Believe In Me

I was running through the white plastered hallways, searching. A whirring buzzed in my ears along with the panting from my ragged intakes of oxygen. Doors stood still while I sprinted, like blurry scenery outside a car window. It was unnervingly empty, not a single soul in sight. I had to find it. Knowing I couldn’t leave until I found what I was looking for, I started to run harder. The hall came to an abrupt stop and wrapped around to the right. I turned and kept running. And that’s when I could see it. The only lit room in the entire place was drawing me in with an unknown force. It was at the end of the hall laid out in front of me. Arriving in no time, I hesitated outside the door. A sob pushed me back for only a second before I broke through the door way. I almost caught a glimpse of who was laying on the bed before someone pushed me back out into the hall. It was Kayva. I searched her face looking for some answers, but all I found were tears in her eyes. I was about to ask her what was wrong, until she stopped me by hugging me. Hard. It scared me how much force she put into that one hug, like that was all she had left. I placed my hands on her back. A knot hardened in my stomach as I realized she was crying by the wetness on her hair. No. I pushed passed Kayva and came face to face with my worst fear unfolding in front of me. Cale lay still in the hospital bed. A white sheet that matched his skin was tucked beneath his arms. His eyelids were shut. I stumbled toward him, stopping at his side to grab his hand hesitantly. The warmth shocked me. At my touch he opened his eyes slowly. In relief, I hugged him. I pulled back and stared at his face as a tear of blood slowly trickled from his eye, shockingly noticeable on his complexion. “NO!”

“Dailee. Dailee. Dailee!” Nick was desperately trying to shake her awake. This has been happening for the past few nights. It was 2:17 in the morning, but Nick wasn’t sure exactly what time it was considering he could barely keep his eyes open. She finally came to, threatening tears visible in her eyes. She clung to him as he crawled into his bed with her. Yes, he was sleeping on the floor. Dailee insisted he sleep on the bed, but he knew if his parents ever walked in Dailee would be gone in a second. So he decided to let her believe she would sleep on the floor while he slept in his bed until she fell asleep and he would simply switch places with her. She always woke up in his bed, without any complaints, knowing he had moved her. What could she do? It’s not like she could do anything, he was too stubborn for his own good.

They lay on the bed; Nick trying to calm her heavy breathing by holding her and stroking her hair. She took her last ragged breath and angled her head so she could look out his bedroom window.

“Nick?”

“Hmm?” He was too tired for words, and the constant motion his arm was creating wasn’t exactly helping the situation.

“Why does this have to stop?”

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion while his lips formed a slight pout because he had to speak. “What’s there to stop?”

She inhaled deeply and let her arm drape lazily across his stomach. “These perfect mindless moments with you. If it was all I had to do the rest of my life, I wouldn’t complain one bit. Just laying here with you makes me think there couldn’t possibly be a better thing in the whole world. Sometimes, I think it’s all too good to be true…”

She trailed off while he held her closer. Wide awake now, he thought he could finally have the courage to tell her the one thing that hasn’t left his mind since yesterday after he had a talk with his mom. But she beat him to talking first. “But, I guess it all makes sense when you throw my whole life together. I think I deserve something good in my life from everything I’ve been through. You know, sometimes I also wonder if we would even be right here, right now, if my Dad was still alive… I love him so much. I think I could have possibly burst if you hadn’t come along and cared for me like you, Nick.” She looked up and kissed his jaw line. He shifted her so he could look into her eyes. There was so much adoration he could see from the dim moonlight, he was positive it would be ten times stronger if he could actually see her properly. “Dailee,” he couldn’t think of how to start.

Her gaze still held his even as her eyes began to droop ever so slightly. It seemed as though anything could be said as long as the contact was held. But, she yawned, causing the gaze to be dropped. It was silent for a few minutes. “Hey Nick,” she asked with her eyes still closed.

“What?”

“I thought of something the other day when I was in Joseph’s room listening to music.”

“And what’s that, Doll face?” Her breathing was starting to even out and her next response came later than the last one.

“The song Ben by Michael Jackson suits us really well. I memorized most of it.”

He had never heard the song before. “Will you sing some of it to me?”

She smiled softly before starting to sing. “Ben, the two of us need look no more. We both found what we were looking for. With a friend to call my own, I'll never be alone. And you, my friend, will see, you've got a friend in me.” Her melodic voice slowly faded out on the last note as she fell asleep on Nick’s chest. This time, he didn’t even bother to move. It was too mindlessly perfect; just like Dailee said. It was pretty much given that they would both wake up with smiles on their faces that morning.

Nick stayed awake for about twenty minutes after Dailee, just thinking about her….
I love her. That’s all there is too it. I don’t care who says I don't, because I know I do. How else am I supposed to describe how I’m feeling? If anyone thinks I’m wrong then please feel free to tell me. I know I’m not in love with her yet. That takes time of course. Wow. I haven’t even asked her out yet. This might look bad, but I know she trusts me. I just hope that she can wait until I get the perfect moment to ask her. Yeah… it’s probably not the best thing to love her and not let her know. But I’ll tell her soon.

. . . . .

They don't see you as I do
I wish they would try to
I'm sure they'd think again
If they had a friend like Ben