I tried to nod my head, but once again it felt too heavy to move. The light was beginning to fade and as the room turned darker, my body got heavier, and pain wracked my body. I was once again submerged in the complete darkness, no light, no sound, just pain.
“Return to me.” The voice was different than Octavius’s, it was wracked with anguish and fear. “Return to me, Noah.”
I struggled through the dark to find the source of the voice. Who was it? He sounded familiar to me. The sound of his voice had my heart racing at warp speed.
“I love you, Noah. Don’t you dare leave me.”
My fight to crawl out of the darkness felt like it took forever, but I finally cracked my eyes open. The room was dimly lit and I heard the sounds of machines beeping on my left. I felt heavy all over as if I was heavily sedated. My brain felt foggy, I couldn’t remember how I landed in the hospital or even where. The last thing I remembered was getting a call from my neighbor in North Carolina telling me that Elijah’s Landing was vandalized. Had I been in an accident? Oh my God!! Where was Madge?
I attempted to sit up, but I couldn’t budge. There was a heavy weight pinning me down across my legs and it wasn’t just from the medication. I raised my head and saw that a dark-haired man was lying with his head on my thigh and his arms stretched across my other leg. It looked like he had fallen asleep as he sat in the chair beside my bed.
I didn’t recognize the man, but his wavy, longish hair called to me. It looked so silky and I imagined it would feel cool between my fingers. I moved my hand and slowly ran my fingers through the strands and discovered it was just as silky and cool as I had imagined. It almost seemed as if I had done it before.
The man suddenly jerked his head up and looked at me. His eyes were wide with shock at first and then a beautiful smile bloomed across his face as tears pooled in his eyes. “Oh my God!” He exclaimed as the tears ran unchecked down his face. “You’re back.” It was so sweet of this man to be so worried about me.
“I wasn’t aware that I left,” I said in a dry voice. I sounded like I’d been in a desert for at least a year without any water.
“You almost left me, Noah.”
“I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. I felt so groggy and my brain felt like it was moving in slow motion. Who was this gorgeous man crying all over me?
“You’re back and that’s all that matters, baby.”Baby?“I can’t wait to get you back home?”Home?
I started to panic, because I didn’t know who this guy was or where he wanted to take me. I started to shake all over and my head began to hurt really bad.
“Noah, what’s wrong?” The man raised his hand to touch my face, but I jerked away from him. The trembling intensified to the point that my teeth chattered. He reached over and pushed a button on my bed. “You’re going to be okay.”
“W-w-who are y-y-you?” I asked through chattering teeth. I could tell that he heard me and understood me by the reaction on his face. He looked shocked and then devastated that I didn’t know him. He wiped the tears off of his face and took a shaky breath before answering.
“I’m the man that loves you more than life itself.”
I started to open my mouth to say something else, but a nurse came in to answer his call. Once she saw that I was awake she called for the doctor. My visitor was asked to leave so that they could check me over and they promised him that they’d come find him when they were through. He did as they asked, but not before he grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze.
“You’re going to be okay.” His words were sure, but the fear I saw in his eyes did nothing to make me feel better.
