It was Danny’s mother. I missed her too. She was more a mother to me than my own had ever been. She called me on holidays and sent me a birthday package in the mail. “What’s going on, Mrs. B.?”
“Oh God, Jere. It’s Danny. He needs you.”
CHAPTER TWO
Danny
I was locked in a nightmare, stuck, unable to wake up. Except sometimes I thought I might be awake, but nothing in my body wanted to work. Darkness surrounded me and an occasional splash of blurred color floated by. My lips were chapped and my throat parched and my legs and arms refused to move.
Wake up. You need to wake up.
Still, my eyes refused to see, and my brain had forgotten how to work my tongue to form words.
Sometimes I thought I heard sounds. Chattering, humming, a thumping, and some sort of rhythmic beeping. I wanted to call out for help.Is there anyone there?The blackness surrounding me was a tangible thing, a blanket of pure terror. Why couldn’t I wake up?
“I think he’s waking up.”
Mom?I recognized her voice, but it was thick with concern. A million things swirled in my mind. Had I gotten drunk? Was I in a car accident? Why couldn’t I see anything? Panic suffused me, and my lungs stretching painfully in search of air. A potent thump fired off in my head. It drummed behind my eyes, rattled my teeth, and shot down my spine like ice water.
“Danny, come back to us. You can do it.”
That voice. I knew that deep, raspy tone so well.Jere?Frustration zinged through me as I tried to speak but let loose a gurgle.
“It’s okay. Take your time. We’re here for you and we’re not going anywhere.”
Jere.
Why did I need to take my time? What the heck was going on? The thoughts swelled in my mind, making my brain hurt. In fact, all of my body hurt. This nightmare refused to let me escape. Time passed in agonizing fashion. Sometimes I thought I was on the cusp of waking up, but the darkness pulled me back down. I’d never before been so scared in my life, and I didn’t know why.
It occurred to me suddenly that I might be dying.
Mom, I love you. Jere… Jere.God, he’d always been there for me whenever I needed him so it made sense that he’d be here at the moment of my passing. And I hadn’t told him the truth of how I felt about him. I wasn’t ready to die. I was only twenty-seven, for Christ’s sake. I had things to do, people to help, ecosystems to rebuild.
Jere.
“Danny,” his husky voice breathed out. Something warm and rough slid against my hand. “Come on, nerd. Wake up. You can do it. You’re almost there.”
Yes, I wanted to wake up. I didn’t want to die.Follow the light… What light?
“Danny,” Jere said again, his voice cutting through the stark shadow. “Come on back.”
His presence was to the left of me and I latched on to his words. His voice was my light and I put all the strength and will to live that I had left into following his words. My world was suddenly illuminated, a white-hot light exploding all around me and burning my eyes. I hissed, tears welling up.
“Kill the lights,” Jere barked.
He was so close now, right on the other side of consciousness. Pressure tightened around my hand, the warmth soothing.
Jere was right next to me. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel him. “Open those eyes for me, buddy. Come on, let me see those baby-blues.”
I was surprised by the sound I made, the throaty moan, the sum of everything I was experiencing right now. I grabbed onto his voice and forced my eyes to open. I wanted to wake up from the damn nightmare more than anything. My world brightened, and the hazy image of my best friend slowly came into focus.
Jere looked at me with something akin to pride, his cockeyed smile pulling up. “There you are. Welcome back. You’ve been missed.”
My raspy words surprised me. “Where did I go?”
I winced at the scratchiness in my throat and the ache in my jaw. Now that I was in the light, pain had taken over. There was a deep throbbing in my skull and an uncomfortable tingle running through my body. Even breathing was painful.
I focused on Jere, needing something to anchor me. He was still blurry as if he were in a tank of water, but I’d never before seen a more beautiful sight. That rough-cut jaw and those plump lips, the steel gray of his eyes that belied his gentle nature and the stubbornness of his hair that no matter how many times he combed it, remained a mess.
