John's Gift               by: Prudence Walker

 

Chapter Eight

At that moment things went very weird as I panicked, thinking of Sam dying in the fire. Suddenly with a strange sense of disorientation I found myself in a room filled with smoke and flames, as I looked around, I saw a figure on the floor. It was Sam and he was still alive, but moving slowly in the wrong direction. I stumbled to him and grabbing hold I prayed in my mind for the gift to take us out of here. Nothing happened, it was only the fact that we were nearer the door than I was before, that allowed us to survive this long, as bits were falling off the ceiling. Suddenly with a loud crash a section of the roof fell down directly on us. I felt pain as it hit my body and my clothes caught fire. I screamed both with my voice and mind as I was crushed against Sam.

My next impressions were of voices talking in hushed tones. I couldn’t see anything, as there seemed to be something over most of my face, but I could tell I was in a hospital bed, the unmistakable smell of antiseptic was proof of that. I tried moving, to sit up, but pain lanced though me and I paused, thinking was I badly hurt or burned.

Listening to the voices I could make out that one was my ‘mom’ and that she was talking to a nurse,

"Will she be okay?" I heard my ‘mom’ say.

"Well, she should be fine after the bruising and the superficial burns heal, but we can’t explain why she’s been unconscious for 3 days." Replied the nurse.

Three days, I’ve been unconscious for three days? The thought just spun in my mind. Then, SAM! What about Sam, was he alright? I tried to say something. My voice came out rather croaky as I called out,

"Sam, did Sam make it out okay?"

I heard a quick intake of breath as ‘mom’ reached out to hold my hand.

"Yes honey, Sam is okay. Only some minor smoke inhalation, but how do you feel? Are you in pain? We have been worried sick since this happened."

"My back hurts and I can’t see, am I blind?"

"No honey those are just bandages with a soothing salve on them, you have some bruising, but it should be fine. You lost a little hair, but nothing a trip to the hairdresser’s wont fix. Can you tell us what happened? The police were asking questions"

"I want to see Cathy" I replied. "Please" I added. "I need to talk to her, and can I have these bandages taken off my face?"

"I’ll talk to the doctor, ‘mom’ replied. I felt her hug me which made my muscles complain, but it was comforting all the same. I lay there wondering what was going on. Did the police suspect me of lighting the fire? Or was it to do with my gift. Had the girls seen me port, and if so what were they thinking? I knew Cathy would try and help explain, but was it now in the open, what was my life going to be like, if every one knew about it. I drifted off to sleep with the questions unanswered.

I woke suddenly knowing someone was in the room I opened my eyes feeling the bandages had been removed. And Cathy flung herself on me crying with relief. I smiled at her and asked her, how did I look.

"You look great considering what you went though," she said brushing my hair with her fingers. "We need to talk before the police come in."

"Oh what do they want, as if I didn’t know?" I said gloomily thinking they suspected me of starting the fire.

"They want to know if you want to press charges," Cathy said, the gang have admitted to staring the fire and of leaving you in the room."

"Oh, why would they do that?" I said, thinking at least that lets me off the hook. "And what happened after I vanished, when the gang saw me after getting loose?"

"Well when you showed up outside, after Sam had gone in to find you. The gang was so relieved that you hadn’t died they confessed to us what they did to you, and that it was only a prank to get you in trouble. Then you disappeared; it was strange to see you vanish like that. Fortunately, the gang was looking at their leader on the ground at the time. Only Neri and I actually saw you pop out, and I’ve sworn her to silence, after I explained what you could do."

"Then the next thing I see, is you and Sam lying on the ground about 15 feet from the building. I was the only one looking that way as the fire department had arrived, and nearly every one had turned to look. Your clothes were still smoldering, so I ran over and put them out. Sam recovered in the ambulance saying, "he didn’t know how he got out, but was glad you were okay."

"Now it’s your turn, what happened, and how did you rescue Sam?"

"Well, I didn’t expect to be able to port back into the fire, but I’m glad I did. I think the shock of thinking I would lose Sam was enough to allow me to go into danger. Maybe," I said, musing, "the gift thought that my survival required Sam to still be with me. Where’s Sam now?" I asked anxiously.

"Oh he’s waiting outside, I don’t think he’s slept much since the fire at least that’s what it looks like, he’s got dark shadows under his eyes and I think he’s been crying too." Cathy then asked, "do you want to see him?"

"What do you think?" I replied, "of course I want to see him, please send him in."

"Okay, I’ll let you see him alone, and I’ll tell the police you’ll see then after."

"Thanks Cathy" I said, giving her another hug. As she left, I heard her talking quietly outside. Then the door opened again, and in walked Sam. He looked tired, but I felt something jump in my chest as he smiled at me, and I felt like melting under his gaze. I realized then that I was falling, no make that fallen, in love with Sam. It didn’t seem to matter that he was a guy I could feel my heart race and my body started tingling with excitement, this person had risked his own life to rescue me.

I smiled back at him and raised my arms to welcome him into them. He came over and gave me a hug then slowly, while looking at me to see if it was ok, he kissed me. I felt my whole body tremble with excitement and I blushed, as he drew back and looked at me.

"You don’t know how scared I was when they said you were trapped in that blazing room," he said. "It felt like my life was over thinking you might be dead."

" I know, I felt the same when I was lying there," I said covering up the fact I had rescued him. "It was a wonderfully brave thing you did, and I’ll never forget it."

"Shucks it was nothing," he said blushing like a schoolgirl, "I mean I couldn’t let my girlfriend die now, could I?" Then he realized what he had said and hung his head, as if trying to hide from me. I reached out and raised his head, so I could look him in the eyes.

"No you couldn’t let your girlfriend die, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart." At these words his eyes lit up, and suddenly he leant forward and we kissed again, my heart was singing and my heart rate went skyrocketing again.

I felt a sense of peace, as if this was where I wanted to be, and Sam the guy I wanted to spend my future with. I knew the future would hold many more surprises for me, but then I also knew that with Sam at my side and Cathy and the others, along with both sets of parents I could do it. With a happy heart, I started to look forward to my new life and it felt like the best gift of all.

 

THE END?… well maybe, then again I might just add more. It will depend on reader responses. I had originally planned taking it further. Let me know your thoughts. Contact me at Prue_gg@yahoo.com

 

 

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