A/N: (Just to let people know, this IS NOT the end of the story! I don't plan on ending it for a while!)
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After Lynn told the group of what happened at the house, the only noise that could be heard in the room was the rain from outside.
Lynn was now hugging her son and crying on his shoulder, repeating the words ‘I’m sorry’ every now and then.
Justin hugged his mother back, trying to make her feel better, but he knew it wasn’t working. He knew the whole conversation wasn’t going to go well, but he was surprised that she actually ran. Then again, Rachel always hated when people lied to her.
A few minutes later, Lynn finally calmed down and sat in one of the chairs next to Justin’s bed.
Suddenly, Elisha stands up from Trace’s lap and heads for her jacket.
“Baby, what are you doing?” Trace asks.
“Has anyone else realized that Rachel ran away IN THE RAIN?” Elisha asks.
Thunder can now be heard in the room.
“Shit!” Justin says.
“I’m going to find her,” Elisha says as she walks out of the room.
Trace goes after her in the hall, “Elisha, wait a minute!”
“What?!” She asks annoyed.
“Whoa, sorry babe. Let me come with you.”
“No, you stay here next to your best friend. He needs you right now.”
“Elisha, have you seen that storm out there?! It’s crazy! I can’t let you go alone!” Trace exclaims.
“Trace, I’ll be fine on my own, really. I just found out about all of this today, too, so she might let me talk to her when I find her.”
Trace sighs, “Alright, just be careful, babe.”
Elisha pecks him on the cheek and begins to walk away, “I will, don’t worry.”
Trace snorts as he watches his fiancée leave.
‘Don’t worry. Hah. Funny.’ He thought as he headed back to the room.
**********
I pull into the parking lot of the hospital as it continues to rain and get out of the car.
I stare up at the building that’ll lead me to the last obstacle of this nightmare”seeing my husband for the first time in over 2 months. Plus, everybody in that room..especially Lynn.
One more kiss could be the best thing
But one more lie could be the worst
I hear thunder in the distance as it continues to rain hard. After I calmed down at the beach, I came to my senses that I needed to get here and finally say that I’ve done something right again. I hadn’t bothered to change out of my wet clothes. I combed out my brunette hair, which I’ll have to do again, but I can’t waste time right now. I need to see him.
In my head there’s only you now
This world falls on me
In this world there’s real and make believe
And this seems real to me
Yeah, people who are in the parking lot are probably staring at me, but I could care less.
I take a deep breath and begin to walk toward the entrance of the hospital. I can see a couple coming out with what looks like their newborn baby. They smile as the man holds an umbrella over the woman and the baby.
I wonder if I’ll walk out of this place with a smile on my face.
As I stand right outside the entrance, I’m nervous. What’s everyone gonna think about me after I ran away? What’s Justin gonna think? I almost begin to retreat back to the car until I hear a gasp.
I look ahead and see Elisha running towards me.
“RACHEL! OH MY GOD, THANK GOD YOU’RE OKAY!” She says. “I was so afraid you were gonna be stuck in that storm outside!”
“Nah, I came back when I heard thunder.”
“That’s good”my God, you’re soaked. Let’s get you inside!” Elisha says as she pulls me into the hospital.
Well, it’s too late to back out now. But I don’t want to do that. I need to see Justin again. I need to know that this is no dream that I’m gonna wake up any minute from.
“I take it you were leaving?” I ask Elisha as we get on the elevator to lead us to the right floor.
“Yeah, I was on my way to go and look for the runaway criminal,” She teases.
“Hah, well you caught me”very easily, too,” I say.
“Well you came to the right place,” Elisha says as we walk off the elevator.
We walk down the hall until we stop in front of the door that will open to Justin’s room.
Elisha looks at me, “Are you ready?”
I stare right at the door. I wanna go in there so bad, but something’s holding me back.
Fear.
“I…don’t know..” I say slowly.
“What’s wrong?” Elisha asks.
I pull Elisha away from the door; afraid that whoever’s in the room besides Justin will hear us.
“…I’m afraid, Elisha…I mean, I wanna go in that door…and I wanna see him again so bad…but I’m just afraid…afraid of how people will think of me after I made an episode today…afraid to face Lynn again…and afraid that Justin might be mad at me for that…”
“Rach, he’s not mad at you, he’s worried about you. He misses you so much and he hates that Lynn lied to you about all of this,” Elisha says as she tries to make me confident.
I stand there for a few minutes, still unsure about everything.
“Rachel, if you don’t go in there, you’re not only hurting yourself, you’re hurting him.”
I look up at her. She’s right. Despite all the fights we ever had, I never wanted to hurt Justin. He’s already hurting right now and he needs me just as much as I need him.
“Alright, I’m gonna do this.” I say.
Elisha smiles and gives me a hug, “It’ll all be okay, Rachel. Just hang in there. And I’m always here for you.”
“Thank you so much,” I say.
We walk back towards the door of Justin’s room again. I stare at it again and take a deep breath.
“Do you want me to go in first?” Elisha asks.
“Yeah,” I say. “It’ll make me feel better about it.”
“Okay…. are you ready this time?”
I nod my head slowly. It’s now or never.
Elisha quietly opens the door and goes into the room. I follow in after her and close the door.
I don’t think anyone knows that we’ve come in. I can hear a couple voices, until I see Lynn look over towards us.
I turn away. I can’t forgive her right now. It just hurts too much.
Elisha walks in further and everyone says ‘Hey’ to her.
Including Justin.
I can’t believe it. I just heard his voice. This really is real.
I take a deep breath and walk further into the room.
Oh my God. There he is. He’s alive. He’s really alive. And he’s staring right back at me.
I’m trying my hardest to hold in my tears as everyone else gets up and leaves the room.
Justin and I continue to stare at each other. It’s like we’re making sure we’re not an illusion to each other.
Justin reaches out his hand for me and I slowly walk over and take his hand in mine.
I’m deeply on the verge of tears right now.
“Come here,” Justin says as he opens his arms.
I accept as I sit on the bed to lean forward in a hug and begin to cry.
Justin wraps his arms around me tight as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he lets go. But I won’t. I never want to disappear from his life again.
God, it feels so good to be in his embrace again.
I continue to cry my heart out as he tries to comfort me by kissing me on the top of my head.
I sit up for a second and do something that I’ve wanted to do in such a long time.
We both lean in and kiss.
All my other worries are washed away for a moment as I continue to kiss Justin. I know I keep saying this, but this truly is a miracle.
Life just got easier as I overcame one obstacle”but there’s a few more I need to solve.
I just don’t know how I’m gonna do that yet.
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Song credit: Let Me Go--3 Doors Down
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