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Limbo

Why?

RACHEL:

Several of the idiots who believe in my father's stupidity start shouting when they see me taking the hammer to the damned medallion, some of them even bursting into tears as it breaks into little pieces. I ignore them, though, and keep hitting it until it's barely more than dust, wanting nothing more than to finally be done with it, for all of us to finally be free to go on to whatever is waiting.

When I decide that it's sufficiently demolished, I put down the mallet and move toward Mom and Sawyer. Just as the police come storming into the room, followed by several paramedics, I stop in front of them and say, "All right, that's done. I guess we're finally free to go now."

They look at each other, then turn back to me, and Sawyer shakes his head. "No, that's not entirely true, babe," he informs me. "Yeah, Bev and I can go on, but it's not your time. You need to stay here."

"That's right, my love," Mom adds, reaching out to stroke my hair. "You're not actually dead, so you need to reclaim your body, and go on with your life."

This is not what I expected to happen, and I don't really know how to respond to that idea. Up until the blowup with Ash, I would have jumped at the opportunity to have my life back, but now I'm not so sure. I mean, what is there to look forward to, anyway? "But why?" I question. "I want to be with you guys, why don't you want me to?"

Sawyer puts his hands on my shoulders, and gently kisses my forehead, "Because you still have the chance to do things," he replies. "You can have all of those adventures that you always wanted, see new places, do new things,...find someone who can make you happy." Then he turns his head to glare at Ash for a second before adding, "Somebody who'll be smart enough to actually appreciate you, and treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Just because we didn't work out like we thought we would doesn't mean that I stopped caring about you, Rach. Go back, and be happy. Remember the good times that we had together, and that I'll always love you. If not as my wife, then as my dearest friend."

"You still have so many years, and so many good things ahead of you," Mom says, moving her hand to cup my cheek. "I want you to have the life you were always supposed to have, free of Victor's insanity." She glances briefly in his direction, watching as the EMT's load him onto a gurney. "Now I have to tell you, I'm sorry that I put up with everything for so long, and that I was stupid enough to keep you girls in that situation, but I can't really say that I'm sorry I met him. Because if that had never happened, then I wouldn't have had you, or Evelyn, and that is something I could never regret."

"I know that, Mom, I don't blame you. But why do I have to go back? I don't have anything left to go back for."

She gives me a faint smile, and brings out her big gun, the one thing that she knows I can never refuse. "Yes, you do, Rachel. You have Evie. She adores you, and you know she's missed you desperately. She needs you to be there while she's growing up, so if you won't do it for yourself, then do it for her. Do it for all of us, please."

They're both standing in front of me, looking at me expectantly, so I drop my head and give in. "All right, you know I can't argue with you where she's concerned. I'll do it for you, and for Evie."

She sweeps me into a hug and says, "That's my girl! Make sure she knows that I always loved both of you, and that I never meant to leave her alone. And that I'll always be looking out for both of you."

"I will, I promise."

Then Sawyer hugs me, and gives me one final kiss. "You've got this, babe! I know it might seem a little overwhelming right now, but you're smart, and strong, and you're one of the most resilient people I've ever known, so you can do this."

I nod, and kiss them both goodbye, then walk past Ash and the other guys to the bed. The cops have started gathering around it, and I see Chief Whitworth put his hand on my neck. "There's a pulse! It's weak, but it's there! Jurgens, get the paramedics back in here, now!"

As I edge past him and climb onto the bed, I see Ashley looking at me, his expression sort of a mixture of shock, shame, and sadness. I think for a second about saying something to him, but then decide against it, and concentrate on getting back into my body. After what happened before, I half expect to get bounced to the other side of the room, but it's surprisingly easy to get back this time.

After being insubstantial for all this time, it feels strange to actually have weight again, and since I've been immobile for so long, my muscles are weak, making it hard to move. And the tube in my throat is extremely uncomfortable, making it hard to breathe, which gives me the jolt I need to force my eyes open. I start gagging and wheezing, and everyone is just looking at me helplessly when one of the paramedics comes dashing across the room.

"Stand clear!" he yells at everyone. "I need room!"

"What's happening?" Whitworth demands, while everyone else looks like they're about to panic.

"She's started breathing on her own, so her body is fighting the ventilator," the EMT responds. "I need to get it out, before she hurts herself." He turns his attention to me, and murmurs, "Okay, just relax, sweetie, and I'll get you fixed right up. I know it doesn't feel good, so if you can just be still for a minute, I'll get rid of it."

He holds my head still with one hand, and eases the tube out with the other. It hurts as he's taking it out, but then it becomes easier to breathe, and the pain eases up to where it just feels like a bad sore throat; uncomfortable, but not intolerable.

I glance around the room, unable to speak, and barely able to move, and Chief Whitworth looks down at me and says, "Hello there, Mrs. Monroe. I have to say, I'm surprised to see you here. Glad, but definitely surprised. So what do you say we let these nice fellas do their job and get you to a real hospital, so they can get you fixed up. Then when you're feeling better, we can have a talk about your father, and get him put away where he can't do this to anyone else."

He steps back and motions for everybody to step away from the bed, so another paramedic can wheel a stretcher over. He helps the first guy move me from the bed, onto the stretcher, and the last thing I see as they push me toward the exit is Whitworth standing in front of the guys, saying something that I'm no longer able to hear, and Ash looking at me, watching as they rush me away.






Notes

Comments

Awesome chapter as always! Have you got Wattpad figured out yet? :)

Merelan Merelan
7/12/19

Okay cool, we'll see how things go.

Merelan Merelan
7/11/19

@Merelan
Hey there, sorry I'm a bit behind, but I had some family stuff I had to do. I'm still having difficulties with getting myself set up on Wattpad, so I'm gonna try making a completely new email account through some other server, in case the site is just incompatible with Yahoo, and see if that works. If not, I may just let Annie start posting my books on her account, but I'll get them over there before long, one way or the other. I'll be posting a new chapter here tomorrow, so the wait is almost over. Thanx for your patience, and I'll keep you posted on the Wattpad situation. :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
7/11/19

@Merelan
Yeah, I guess it's a good thing that I kept a separate tab open to my own books, or I probably wouldn't have been able to update at all. And she told me that you'd contacted her, so now I know who you are on Wattpad. I've been having some issues with getting an account started, so I don't know if it's an issue with my email account, or username or what, but I'm hoping to get a friend who works with computers to come by and help me sometime this week. So I'll definitely drop you a message when I get everything up and running. Thanx! :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
6/26/19

Awesome chapter as always! This site is pulling a Titanic - I can click on the other tabs like new, updated, etc., but it's showing the stories from ~6 years ago to ~3 years ago. Nothing else. I'm on Wattpad now, I sent a message to Star Elf, so I look forward to seeing you there! :)

Merelan Merelan
6/26/19