Home > While I Was Away(9)

While I Was Away(9)
Author: Stylo Fantome

“I don't think much about him, period. He's just ... there.”

“You don't think he and Adele will get married some day? Grow up and have little club promoting babies?” River teased. She got lost in thought for a few moments, staring out over the crowd.

“I don't,” she finally admitted after a few moments. Then she sighed and looked at him again. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Charlie's a great guy, honestly, but he and Adele ... we shouldn't be talking about them while she's gone.”

While she's gone – he didn't question Zoey's choice of words or why she said it, because for all the Reins, it was a forgone conclusion that Adele would wake up. There was no if for them, only a when.

River was the “middle” child, or at least had always felt that way. Adele had come along so late, and before her it had just been the three boys for so long. He wasn't as smart as Ocean, and he wasn't as talented as August. He'd had to try twice as hard to get half the attention. Then a beautiful baby girl had come along and that had been it, all the attention had gone. No more to go around.

Not that he didn't understand. River loved Adele with all his heart. He'd cried when his father had told him about the car crash. Seeing his baby sister looking like a broken doll, it had been too much. She'd always seemed so small and delicate next to her rambunctious brothers. They'd all been so overprotective of her – River probably most of all, because he hadn't been as busy and distracted as his brothers.

Yet in the end, what good had it done? He hadn't been able to protect her when she'd needed it the most. None of them had, and now she was in a fucking coma.

Don't think like that – focus on the positive.

“I like that you say that, you know,” he suddenly blurted out after a long silence. Zoey raised her eyebrows.

“Say what?”

“Gone. You always say 'while Adele's away' or 'while she's gone' – it's nice. The doctors and Charlie, sometimes I feel like they think she's already dead. She's not dead, she's ...” he ran out of words.

“She's gone away. She'll be back, River. She just needs some time,” Zoey assured him. He nodded and picked at the label on his beer bottle.

“Yeah. Hopefully not too much more, though. We don't work so well without her,” he chuckled. Zoey stunned him by reaching over and rubbing the back of his hand. A shocking gesture from a person like her.

It's a miracle. Now just make Adele have one, and I'll be really impressed.

“She'll be back in the blink of an eye,” Zoey said with a firm nod. “Just you wait and see.”

7

Adele blinked her eye rapidly, then held up her hand to block the sun.

Everything was bigger here, she'd noticed. Or her vision was clearer, she hadn't quite figured it out. Either way, the sun was always glaringly bright – it was too much to keep her eyes open for any length of time.

“Really? Here?”

Adele glanced to her left. Jones was laying down next to her, but he had his eyes closed. She turned away and closed hers, as well.

“It's as good as anywhere else.”

They were in the middle of an ocean. At least, she assumed it was an ocean. It was a large body of water with no end in sight. Just blue in every single direction, as far as the horizon.

She'd been scared at first, when she'd woken up floating in the middle of nowhere. But then she'd realized she wasn't in the water – she was on top of it. Her body was resting on the liquid as if it were a water bed. She moved along with the gentle waves, but never slipped under or got wet. The sun was warm, making everything feel peaceful and happy, so she'd decided to just stay laying down and enjoy the moment.

As usual, though, Jones hadn't been too far behind. He always popped up not long after she opened her eyes. Like a guardian angel always hovering nearby. Adele didn't mind. She liked knowing he was taking care of her, and the more time that passed in this strange place, the more she liked him. The more she felt like they'd always been meant to meet in this ... this ...

This oasis of eternity, that's where we are. That's why there's no time. That's why we've been here for only a few hours, and also forever.

“Jones,” she said after a bit. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Huh?” he sounded caught off guard.

Even after all the talking they'd done, enough to fill days and weeks and months and years, lifetimes, she still didn't know a whole lot about him. She asked questions all the time, but usually about where they were, how she'd gotten there, or how she could get home.

She never got any real answers, though, so she'd decided to try a different tactic this time. Maybe she could learn something about him and how he'd gotten there, and it could teach her how to get out.

“Siblings. A brother, some sisters, got anything like that?” she tried again.

There was a long pause.

“I had a sister. You're lucky, all those brothers,” he sighed.

“Yeah, lucky. My oldest brother was like a second dad, next oldest would beat up my boyfriends, and the youngest took great joy in doing fun things like locking me in the basement – after he'd convinced me the boogeyman lived down there.”

“Sounds like a fun childhood.”

“There was this one time,” she started laughing. “I was learning how to drive, and August – he's only six years older than me – was home for a visit. I was pulling into the driveway and he acted like I ran over him. I mean, there was fake blood and everything. I started screaming, I threw up, a neighbor came running over. My dad was so pissed, but mainly because he got that red shit all over the car seats.”

“When I started this job, a couple of my coworkers decided to haze me. I was taking a shower and they hid all my clothing. I had to walk around with just a towel around my waist, searching for my clothes everywhere,” Jones chuckled.

Adele cleared her throat and glanced at him out the corner of her eye. She didn't want to picture him in just a towel. Jones was very good looking, but he was also her guardian angel – lusting after him in any capacity had to be wrong. He also wouldn't tell her anything about what was going on, or how she'd gotten transported to this magical place. Was he actually an angel? Was he an alien? He wouldn't say.

So no, he didn't deserve to be ogled.

Though it was happening more and more often.

“Coworkers, huh. Those people in that creepy little town, are those your coworkers?” she ventured another question.

“No. It's a complicated job.”

“Sounds like it. So I don't get it. You follow me around everywhere, that's your job? Are you assigned to me? Or do you just like stalking people?” she teased.

“Oops, you found me out. I just like stalking gorgeous girls everywhere they go.”

Gorgeous. He said I'm gorgeous. I think he's gorgeous.

“Huh. So what would happen if I got a restraining order?”

“Then I would be crushed. How else would I spend my days?”

“You'd have to find something else to occupy your mind,” she laughed, turning to look at him. She was a little surprised to find him already staring at her.

“That would be very difficult, seeing as how you occupy it almost constantly.”

Adele wasn't sure how to react to that, how to respond to the look in his eyes. There was no breeze, but she found herself shivering. And still, she didn't look away from him.

Even after all the time they'd spent together – sometimes it felt like an eternity had already passed – she was still mesmerized by his eyes. Their color wasn't really all that noticeable at first glance, but they were simply arresting on the second. And on top of the deep emerald green, they were also warm, and full of kindness. Just looking at him, she could see how much he cared about her, which was both unnerving and exhilarating.

Eternity almost doesn't seem scary, as long as I'm spending it with him.

“Why am I here, Jones?” she asked bluntly.

“Because you don't know how to leave,” he gave his standard answer.

“And you won't tell me.”

“I'm unable to tell you – there's a difference.”

“Will you always be here?”

That question seemed to finally throw him for a loop. His eyebrows lifted towards his hairline.

“Why? Would you miss me if I left?” he tried to joke, but Adele didn't laugh.

“I think I would. I think I would miss you very much,” she spoke softly. His smile drifted away, but he continued staring at her.

“I'll be here for as long as you need me, Adele. I promise.”

His words had weight, she could feel them on her chest, as if he'd just wrapped a security blanket around her. She could hear the truth in them and for the first time since she'd arrived in that place, she didn't feel homesick. In fact, she almost felt downright ... happy.

Happy. Happy. What is happiness anymore? Green eyes. Hockey games. Venice Beach. Soft smiles. Warm sun. Home. Jones. Jones? He's all I know – but I don't know him at all. Home. Home is happiness. Not some stranger you're facing eternity with. Home. Focus on home.

She finally tore her gaze away from his and stared up at the sky again. At the burning bright sun that threatened to blind her. Then she slowly let her eyes fall shut, and she wished with all her heart that she could go home.

8

August Reins hesitated at the door to Adele's hospital room. It seemed necessary to always take a moment of silence. To pause while observing Sleeping Beauty.

That's what she looked like to August. With her thick brown hair all around her and her lashes resting on her cheeks. She looked peaceful.

Almost, he would swear, happy.

“Sorry, I was just checking on her, I'll leave you two alone.”

It was Nurse Lund speaking, the RN who tended to Adele for eight hours a day, five days a week. Lund probably knew Adele better than her brothers by that point. August managed a smile as the nurse left.

   
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