Whispers of Death (14 page)

    I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, knowing that all he would feel would be the cold, but I needed to touch him.  He shivered, but a smile stretched across his face.

    "You don't need to be scared, just be my brave boy," I said.

    "Mommy, can we tell Daddy that you are here?" Abby asked.

    I looked at Death, and he nodded. "I don't think it could hurt anything."

    She squealed with delight and ran from the room.

    "Daddy, Daddy come quick!" she yelled. "Mommy is here."

    I heard the chair slam into the ground and heard Mark running down the hall. They both ran into the room, and Mark searched everywhere for me.

    "Are you sure?" he asked Abby. "Where is she?" he asked Hunter.

    "Daddy she is sitting right next to Hunter on the floor.  She is with Miss Vanessa and a guy in a black dress."

    Death smiled widely and chuckled at her description of him.

    Mark kneeled down in front of Hunter. "Son, can you see your mom?" he asked him.

    "No, but I can hear her," he answered. "She is right here." He poked a thumb in my direction, and I smiled, staring into Mark's eyes.

    "Mommy, why can't daddy see you?" Abby asked.

    I didn't answer. I just looked at him.  I wanted to feel his touch and to have him tell me that he would take care of me. I blinked and looked at Abby. "I don't know honey," I finally said. "Can you tell Daddy that I'm sorry?"

    "Mom says she is sorry," Hunter said, sniffing back his tears.

    "Lia?" he pleaded. "Lia, please come back. I need you; your kids need you."

    My heart broke. "I'm sorry, I have to do this." Hunter repeated to his dad what I said.

    Mark's head dropped. "I can't do this with out you," he cried.

    "Mark you have to start taking care of yourself, your kids need you, and I need you," I said, repeating what he had said to me. "You look terrible." I teased.

    He didn't smile; he didn't do anything. "Honey, I have to help. I need you to be okay with this. I need you to take care of things here until I get home."

    Mark looked up at Hunter's words. "I don't know if I can."

    "Please try," I begged.

    Hunter did his best imitation of me as he repeated my words.

    "I love you," I said.

    "Mom, do I have to say that?" Hunter asked. "That's weird."

    "Mommy said she loves you Daddy," Abby blurted.

    "I love you too," he said. "I will do my best."

    I smiled. "Hunter, can you please go in my room?  In the top drawer of the dresser you will find a note that I wrote to your dad a few weeks ago.  It's in my jewelry box."

    Hunter ran down the hall and returned a few minutes later with the letter in his hand.

    "Tell your dad I wrote that a while ago and know that he needs it now," I said.

    Hunter did as he was told. Mark took the letter and smelled the sealed envelope. "I miss you," he whispered.

    I smiled slightly but didn't say anything. I just watched as he carefully opened the letter.

You are my hero, for all time and eternity! I love you, don't give up on me.

Love,

Me

    He smiled widely, and tears flowed down his cheeks.

    "Amelia, we need to go now," Death's voice sounded urgent.

    "Please don't go!" Hunter and Abby said together.

    "I love you, go do what you need to do," Mark said. "We will be waiting for you to get back." He grabbed both kids and held them tightly.

    "I have to go, but don't worry, I will be back as soon as I can," I told them. "I love you very much."

    Hunter repeated what I said, then started to cry. "Please hurry Mom, I miss you."

    I reached toward him and tussled his hair.  Of course it didn't move, but he smiled at the chill of my touch.  "I'll be back as soon as I can.  I love you."

    The beeping in the next room sped up rapidly.  I looked toward it, knowing that it was reacting to my own feelings. I walked toward the door, looked back at my small family huddled together on Abby's floor, and walked out the door into the front yard.  My heart ached to leave them behind again.

    "Fear is moving quickly; we need to get back to Limbo and follow him," Death said urgently.  He swirled his finger, and a dark spinning wall appeared.

    Vanessa looked at me, smiling slightly. "You have a great family; they will be okay," she told me.

    I nodded and took a step away from my family and felt the life get sucked out of me again as I was swept away in the darkness of the portal.

Fourteen

    As I stepped out of the portal, my soul was ripped sideways, and I was pulled back inside.  My chest hurt, but I didn't know if it was because I had just left my family again, or that I hadn't had time to rest from the journey back to Limbo.  The air around me was stale when the pressure finally stopped.  I squinted in the sunlight and looked around.  I was surrounded by tall skyscrapers on either side.   I shielded my eyes as I looked up to the tops of the buildings.

    "Where are we?" I asked Death, who stood just to my right.

    "New York City," he answered. "The city that never sleeps."

    “I have always wanted to visit here, but Mark refused.  He said it was too crowded," I said as I looked around trying to see something that I would recognize.

     He didn't smile; his eyes were focused in front of him. "Fear is inside this building. Let's go."

    My stomach flipped. "Wait," I said, "what am I supposed to do?"

    "We fight," Death said, barreling toward the wall of the building, disappearing from view.

    I waited, unsure how to enter the building.

   
Could I walk through walls?
I thought. 

    I cautiously stepped forward and touched the wall where Death had gone.  My hand slipped right through.  I took a deep breath, my dress flicked in the wind behind me, and I stepped inside.  My body went right through, and I found myself surrounded by people moving quickly from one room to another.  Most were nurses and doctors, but a few were visitors.  The nurses hurried from one door to the next as patients were hurried inside. I heard beeping and whirring coming from the rooms around me, and I peaked inside, afraid of what I might find there.

    "Hurry," I heard Death say in my head.

    I snapped back to attention and looked to see where Death had gone to, but couldn't see anything past the multitudes of people blocking the halls.

    "Where are you?" I said, feeling silly about talking to myself.

    "Three doors down on your right follow the hall and then take two more right turns.  Hurry!" Death explained.

    I followed his instructions and ran as quickly as I could down the hall.  I nearly bumped into several people, but quickly discovered that I was invisible and could pass right through them.  It wasn't a pleasant feeling when that happened, almost as if I were broken into multiple pieces and then put back together again.  I shivered at the thought and walked through the door.  The next hallway was filled with even more people; they squeezed by each other and pushed their way into rooms.

    "Excuse me," I heard one person say. "Can you tell me how to get to Labor and Delivery?"

    Upon closer inspection I realized that she was about to have a baby.  They quickly whisked her away and took her down a different hallway.  I took two more right turns before stopping dead in my tracks.  The hallway was empty, dark, and cold.  I could feel the despair and sadness.  I didn't have to ask Death where he was; the thick black cloud that streamed from one door told me exactly where he was.  I ran toward the door and entered the room.  Death stood right in front of me, his body shaking as he fought the darkness that tried to engulf the patient lying in the bed.  Fear hovered nearby, a dark seething smile stretched across his face.

    "You have no power here." His deep raspy voice gave me chills. "Your power has been lost."

    I stepped toward the patient and looked at her.  Her body was covered in deep purple and black scars.  Her face twisted in agony as Fear tried to overcome Death and take her life.  I felt the fear rise inside me as I tried to think of what I could do to help this woman.  I remembered the look on Mark's face as I’d left Abby's room.  The look of desire and fear.  I felt his love surge through my veins.  I turned toward Fear and walked forward.

    "What do you think you are going to do?  You are just a lifeless human.  A nobody, just like him," he said, pointing the Scythe at Death.  Instantly Death collapsed, and the darkness overwhelmed the patient on the bed.  She screamed, and I threw myself on top of her.  I felt her body relax, but her pain shot through me like a bullet.  I screamed, but my body couldn't move.  Her pain was etched through every part of me.  I felt the pain increase as Fear pushed his way toward me.

    "Happiness is the key." Death's voice reverberated through my mind. "Happiness!"

    The pain became unbearable as Fear pushed himself through my soul.  I tried to think of something happy, but my mind was filled with darkness.  I struggled to breath as I felt my body begin to weaken.  I had to fight back. I had to return home. I tried to focus on what or whom it was that I was fighting for.

    "NO!" I screamed.

    Abigail's face appeared into my thoughts, her sweet touch as she kissed my cheek.  I could hear the wild beeping of a monitor, and I could feel oxygen running through my body.

    "Don't forget about us." The voice was faint in my ear, but the sound gave me new life.  I pushed back at the darkness and thought of my babies. I called out.  I could see Hunter smile at me, as he reached for my hand.

    "I'm right here Mom," he said.

   
Where was I?
  I was having a hard time remembering what was happening, but the surge of pain that I felt was real.  My heart beat frantically in my chest as the darkness crept forward.  I pushed back again, my thoughts turning toward Mark.  I saw him bend down toward me.  He gently pressed his lips to mine and then laid his head against my forehead.

    "I love you," he said quietly.

    I gasped for air, shoving the darkness away from my body.  I felt it retreat away from me, the pain slowly withdrawing.

    "How?" Fear shouted, staring down at me.  He retreated toward the doorway and then vanished.

    I felt the body beneath me inhale and heard her take a deep breath.  She moaned as I pushed myself away from her.  The room lightened, and people began to surround her.  Someone reached through me and grabbed her hand.

    "Isla? Isla can you hear me?"

    I turned to see what I assumed to be her husband holding her hand and rubbing her face lovingly.

    "Thank you.,” she said in a raspy voice.

    I looked down at her.  She was staring right at me.

    "Me?" I asked.

    She nodded. "You are my angel," she said.

    "Isla, who are you talking to?" her husband asked, looking around at the other people in the room.

    She turned to him. "My angel of mercy," she said, reaching for her husband. "I have so much to tell you."

    I watched in awe as she stared at her husband.  I looked around the room again. Death sat in a chair near the wall.  His once sleek black cloak was now tattered and torn at the sleeves and hem.  He looked more pale than usual, his breath coming unnaturally slow.  I went to him, kneeling in front of him.

    "What just happened?" I asked.

    He didn't answer.  His eyes focused on me.  He stared, a look of awe crossing his face.

   "Death, where did Fear go?" I asked, annoyed that I wasn't getting a response.

    "He has retreated for now.  He hides in the dark reaches of the universe where no light can find him."

    "Can we get to him?"

    "No, it is one place we don't want to go.  Fear has complete control there.  It is his sanctuary," Death explained.

    I turned and looked back at the woman that I just saved.  She was staring at her husband with a look of longing.  She seemed to be doing much better.

    "Death, what did I do to that woman?" I asked, not looking away from her.

    Death rose from his seat and stood beside me. "You did the same thing to her that you did to Vanessa in Limbo. You took away her pain, only this time it didn't return."

    I looked at him in shock. "I healed her?"

    "Yes, her injuries from her accident have completely healed on the inside. She will remain scarred and bruised for the time being, but the internal injuries that threatened her life are no longer present. It seems that your interference with Fear has more of an affect than I realized."

    He didn't look at me as he spoke; he seemed to be lost in his own words.  He stared at the woman, almost as if peering into her soul itself, which I'm not sure he wasn't actually doing.  The woman didn't seem to notice his stares or that we were even in the same room for that matter; she had eyes only for her husband.  It was a very reassuring feeling that I had somehow saved her life and that she had someone that was there for her.

    "Wait, I saw my family.  When I was being attacked by her pain and Fear, I saw my husband and my kids.  How is that possible?"

    Death turned his head quickly to look at me.  He didn't say anything; he just looked at me for a long agonizing moment.

    "Come, we need to get back.  Fear will be recovered soon, and we will need to be ready," he said, quickly turning and walking straight for the wall, disappearing before I could even say a word.

    I quickly followed and squinted out of habit as I stepped outside into the bright sunlight.  I took another look around.  No one would ever believe any of this. The streets were packed with yellow taxicabs and city buses.  Death cleared his throat, and I hurried to his side.  His finger snapped, and a swirling black mass appeared in front of him.

    I hated this part; it wasn't any easier now than the first time I’d taken a leap of faith.  Death beckoned me forward.  I took one final look behind me before stepping through the portal.  As we appeared back in Limbo, I breathed a sigh of relief that I had made it back.