I should’ve been elated that I wasn’t really dead. But I couldn’t when Irina stood before me. “Bullshit!”
Her blue eyes widened. “Always with the bad language,” she chastised.
Ignoring her scolding, I argued, “Why should I get more time and not you? You had kids to raise when you were taken.”
“This isn’t real, Maksim. It’s just a projection,” she reasoned.
“It’s still not fair. You should’ve gotten a second chance like me,” I whined like a petulant child.
“You’re right. It isn’t fair. But there’s still much for you to do. You have power that I never did.”
“I’m not a good man, Irina.”
“That’s not true. Good men aren’t all good, and bad men aren’t all bad.”
“Is this trying to tell me I should go back and become a priest or something?”
A tinkling laugh escaped her lips. “No, my son. That’s not it.”
“Then what?”
“Keep being the man you are inside. When the time comes, you’ll see me again.” Her hands came out to cup my cheeks. “But it will be real then.”
“So this is all just a trippy fantasy I’m having?”
To my surprise, Irina rolled her eyes. “You didn’t listen when you were younger, and you still don’t.”
I laughed. “No. I didn’t.”
After kissing my cheek, Irina said, “Rest for now. You’ll need to wake up soon.”
Grabbing her arm, I said, “Don’t leave me. Stay with me until I’m asleep.”
She gave me that radiating smile again. “Just like when you were younger, I could never tell you no.”
As she wrapped me in her arms, I closed my eyes. Irina hummed one of the lullabies of my childhood. It wasn’t long before the soothing sound of her humming was replaced by an irritating beeping noise.
Blinking my eyes, I took in my surroundings. I wasn’t in the bakery or the dark wasteland or the weird trippy heaven place. Instead, I was in the hospital bay at our compound.
With a grimace, I turned my head to the left. Dima slept awkwardly in a chair where his neck looked like it was going to break. The sight of him so close to my bed warmed my heart.
Slowly, I turned my head to the right. There wasn’t a chair there, but a cot instead. Peering over the edge, I took in the covered form on the cot. Every molecule in my body shudderedat the sight of Sarah sleeping on her side, her face turned towards my bed.
As my heartbeat accelerated, the machines started going off around me. “S…Sarah?” I croaked.
Her eyes popped open. The instant she met my gaze she threw back the covers and sprang out of bed. “Maksim? Are you really awake?”
“Are…you…really here?”
She hiccuped a cry. “I asked you first.”
A smile curved on my lips. “You are here.”
“You know because I was being a smartass?”
“Exactly.”
“Oh my God!” she shrieked.
