I didn’t answer, could only contemplate jumping in with Cricket.
“It’d be the best thing for you,” she explained and stood. She turned her head to look at me. “Stop your misery,” she breathed over me.
I nodded and made a move to step in, my foot hung over the edge.
But suddenly something tangible fit inside my hand and I couldn’t quite make out what it was but it prickled warm. I studied my palm but it appeared empty. A fierce wind blew through the tree and the most intoxicating scent swarmed my senses.
Vanilla. Grapefruit.
“Cricket.” I smiled and set my foot back down on solid ground.
“Huh?” Piper asked, her eyes narrowed. She looked down at my feet. “Cricket’s gone,” she desperately plied. “She’s there, remember?”
“No,” I told Piper.
“Go to her,” she coaxed.
“No!” I yelled more emphatically.
“Spencer,” she frantically bid, taking my hand.
“No,” I said, shrinking out of her grasp.
I stepped back from the grave.
“Spencer,” she panicked, “what are you doing?”
“I choose life,” I told her, suddenly seeing her for who she really was.
The side of the grave began to crumble and she slipped, falling to the ground.
“Spencer!” she demanded, as the ground washed away further. “Come with me. This is the way to happiness, to relief.”
Her red nails dug into the mud, grasping for purchase, but they kept slipping.
“No, it’s not,” I looked down on her. “All that awaits me there is death and not a happy one. No. No, Piper. I choose life.”
“Spencer!” she begged feebly, her arms flailing about her, but there was nothing to hold her there.
“Goodbye, demons. I will carry you no further. You will never plague me again,” I told her as she slipped into the black chasm, screaming her shrill cry for the very last time.
I gasped awake, my chest felt sorer than I could imagine, but I was alive.
“Oh thank God,” I heard Bridge say through tears.
“Mr. Blackwell,” I heard to my left.
I turned my head their direction and heard gasps of their own.
“He’s awake! He’s awake!” Jonah said, but his voice grew distant as if he left the room.
A man peeled back my lids and shined a light in them. I cringed from the light. He started examining me and asking me questions.
“Mr. Blackwell, can you open your eyes?”
I tried to peel them open but the overhead light was too much. “The light,” I tried to say but felt something down my throat. My hands went to my mouth and I tried to pull them out. I was starting to gag.
“No, Mr. Blackwell, don’t pull that. We had to intubate you.”
This confused me.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get the doctor to examine you quickly to take it out.”
My head lolled back and forth, too heavy to pick it up.
Bridge approached my side. I could tell it was her because I recognized her perfume. “Spencer,” she told me, holding my hand, “you’ve been out for a week now. You were in a coma.” She sucked in a breath, trying to compose herself. A week? How’s Cricket! I wanted to shout. “You didn’t react well to the removal.”
I tried to nod or open my eyes but I wasn’t able to, so I squeezed her hand as best I could.
She wept into my shoulder. “Spencer, this has been the hardest week of my life.”
I squeezed slightly once more.
“Spencer,” I heard a new voice ask. It was Dr. Caldwell.
He examined me and confirmed it was okay to remove my tubes. On the count of three, he pulled them out and I fought for air, finding relief about ten seconds later. My eyes opened slowly and I took in my surroundings. Though it was too bright, I could see all the people who cared about me.
Most of Cricket’s family and my sister were there, as well as my mom.
My eyes watered at the sight of her. “Mama?”
“Yes, baby,” she said, kissing my face. “You really had us worried.”
I smiled at her.
“Where’s Cricket?” I asked the room.
“She’s in physical therapy,” Jonah said. I tried to get her out, but the lady at the desk wouldn’t let me past the doors. “She is doing so well, Spencer. She’s like a brand-new person.”
“Thank you, God,” I said, relieved beyond belief.
“And thank you,” Ellie said, walking into the room. She was bawling and hugged me tightly.
“Ellie,” I said.
“Spencer,” she said, smiling. “You scared the ever living stuffing out of us!”
I laughed. “I didn’t mean to,” I told her.