Don't Walk Away
Chapter
Eight
Chloe's eyes were still closed but she could feel something softly brushing the
base of her neck. She felt a hand run through her hair gently, and then move to
caress her face. She sighed softly and muttered his name. "Brady..."
Her eyes fluttered open and she saw him lying in his hospital bed. His blue eyes
were wide open and he was smiling at her. Chloe blinked her eyes in shock. She
nearly jumped for joy when she saw him, but stopped herself when she looked
closer. He was unblemished, healthy looking and wearing his jeans and black
t-shirt again.
Chloe leaned back in her chair, her expression dropping immediately. "Oh.
It's YOU again."
Brady sat up straight and kicked the blanket off of his legs. "Geez,
Chloe... Try not to sound SO disappointed. I might not come back."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. But, I think you're trying to trick
me. I almost thought you were really awake, and instead... it's just another
dream."
"Well, there is a good reason that I'm here."
Chloe raised her eyebrows curiously. "There is? What is it?"
Brady shrugged in confusion. "I don't know. You tell me. This is YOUR
dream, after all."
"I... I don't know."
"Yes, you do."
Chloe sighed and nodded in understanding. "Because you're the only one I
can talk to. I mean, I can confide in Belle too... But, I've never been more
honest or more myself as I am with you."
Brady winked and pointed at her. "Bingo. You got it. So, what do you need
to talk about?"
"You, I guess. I'm so confused and angry... I have so many questions,
questions that you won't even have the answers to."
"Hmmm.. Ask them anyway. You never know what I might know that you
don't."
Chloe bit her lower lip nervously and paused for a moment. "I just...
There's so much I don't understand. My mother always says that there is a reason
for everything. I'm trying to find one right now, and I just can't. You don't
deserve what has happened to you. There's not a single good reason why you have
to suffer like you are. You deserve only good things, Brady, and for some reason
God has chosen to give you this life instead. It's not fair..."
Brady nodded in understanding and stroked her cheek gently. "I know. Life
isn't fair sometimes. And, I know none of this makes sense right now, but the
bad things only make you appreciate the good things more."
"Yeah, but... We need to have those 'good things' first, before we can
appreciate them. Everything is so wrong right now, and I don't know if they'll
ever be good again. If you don't come back to me..."
"Things will be okay, Chloe. Whether or not I come back, things will get
better. People lose each other, they grieve, and then they go on. Life always
goes on, no matter what, even when you think it can't."
Chloe looked at him in desperation and grabbed both of his hands. "But...
You HAVE to come back to me. If you leave me, I'll never have the chance to tell
you how much I love you. I need to tell you how empty my life is without
you."
Brady squeezed her hands gently and nodded. "I know. Believe me, I
know."
"No. You don't. Because I never had the chance to tell you, and if you
don't fight this, then I never will. And, then I will have to live the rest of
my life without you, knowing what I have lost every time I think of you. Every
time I see a happy couple, or a happy family, I will know that I lost my chance
to have that."
"But you can have all that. With or without me, Chloe."
Chloe shook her head adamantly. "But, I don't want it with anyone else. I
want to spend the rest of my life with YOU. I love you, Brady, and I can't
imagine that I will ever love anyone as much as I love you."
Brady nodded and kissed her on the forehead. "And how do you know that I
won't make it through this? You don't seem to have a lot of faith in my amazing
healing abilities."
"Come on, Brady. You're not a comic book superhero. You're only human, and
no matter how strong your spirit is... Sometimes your body can fail you. I want
to believe with every inch of me that you're going to be just fine, but... I
can't help but be scared that you might not be. It's only like fifty percent up
to you, the rest is up to your body, and the man upstairs..."
"No, no. You're wrong. It's more like a good seventy-five or eighty percent
up to me. And, I can tell you, that I'm going to use all seventy-five percent to
make sure I come back to you. I will be okay, and you and I will be
together."
Chloe's face was scrunched up with sadness and worry, and her tears were once
again held at bay. "Damnit... Why do you have to be so real? You're not
even really Brady, but it feels like you are. And you act like you know
everything, but you can't possibly. You're not him, even if I want you to
be."
Brady leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss. He wrapped his arms around
her and held her tightly, his kisses melting away the tension that filled her
body. He broke off the kiss and grinned at her.
"Maybe I am really Brady."
Chloe frowned at him and shook her head. "You're not. You can't be."
"And why not? Because you don't want to believe that I might be. You don't
think it's possible that people can communicate to each other in their dreams?
"No, I... Well, I've never really thought about it actually. I guess I
don't believe in any of that kind of stuff."
Brady shrugged slightly. "Hey, I'm not asking you to believe that UFO's
landed in my backyard and abducted me last weekend. And, you know that I
wouldn't normally believe in that kind of stuff my self, but you never know.
This could be real, Chloe."
Chloe's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "If this is real, then how
come you agreed that it wasn't the last time I saw you?"
"Because, I'm mysterious..." Brady paused for a second and then
grinned wickedly at her. "And, I'm a huge pain in the ass."
Chloe chuckled softly and nodded in agreement. "Well, I can definitely
agree with the second part of that sentence."
"But you wouldn't have me any other way, would you?"
"No, I wouldn't."
Brady smiled proudly at her. "And besides, you were the one insisting the
whole time that I was just a creation of your subconscious. I don't know if I am
or not, to tell you the truth... It's all a little muddled from my perspective.
I just went along with whatever you said, because it is YOUR dream, not
mine."
Chloe looked at him strangely. "Wow, now I'm even more confused."
Brady winked at her and then looked at the watch on his wrist. "I know, but
things will clear up in due time. But, uhm... You have to go now."
Chloe frowned at him. "Already?"
"Sorry about that, but it's time to go. Something is about to happen... Not
right away, but soon. Something big, something important."
"Something to do with you?"
Brady looked at her uneasily and shrugged. "Sort of. You'll see. Believe
me, you'll know it when it happens."
Chloe grinned at him and rolled her eyes. "Geez, you get put into a coma
and now you're a prophet."
"That's not funny."
"Oh, yes it is... Master Yoda."
Brady laughed softly and hugged her closely. "Okay, it's a little funny...
Now get out of here."
Chloe nodded and leaned in for another kiss. Brady kissed her deeply and Chloe
squeezed her eyes shut. Moments later his lips disappeared and Chloe's eyes
snapped open. Brady was in front of her, lying in his hospital bed unconscious.
She yawned loudly, and kept her eyes on him, as the words he spoke in her dream
echoed through her head. It felt like she had more questions now than she did
before she dreamt of him this second time. Chloe wondered if it was possible
that Brady's subconscious was somehow speaking to her through her dreams.
Chloe now knew one thing for sure though. She would be completely on edge until
this 'something important' that he had spoken of occurred. Chloe was sensing the
worst, as she often did, but was hoping for the best.