Chapter 8 - The Awakening
The sun was setting over the lake when Mary finally opened her eyes.
The room had turned a deep, quiet lavender, the long shadows of the high-rise buildings stretching across the white floor. I was still holding her hand, my head resting against the edge of the mattress, my eyes closed in a light, exhausted sleep.
A soft touch on my hair woke me.
I lifted my head.
Mary was looking at me. her brown eyes were hazy, slightly unfocused from the residual medications, but they were clear. They were her eyes.
"Julian?" she whispered, her voice a dry, raspy thread that barely carried through the quiet hum of the room.
"Mary," I breathed, my hand flying to her cheek, my fingers tracing the soft curve of her skin. "Mary, don't try to talk. You’re in the hospital. You had a fall."
"The... the bag," she choked out, her hand moving weakly against the sheet. "Where... where is Lauren? The landlord... he said we had to leave..."
"Lauren is safe, Mary," I said, my tears finally spilling over, hot and fast against her hand. "She’s safe. She’s with me. She’s at the hotel. She’s had dinner, and she’s warm. I have her bag. I have the Bible. I have everything."
Mary looked at me for a long, silent moment, the fog in her eyes slowly clearing as she registered my face, the expensive clothes, the silver hair at my temples that hadn't been there when I left her.
"You... you came back," she whispered, her lip trembling.
"I came back, Mary," I said, my forehead resting against her hand, my shoulders shaking as ten years of pride, ambition, and cold success finally collapsed into the dust of the hospital floor. "I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry it took me so long. I’m so sorry I let you go."
"I... I kept the picture," she said, her voice dropping into a quiet, sleepy rhythm. "I told her... I told her you were building the tower."
"The tower is built, Mary," I said, looking up to meet her eyes. "And it’s ours now. You’re never going to have to clean another window. You’re never going to have to worry about the winter rent. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you and Lauren have the light."
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She smiled—that small, beautiful, crescent-shaped smile that had once been my only sanctuary in a cold world—and her eyes closed again, her breathing dropping into a deep, peaceful sleep that lacked the desperate tension of the coma.
I sat there in the quiet room, holding her hand, watching her chest rise and fall in a perfect, steady rhythm as the stars began to appear over the dark waters of the lake.
