I paled. That voice! That voice? I missed Rhyzel so much—felt so guilty over what had happened to him that I was even hearing his voice now.
“I can’t imagine you graduating like this.”
Tears filled my eyes. I had to stop torturing myself. Even the sound of his voice reprimanding me was the best thing I’d ever heard.
“Demi.” It sounded so real, I couldn’t imagine it not being so.
I got up from the bench I’d been sitting on for about forty minutes or so—the bench in the park across from campus, which had become my spot whenever I needed to escape the confined classroom, and turned. I almost fainted when I spotted Rhyzel standing two feet away, his hair slightly longer, a few pounds lighter, and with a killer smile on his face.
“You’re dead.” I took in his appearance, observing his black t-shirt, jeans, and boots with confusion. He didn’t look like a ghost. He wasn’t see-through or transparent, but he couldn’t be real. He’d died three weeks ago. He died in my arms.
“Do I look dead?” he asked, taking off the gray backpack he wore over one shoulder and setting it on the very bench I’d been sitting on.
“What’s going on? I don’t understand.” I wiped away the tears that had begun running down my cheeks. “I felt the final breath leave your body.”
He ran one hand over his tousled hair—a move he’d done many times before. “Well, it seems I died too soon.”
“What do you mean?” Was he really real? Was he really alive again?
“Come here, Demi.” He extended his right arm, offering me his hand.
I was unsure whether to take it or not. “Where have you been?”
“I’ve been in Levion. I think someone up there really likes me.” The sides of his mouth tipped up into a smile.
“I don’t…” I was so confused.
“Let me touch you, Demi.” He wiggled his fingers for emphasis.
I took a tempting step forward, but stopped short of coming in contact with him. “Are you real?”
“If you touch me, you can tell for yourself.” He took a step forward himself.
“Why did you come back?” I stared at his hand, wondering if I should touch him just to prove I wasn’t imagining things.
“Apparently, someone up there decided I needed a third chance.”
“How so?”
“As far as I know, my mission in life wasn’t complete. The Overseers debated over what to do with me again, but after a dark winged rock star intervened, the Overseers sent me back to fulfill my destiny.”
“So…you’re here to stay.” I glanced up at his face.
“There’s something I need to do, and I need to be here with you to do it.” He reached out for me, grabbed onto my hand, and pulled me to him.
The second his skin came in contact with me, an image appeared in front of my open eyes—that of me lying on a hospital bed a few years from now, sweaty and tired, holding a newborn baby girl in my arms. Rhyzel stood on the side of the bed, looking down at us both with love and pride in his eyes.
I gulped down some saliva.
“How about that? There’s a little person that needs to be born and I need to be here to make sure that happens.” He grinned at me.
Feeling a little overwhelmed, I walked into his arms and buried my face in his chest, confirming his story. He was real. Alive again and we had a future together to look forward to.
“But that’s not going to happen for a few years, so how about we enjoy each day from now on?”
I pulled back so that I could look at his red eyes. “I like that plan.”
Smiling, Rhyzel leaned down and sealed his lips to mine, securing our relationship with a kiss, and our future with his presence alone.
About the Author
As a child, she used to lose herself in an imaginary world by the means of a good book. Now that she’s all grown up, Kristy gets to create her own fictional realms and make them come to life in ways that most readers might not expect.
She’s always had a passion for writing but never had the opportunity do so until now. After trying out numerous options, she realized that writing was what she loved the most so when she found herself with some free time on her hands, she decided to pursue her passion. As it turned out, her very active imagination helped her achieve her goals of creating believable plots with some ordinary, and some not so ordinary characters that helped the stories move along in one way or another.
As she keeps moving along in achieving her dreams of becoming a published author, she divides her time in between her four children and her very understanding husband.
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Keeper of the Innocents Page 29
