Dead, Sweet Boy (Book One - Dead, Sweet Series)

by Susan MacQuoid

  “And if I die?”

  “You’ll be stuck here. Tormented.”

  “Is this hell?”

  “No, this is a plane connected to the earth, where evil reigns. The earth belongs to him.”

  “Are you stuck here?”

  “No, but Missy is.”

  My hand reached out for Missy. “I’m sorry.”

  “You are my hope.”

  It wasn’t clear what she meant by that, but I knew I had to fight this. “You have no power over me Clay. I never gave you that permission. I’m going home now, so get out of my way,” I said as calmly as I was able.

  Right before my eyes, Clay’s excruciatingly beautiful form changed into the beast he really was. That’s when I really lost it, screaming and crying. Bobby put me down and the beast lunged forward, trying to strike me, but was blocked by the angel – Bobby. The two forms crashed in the air above us over and over, an even match, switching off the advantage from one to the other.

  I saw angels appear in the heavens around them, they were crying. They wanted to help, but they couldn’t. “Help him,” I cried out, but they didn’t listen.

  An enormous crash came from the body of the demon. I watched his back open as he fell and hundreds of demons escaped from the wound, to attack me. Lucy circled me as they slithered up to me, while Missy attacked the closest to us. They got a hold on me, and I couldn’t get free.

  “Let me go. You have no right,” I ordered.

  “Release her,” Bobby ordered, retrieving me from their dark grip. He wrapped me in his arms and headed far above the battle.

  “Missy?” I called. “Lucy?”

  “Don’t look back,” he whispered. “You’re going home.”

  I knew it was true. I was going home. I would have believed anything he said to me at that point, but I didn’t even need him to tell me I would make it now. My music was back. I cried out loud. “I hear the music Bobby.” I was so happy to be the freak I had always been as the band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, gloriously burst into the song, Guardian Angel.

  “Can you hear it Bobby?” He smiled when I started to sing along. I climbed up the grip he had on me and put my arms around his neck.

  Just before he released me to the light, Bobby kissed me. His giant wings wrapped around me and for that one safe and blissful moment, I knew the truth about so much. “I can’t leave you here,” I whispered.

  “Go Sunny,” he extended his arm while he held my hand. Our hands were the only thing joining the two worlds. I felt the light pulling at me and just before I was sucked into life, I pulled myself to him and kissed him back. A portion of his light and colors, stuck to my hand and I knew I was bringing a piece of him back with me.

  The tunnel of light was so rich with warmth and love, I couldn’t help crying. I knew I was going home, but I also knew part of my spirit stayed with Bobby. I was coming back with a gift, and he needed my help.

  Twenty Three

  Candle in the Wind

  And it seems to me you lived your life

  Like a candle in the wind

  Never knowing who to cling to

  When the rain set in

  (Elton John’s, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)

  First I felt them around me, before I heard the voices yelling out orders. An alarm of some sort was sounding and someone yelled, “Code blue.”

  “Sunny!” my mother yelled, slamming my spirit into my body. I felt the jolt and opened my eyes, expecting to be blinded by colors and emotions. But all I saw in the blur were the sweet faces of the people who loved me. Immediately I started to choke. Something was blocking my airway, and my body hurt so badly, that I almost wished to die.

  “Her eyes are open,” Claudia yelled. “She’s awake!”

  My hands reached up to clear my mouth, but someone else’s hands pushed mine back down. “Sunny, relax your breathing. You’re on a ventilator. Listen to me and let the machine breath for you.”

  I struggled to get out of the bed, but every part of my body wouldn’t comply. Choking and crying, I couldn’t relax.

  “Sunny Relax!” a nurse ordered, and for once in my life I listened. Gently the woman instructed me on how to sync my breathing with the machine. It was difficult, because I couldn’t stop crying. I could hear my mother and Claudia crying and wanted to comfort them.

  “I’m afraid you are all going to have to leave the room. This is too upsetting for her and we have to get her calmed down. Sunny, your family will be right outside the door. I have to call the doctor to get this thing off of you.”

  As hard as I could, I shook my head in disagreement. I couldn’t speak with the large tube in my mouth and started to choke again. All I could think was if they left the room, I might not ever see them again.

  “Yes, Sunny. They’ll be right outside, I promise.”

  “Oh, my sweet baby,” my mother said, bending over to kiss my cheek. “We’ll be right outside, while they make you more comfortable.”

  I didn’t want to frighten my mother, so I shook my head again to let her know I was all right. Claudia approached my bed and took my hand. Rick appeared right behind her, and put his hand around both of ours. They looked so real, and so warm, compared to the world I had returned from. I had so much to tell them and there wasn’t any time to waste.

  “We’ll be right outside,” Rick whispered. He had been crying too. “We aren’t going anywhere.”

  My eyes saw a black figure to the left of my friends. I jumped, as my eyes darted to make out the figure. It wasn’t what I expected at all. After everything that had happened, I thought I brought one of the demons back with me, but the man was a priest, all dressed in black. It struck me as funny, because I’m not Catholic. His face was beautiful. Not like the faces of the beautiful demon or angel in the other world, but the face of peace and life. He smiled as he walked out of the room with the others. I just knew he was significant in all that happened.

  It seemed to take an eternity, for the doctor to come. Thankfully, the sweetest nurse stayed with me, encouraging and comforting me. With her help I was able to stay strong, and so ready to get on with whatever I had to do, to get out of the hospital.

  Once I was calm, I felt a tingle in my hand, and when I lifted it to look, I saw a little glow. While I waited for the doctor, the glow spread throughout my body. Bobby’s light and color moved through me and around me, making the pain leave. I knew I was being healed. It was such a relief when my head stopped pounding, partially due to the fact that none of the people I saw had colors. That was, until the doctor walked in.

  Right next to him was a patient, in a hospital gown, and all around him were the colors. They didn’t hurt, but told a story about him. It was confusing and unnatural, making me wonder if I really got back, or if this was a lie. I began to panic again.

  “Calm down Sunny,” the doctor said softly. “I’m going to take the breathing tube out, and you’ll be more comfortable. Do you understand?”

  When I didn’t respond by nodding my head, the doctor looked a little concerned. “What are you looking at?” he asked, looking over his shoulder, where my eyes were locked.

  The patient’s eyes locked on mine. I looked away and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the face of the patient was so close to mine, I tried to scream. The man was suspended over my bed, face to face with me.

  “You can see me!” he yelled.

  “Are you in pain?” the doctor asked. “Is that what’s wrong?”

  I shook my head to let him know I wasn’t, but refused to open my eyes. The doctor told the nurse to give me cc’s of something, to calm me down. “She might be hallucinating. Very common.”

  If only he was right, but I didn’t think he was. The patient with the colors kept trying to get my attention. Between his startling chatter, and the doctor and his team working on me, I couldn’t think. At one point I felt the tube scrape as it left my throat, but I didn’t want to open my eyes to make sure.

  “I know you can see me and
you can help,” the patient said.

  At the same time the doctor was asking me to open my eyes, “It’s all over Sunny, go ahead and breathe on your own. We want to make sure you can get enough oxygen on your own.”

  It hurt a little to breathe on my own, and my throat was on fire. I tried to make words, but my mouth had been open so long, it didn’t want to close and it was too dry for my tongue to work. One of the nurses swabbed my mouth and teeth with something wet and cold, that tasted like lemon.

  “Can you open your eyes Sunny?” the doctor asked.

  “Open your eyes,” the patient with the colors pleaded.

  “No,” I said to both.

  “It’s all over Sunny. I know you are overwhelmed right now, but you can open your eyes. It’s safe. Some patients have bad dreams while they are in a coma and even hallucinations when they wake. Most don’t remember anything. Are you afraid Sunny?”

  I nodded my head to let him know I was, forgetting I could speak and even move.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of, I promise,” the doctor tried to assure.

  “Yeah, what he said,” the colorful patient said.

  I opened my eyes to see the patient perched at the end of my bed, ecstatic that I opened my eyes. His chatter got even more frantic, but what he didn’t know was that he didn’t have to speak. I read his colors, which made more sense than his words.

  “Go away!” I ordered, and before my eyes he faded away. I looked around the room to make sure he was gone. While I was at it, I looked for Lucy, but she wasn’t there. Tears sprang from my eyes, as the sobs came uncontrollably.

  “Do you see something?” the doctor asked. I knew better than to admit to that. There were things to be said, but he wasn’t the person to tell.

  “No, I’m just a little confused and want my family. Can I see them now?” I asked with my sore and horse voice.

  “As soon as we check you over.”

  “I’m fine, really I am. I need my family and friends.”

  The doctor and his team went about their business and I had no choice but to wait for them to finish. Outside the door to my room, the people I most needed to see were waiting just like me. The fact that they were most likely worried and having to wait, was almost as unbearable as my own wait.

  “Please doctor, my family. I need to see them.”

  “You don’t have any pain Sunny? Your head or your legs?”

  “Not anymore, at least not like before. There’s some pain, but I can take it. I’ve had way worse.”

  The doctor scratched his head. The wrinkles got deeper on his face as he looked me up and down. The only way to describe the change on his kind face was confused. That’s what confirmed Bobby. It wasn’t a dream, and I wasn’t crazy. Yes, I knew this already, but it was always good to have confirmation. I remembered the pieces of being in the hospital right after the accident. My body had many problems and I was going to surgery. This doctor was expecting me to be in severe pain, and I wasn’t.

  “You are a puzzlement,” he said. “Please, try and move your foot.”

  I did what he asked, one request after another, moving pieces of my body a little at a time. Yes, I was sore, but not broken. It hurt to move, but I could do it if I had to.

  “I want to order some x-rays,” he told the nurse, as he wrote his orders on my chart. “Let her have a quick visit with her family and friends before they take her to x-ray.”

  “Yes doctor,” the nurse said. “I’ll go tell them to come in.”

  They were the sweetest words I could have heard at that moment. “Thank you,” I whispered, finally relaxing.

  Carefully they all approached, that is everyone but my father. He wasn’t there. Mom came to my side first and took my hand in hers to kiss it. “You did it baby, you made it back to us. Oh, thank God.”

  “And angels,” I added.

  They all laughed at my words, and it was so unbelievably good to see them, smell them and hear them. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Rick. The last time I saw him, he was fighting the beast.

  “I’m good,” he whispered. “Everything’s good now.”

  Claudia spoke up. “After what happened to us in the graveyard, and you being in a coma, we had your mother convince the priest to help us. We figured we needed some real help.”

  “Yeah, I saw the priest in the room. He believed you?”

  “Are you kidding?” Claudia asked, “It’s his job to handle that sort of stuff. He’s really good too. We had a battle going on in this room.”

  “I know a little something about that battle,” I said. “It was real.”

  My poor mother broke down and cried, releasing all of her fears and every worry. I reached my hand out to touch her face. “Don’t worry mom, there was an angel there. He did most of the fighting. He saved my life.”

  “An angel. Wow, a real angel,” Claudia whispered.

  “There’s so much I have to tell you. I have to get out of here now mom. This isn’t over, and they need my help.”

  As I tried to sit up, my mother pushed me back down. “Sunny, lay down. Let the doctor decide when you’re ready to leave.”

  “No mom, it can’t wait. The angel needs my help, and there are others counting on me. We have to figure this out and help them,” I insisted. “Please let’s go, there’s no time to wait.”

  “Are you fricking serious Sunny? An angel needs your help? How?” Claudia asked.

  “He broke the rules to save me, we have to help him.” Claudia believed me right away, I could tell by her face. Rick looked confused and my poor mother was afraid I had lost my mind. I was rushing it, but the urgency was real. There wasn’t much time. I was sure of it.

  Before I could explain further, I was subjected to a battery of tests and x-rays, which added up to a whole lot more waiting and frustration. Even though they couldn’t find anything that couldn’t be taken care of by convalescing at home, I had to stay another couple of days to assure my brain and breathing didn’t regress.

  My talk of angels was saved for Claudia, the only person who was willing to believe. My mother told the doctor, which led to another psychiatrist in my life. This wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. Even if they all believed me, I had no idea how to help Bobby. The psychiatrist almost convinced me that I had a form of ICU psychosis that was common. In order to be released, I had to agree to meet with someone, yup, three times a week.

  Nothing felt better than the real sun on my face when I was wheeled out to wait on the curb for Rick to pull my mother’s car around. Finally. I was really free, and it was so sweet to leave the hospital, even if I had to use a cane to get around. The doctor said at the rate I was healing, I wouldn’t need the cane for very long. I already knew this. Claudia and I seemed to be the only people in our world who could say the word, ‘miracle.’

  “Let’s go home,” my mother said when Rick pulled up.

  “You have no idea how badly I want that mom. This is one of my best days.”

  Mom’s face showed it was one of hers also, as she leaned down and hugged me for the millionth time. “I’m so happy,” she whispered. “Finally this mess is over.”

  My return smile was a little awkward. It wasn’t a lie, but I just didn’t have the heart to tell her that the mess was far from over. Or rather, the battle had just begun. The only person, who really knew most everything, was Claudia. Maybe it was the guilt I felt for falling for Clay, or the fact that I was connected to Bobby somehow, that kept me from sharing too much with Rick.

  “There’s a surprise we haven’t told you about,” Claudia said, busting at the seams to tell. “Your mom wanted to surprise you, and you have no idea how hard it was for me to keep the secret.”

  “What is it?” I tried to sound excited, but I was just too exhausted. The small trip into the real world seemed to take a toll on me. My body moved more sluggishly than I wanted it to, and I was in some pain.

  “You’ll see,�
� my mother said. She was having fun with the surprise too.

  “Let me help you,” Rick offered. He supported me with one of his arm. It was the closest we had been to each other, since I left this world.

  “Thanks,” I whispered. My face brushed his shoulder, taking in his wonderful smell. It was heaven on earth, to feel his strong and earthly body again. Nothing super human, or overwhelming, just comfortable and yummy. My feelings were still there and it was a relief. “I really missed you.”

  Rick nodded and I suspect couldn’t speak for the tears in his eyes. I understood. Sometimes I had a problem finding the words myself, because of the sheer emotions of the events I’d been through. My friends and my mother went through their own hell I learned. They never gave up on me, and the priest had them fighting a real spiritual battle for my life. It meant so much to me.

  “Hurry up, slow poke,” Claudia giggled. “You’re going to love this.”

  I really was surprised. The whole section of the house, off of the pool, had been turned into a suite. It was beautiful. There were two bedrooms.

  “One for you and one for me. That’s the biggest surprise. Isn’t it great? Your mom surprised me too. She added to the plans, and included me.”

  “Really mom?”

  “It seems your strange little friend here has grown on me. I couldn’t have made it through all of this without her, or Rick for that matter.”

  “Yeah, but I couldn’t talk her into making a room for Rick. I guess she just wants him to sleep in your room,” Claudia laughed.

  “Bite your tongue,” my mother pretended to scold.

  “We even have a hot tub. Great for your aching body now, but even greater to have friends over later,” Claudia squealed. “I’m all moved in. Rick helped me when you came back from the dead.”

  Friends. As far as I knew, Claudia didn’t have any. At least she never introduced me to any, and none came to visit in the big house. Come to think of it, she was my first real girlfriend, and Rick was my only other friend. I thought I had more. Then I realized I was thinking about Bobby and the girls who tried to save me, especially Missy and LaKisha. They made my small basket of friends seem fuller.