Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

“You have to touch her Mark. It will speed up her recovery.” I could hear Sam tell him, but her voice sounded far off as the pounding in my ears drowned everything else out.

“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a moment,” I said, hoping he would just leave. If my body hadn’t just been overrun by emotions, I would have been embarrassed.

Mark ignored the hint and reached out to rub my back. I instinctively shied away from his touch, embarrassed to have him so close when I had just puked up an entire days worth of food. He insistently leaned in even closer, and I could feel the heat radiating out of him. An electric current seemed to flow through us, and I could feel the sickness beginning to ebb away. I kept my eyes closed as his touch soothed the rest of the sickness away. I finally let all my inhibitions fade and I leaned back against him, using his body heat to try to contain the chills that began to creep over my body.

Mark felt my sudden quaking and scooped me in his strong arms. I kept my eyes closed as he walked down the hall. He laid me on a bed and pulled a blanket up around me. After he had the blanket tucked firmly around me, he crawled on the bed beside me and pulled me snuggly in his arms.

We lay there quietly for a while as his soothing presence slowly began to help my weak body recover from the sickness. It seemed to take longer than normal because I had dealt with so many emotions in one short week, but finally, the chills receded and my mind began to drift as my body begged for rest.

“Before you go to sleep, you need to call your mom.”

He was right. I got so comfortable lying there in his arms, I’d forgotten all about my mom. I started to sit up, but Mark pushed me lightly back down.

“I’ll go get your cell phone.”

He was back within a few moments and handed me my phone. I dialed my mom’s cell number and waited for her to pick it up.

“Hey honey,” she said as soon as she answered.

“Hey Mom, Sam and I had such a good time tonight, and Sam asked if I wanted to stay over,” I said, trying to inject enthusiasm into my voice.

“That’s fine,” she said, sounding thrilled. I knew she was ecstatic that I had finally made a friend.

“I’ll call you in the morning.”

“That’s fine, have fun.”

I hung up the phone. I should have felt guilty for lying to my mom twice in one day, but the bout of sickness prevented any other emotions.

I closed my eyes as Mark continued to hold me in his arms. My mind drifted and I sunk into a deep sleep.

My sobbing woke us both up. I felt him wrap his arms around me.

“I’m here,” he said. “I’m never going to leave you,” he murmured in my ear.

The sobs subsided at his soothing words. He was here with me. I loved him so much, and it was so hard to be ripped away from him every night. He continued to whisper in my ear, telling me how much I meant to him and soon the dream faded away.

“Do you feel better?” he asked.

I thought about it for a moment, and surprisingly, I did feel better. I felt grimy from the sickness that gripped me last night, but besides that I felt much better.

“I think I would like to take a shower, but besides that, I feel much better. I’m so sorry you had to see that again. Would you believe, I’ve never had this many episodes in one week? Well, except when my dad died.”

“That’s what worries me,” he told me. “Sam says it’s not good for you to be having so many episodes.”

He brought up something I had been wondering about.

“Why isn’t Sam having these attacks?” I asked him.

“We talked about it while you were sleeping. Sam thinks it’s because of the rough childhood she had; that she is able to control it better. Plus, she thinks that a lot of this is fear, and she dealt with fear enough when she was growing up, so it doesn’t affect her as badly; not to mention the most important thing, which is letting Shawn sooth her.” He said chidingly.

“I know. It’s just a little tough for me to let someone in. I’ve spent my life handling all of this on my own.”

“Come on, I’ll get you some clean towels so you can take a shower,” he said, changing the subject as he helped me to my feet.

He left me at the bathroom with clean towels and a new toothbrush. I turned on the water. While I waited for it to heat up, I looked in the mirror, cringing when I saw my reflection.

“Oh my gosh, I look terrible,” I moaned.