“Hi mom,” I said choking back tears.
“Hey, honey,” she answered in a weak voice. “Are you okay?” She asked, obviously worried about my history in this area.
“I’m fine, just worried about you.”
“Don’t worry about me; I’m going to be fine,” she said in a near whisper, dropping off again.
I spent several hours with her as she drifted in and out of sleep. When the nurse came in to give her pain meds, she suggested I take a break, that my mom would most likely sleep through the night. I thanked her and headed back to Mark’s room.
I knew it was probably against hospital policy to stay overnight. The announcement ending visiting hours had sounded a few minutes ago, but I didn’t let that deter me. I walked purposefully past the nurse’s station and gave a sigh of relief when I saw that the station was empty.
I closed the door to his room softly behind me and headed to the chair beside his bed. I pushed it as close as I could to the bed and lowered the railing of the bed, so I could hold his hand while he slept.
As I watched him sleep, I knew that I would never allow this to happen again. Together we would become stronger. We would never allow ourselves to be the victims again.
Mark opened his eyes a few hours later and saw me watching him.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
Mark used his hand and pressed my head on his heart where I longed to be. I could hear his thoughts as plainly as mine and smiled as I felt his heart beat against my ear. I would never grow tired of listening to his heart. Rightfully, it was my heart also, since neither of us could live without the other. We weren’t some aliens or scientific project, we were meant to be.