Heart's Reflection (16 page)

He held out a
hand. "Please, my love. Take a chance to be with me."

"I don't
know." Gnawing on my lip, I tried to process everything.

"The time is
now or it will be never." Gazadriel climbed onto the sill where the wind
whipped the long strands of gray-white hair that had escaped from her bun. The
folds of the gown billowed about her body.

A whirlpool turned
in the clouds over the square and the swirling increased its velocity.

"You have to
make the choice now. There's no more time." Holden held out a beckoning
hand. The hand shook. His face was grave and serious.

Through the window
I could see the paramedics performing CPR, trying to save me.

At that moment, I
knew my decision. I chose my fate. I would save myself.

The bell tolled in
the clock tower, indicating 9:15. Only three minutes left.

Just thinking
about returning to my body caused my soul or my consciousness, or my whatever,
to jerk out of the bell tower, and it traveled down the stairs, passed over the
sidewalk and reached the street. For a few moments I hovered over my still form
before slipping back inside.

"She has a
heartbeat," one paramedic shouted and ceased the rib cracking compressions
on my chest.

No pain. That was
the first thing I marveled at as I pried up my lids and peered up into the face
of the man working over me. I didn't feel anything but a heaviness in all my
limbs. Still I managed to lift one arm that felt like our living room sofa was
on top of it as I moved to take the oxygen mask off my face.

Opening my mouth,
I shouted out a whisper. "Lashonda."

"I'm
here," my friend said, inserting herself between the paramedics to kneel
beside me. Tears had etched a path down her cheeks and kept flowing.
"You're gonna be okay. Hang in there."

I wished I could
reach up and put a comforting hand on her arm. I wished I could tell her it
would all be okay. I wished I could say so many things.

"Tell my dad
I love him." The sofa seemed to be on my chest now, but I forced myself to
speak anyway.

My words caused a
new gush of tears to flow down her cheeks.

"You gotta
stay strong so you can tell him yourself," Lashonda cried.

I just had one
more thing I had to say.

"I love you
too...girlfriend." I closed my eyes again and sighed out relief.

"Eve, don't
go," I heard Lashonda shout from far away.

But by the time
she spoke, I'd willed myself from my body and my soul had already traveled
halfway up the stairs of the church again. In an instant I was in the steeple
where Holden waited.

His expression
went from pleading to joyous.

Reaching out, I
placed my hand in his outstretched palm.

"If you are
coming, it has to be now." Gazadriel spread her wings wide, silvery long
locks windswept and flowing free around her head. She tested the edge of the
window with her feet and pointed to the full-blown tornado in the sky.
"There's no more time."

"I'm ready, I
said, squeezing Holden's hand. He squeezed mine in return, pulled me to his
side and pressed a sweet kiss against my lips.

Side-by-side,
hand-in hand, we climbed up onto the parapet beside Gazadriel. We grasped her
robe with our free hands and she took off with us in tow. With Gazadriel as our
guide, Holden and I flew off the side of the church, traveling up and into our
future together.

# # #

Acknowledgements

Cover Art image created with stock photo courtesy of Arvind
Balaraman/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Author's Note

**Thank you for
reading Heart's Reflection. If you enjoyed it, I hope you will post a review at
Amazon.com. And if you would like to know more about me, please visit my
websites at
http://www.prmason.net
and
http://www.patriciamason.net
.You might
find some freebies there!

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