Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

I sunk into the seat and felt my emotions beginning to take over.

“Krista, don’t let them do it,” I heard Sam say from far off.

The waves were building momentum.

“Mark you have to help her. She needs to be here for her mom.”

“Krista, you have to fight it,” Sam begged me as Mark rained kisses all over my face and rubbed my back.

I swallowed back bile as I fought with the nausea and focused my breathing. The roaring of the waves in my ears was painful. I can’t do it, I thought helplessly.

“You can do it,” Sam said as if she could read my inner turmoil. She tightly gripped my hand as Mark continued to sooth me.

Mark finally took matters into his own hands and leaned in to kiss me on the lips.

I tried to pull back; I didn’t want to make matters worse by being sick all over us.

Mark was having none of that running his hand up firmly behind my head and fastened his lips on mine. The effect was instantaneous, like the lull before a storm, yet the storm seemed to be gone as his kiss worked its magic throughout my body. Who needed breathing tricks when you had kisses like this?

My eyes fluttered open as Mark pulled back. He looked smug and knew that his kiss had worked.

“Well that worked,” Sam muttered dryly next to me.

Shawn stifled a chuckle.

I felt my senses returning, I may not have stopped it the way I was supposed to, but we had fought the storm together and won. I felt slightly off. Instead of the lethargic feeling I was used to, I felt oddly strong like I was riding an adrenaline wave. I looked around and would have chuckled at the old woman’s face if it were different circumstance. I could only guess at what she was thinking about the way we seemed to handle our grief.

“I’m better,” I said meeting the concerned eyes of my friends. “I’m worried about my mom, but I feel much better,” I continued quietly keeping my voice down.

We were interrupted when two policemen walked into the room. Neither of them could give us any new information. It seemed like no one had seen anything. The only lead they had was the paint scrapings on the side of my mom’s focus.

I thanked them for their help and sat back down when they left.

“I’m going to stay here at the hospital tonight.”

“I’m staying with you,” Mark said putting his arm around me.

“I can stay too,” Sam said.

“No, there’s no need for all of us to stay, but you and Shawn can crash at my house,” Mark told her. “Maybe you can stop off at Krista’s and pick up a change of clothes for her.”

“Can you feed my cat too?” I asked.

Sam and Shawn hugged me goodbye and headed out. I was amazed when I looked at my watch and discovered it was almost midnight. I felt bad that Mark was stuck in a waiting room all night, but I was grateful to have him with me.

The doctor came in shortly after 1:00 am and told me that my mom had made it through the surgery okay and was resting now. She still hadn’t regained consciousness, but he said rest was the best thing for her body right now anyway.

Mark and I moved to the loveseat in the corner. I snuggled against his side while we watched infomercials on the television that was mounted on the wall. We had the lounge to ourselves. The elderly woman was picked up by her family shortly after Sam and Shawn left. We talked for awhile until I drifted off.

I woke the next morning with a kink in my back and a stiff neck. Mark and the Boardwalk were once again absent from my dreams, but at least I had gotten a little sleep. I missed the dreams, but had more pressing matters on my mind. I was anxious to see my mom and hoped she regained consciousness today.

Mark was still dozing when I sat up straight. I rubbed the back of my neck to help work out the kink and then stood up, my back groaned from the new position. I went searching for a bathroom. I took a mock sponge bath in the sink and scrubbed the last traces of sleep from my face. By the time I made it back to the waiting room with two steaming cups of hot chocolate, Mark was up and alert.

“I was just on my way to look for you.”

“Sorry, I felt so grimy I decided to wash up a little. Here, I brought you a hot chocolate, the breakfast of champions,” I said with a small smile.

Sensing my stress, Mark led me back to the loveseat and draped his arm around me while we watched television. We sat quietly sipping our hot chocolate. His presence once again offered the comfort I needed. When our cups were empty, Mark stood up and tossed them in the recyclable bin.