beside Kate, needing to be close to her, hoping she could feel him.
He brushed her cheek with his hand. Due to the apparatus protruding from her mouth he couldn’t trace her lips, so instead he ran his fingers lightly over her closed eyes. A slight movement that could have been imagined had him move his face to within inches of hers as he feathered her eyelids once more. It was only faint but there was no mistaking that she’d responded to his touch.
“That’s it, baby. I know you can feel me. Come back to me. I need you. Your parents need you. I know it’s hard, but you need to fight with everything you have. Show me another sign.”
He waited for another flutter but her eyes remained still.
“Maybe I imagined it. And even if I didn’t, how am I going to inform the nurse?”
That was no muscle twitch. He knew it deep down. Kate had felt him. Her soul knew he was with her. It was her body that was having a hard time functioning. Once that healed, she would come back to him fully.
Chapter Nineteen
“Mmmm.” Kate now felt like a warm blanket had been wrapped around her. A caress so wonderful that she forgot about the darkness. Whose caress? It didn’t matter. It felt right. Home was calling. She didn’t even know where home was, only that it was where the caress had come from. All her senses seemed to come alive in that moment and for the first time since the blackness had kidnapped her, something stirred.
Soft, featherlike fingers. Tickling. Soothing. Warm. She was responding to that touch as if she’d felt it before. It was part of her and yet separate. Familiar. Jake.
More. Yes, more. Please. It’s so dark here. So alone. I’m scared. Stay with me. Don’t leave!
The warmth flowing through her grew. Her soul seemed to open up like a flower in bloom, feeling the first rays of sunshine on its core. The unfurling of petals that had been squeezed shut could now stretch gloriously without restriction. So too could Kate’s limbs move about, released from the dark force that had been holding her prisoner.
With that release came a sudden free-falling through the nothingness. Her arms were flailing around as if she’d just jumped off a fifty story building. Falling fast. Down, down. There was no wind rushing by as she fell. Not a breath and yet her whole body was torpedoing down. She seemed to fall for ages until with a heavy jerk, she hit something. Was it the bottom? The bottom of where?
The sense of weightlessness had gone and had been replaced by a heavy, cumbersome dense sensation as if all her muscles had been knotted back into place, randomly with no thought as to where each one went. A jumbled mess of matter.
Sounds broke the wall. Strange sounds. Clanging. Beeping. A whooshing noise. Still, with all that going on, the caress held. Gentle, hypnotic. Everything was okay as long as the comforting stroking kept going. It was all she had to hold onto. A piece of herself had returned in that kind touch. Something she’d been missing. It was her lifeline. She’d been anchored back into her body from the Netherland.
Chapter Twenty
Kate’s whole body jerked just like it had when the medics had used the paddles, trying to re-start her heart. Except this time there was no visible reason for it.
Jenny threw the newspaper on the floor and moved to the bed in a flash. The heart monitor sped up on its own, signaling a change in her daughter’s condition.
Pressing the alarm for the nurse, she stroked Kate’s face, looking for any sign of life.
Nurse Maria came scuffling in. “What is it?”
“My daughter. She moved. I saw it. Her whole body jerked. The machine… it’s going faster. Look!”
Walking around the bed, Maria pulled the stethoscope from around her
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