Malachi and I

by J. J. McAvoy

  “Then Malachi?”

  “Yes. Then Malachi.”

  “Okay.” I’d do anything if it meant I could see him. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but he needed me and right now I needed him too.

  She spent her time checking my heart rate. One nurse helped me put on the top half of my gown while another nurse gave me a cup of ice chips. I took them, and while they helped, she knew I needed more than ice and she tried to give me a cup of water with a straw. I took the cup, sat up, and drank from it. I wasn’t sure why they were so shocked. Dr. Neecey ran something sharp over my feet and I pulled my legs away.

  “Can someone explain now?” I asked, my voice still hoarse. They looked at each other, and I stretched out my arms as I handed her the cup. I felt awkward and tried to joke. “I think I need to start working out or something. Swimming, even in a frozen lake, shouldn’t make me this sore.”

  “Esther.”

  “Yes?” I looked to the only doctor speaking.

  “You’ve been in a coma—”

  “A coma? How long? Where’s Malachi?”

  I tried to get up again, and for the second time she stopped me. “Today would have been eighteen days. We don’t know what caused it. However, you still shouldn’t be so…active.”

  “Malachi did stretch her out twice a day,” one of the nurses jumped in to point out but Dr. Neecey gave her a look.

  “You’ve answered everything, but Malachi? Where is he?”

  She sighed. “He’s fine. He’s stable.”

  “Stable?” I started to panic again. “What made him unstable?”

  “Esther, if you want to see Malachi, I need you to relax, at least until we know what’s going on with you—”

  “Doctor, I’m fine. I’ll do whatever tests you want but not until you tell me what happened to him.”

  “He…he…your mother came and wanted to take you back to New York for better care. Malachi tried to stop her but she came with a court order, and so he barricaded himself inside here with you. The police were called because we were all worried that he might do something…drastic. He wasn’t sleeping and was scared for you—”

  “What did you all do to him?” My voice was shaking and my eyes burned from the tears I was trying to fight back.

  “The police pulled him away from you and he went into cardiac arrest. But he’s going to be alright…Esther!”

  I didn’t care what they said. I started pulling wires off me. She tried to stop me again for the third time, but I pushed her away. I kicked the sheets off of me and rose from the bed. I guess I really had been in a coma because my legs felt like jelly under me and before I could fall forward, I grabbed on to the rail of the bed to steady myself. “Come on!” I yelled at my legs.

  “Esther! You need to—”

  “I need to get to him!” I snapped at her as I forced myself to walk. The room was a mess, but it gave me things to grab onto as I walked towards the door. I gripped the doorframe and drew in a deep breath.

  When I stepped out, I saw her, my mother, standing next to some middle-aged white man. Her arms were crossed and she was busy muttering something to him.

  “Diana,” I called out to her.

  She jumped and then looked over to me. It seemed like the whole hospital was watching us, which was why she must have put on such a large smile and opened her hands as she walked towards me.

  “Esther…sweetheart.”

  “I forgive you!” I yelled at her as I pushed off the door and stood in front of her. “Whatever you were planning, whatever you were thinking, thank God Malachi stopped you because the amount of bad karma you are collecting will come back to you one day. And on that day, I will hope you come back to your senses and get over your anger and bitterness.”

  “I came because—”

  “Because you are in debt,” I said. I felt dizzy but held my ground anyway. “I had you investigated before I left New York, Diana. You got sucked into a Ponzi scheme and can’t pay off your gambling debts, or shopping debts, or rent—”

  “Esther, sweetheart—”

  “I will always be your daughter and when you want to act like a mother, please let me know. Until then, let’s go our own paths.”

  Walking around her to the nurses’ station, I held onto the frame of the desk and asked, “Malachi Lord? What room?”

  “The one right next door,” she said as everyone within the wing pointed to the door.

  “Thank you.” I looked around at them and I tried to walk, but I was tired. All of sudden, a very familiar voice called out to me.

  “Oshaberi.”

  “Mrs. Yamauchi?” I grinned as she hugged me and her wrinkled hands touched my face. “You came?”

  “Of course! You owe me a book.”

  I nodded. “I do.”

  “Esther?” I looked up to see a thin woman, who looked a lot like Kikuko, come up behind her. “I’m Maya Yamauchi, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Do you need help?”

  “Hi. Yes.” I smiled at her as she put her hand over my shoulder and helped me walk. But she wasn’t alone. Murphy, dressed in her police uniform came to my other side and helped me walk inside. David, who was also dressed in his uniform, held the door open for all of us to enter Malachi’s room.

  “You two always make our town a little too lively,” Murphy whispered as I stared at Malachi.

  He was as handsome as ever even with his messy hair and unshaven face and dark circles around his eyes.

  “What can I say, we are lively people,” I whispered once I got to the edge of his bed. My hand reached up and brushed his hair from his face. “You hear that? We’re lively, we’re alive.”

  Turning back to them I smiled. “Thank you, everyone.”

  “Esther, no, thank you,” Murphy said on the verge of tears as she stood beside David.

  “You saved so many people that day. When you feel up to it, I’m sure everyone will want to come by if that’s okay?” David said.

  I nodded as I looked back to Malachi. “That would be nice. Will you fill me in on everything I’ve missed in the last eighteen days?”'

  MALACHI

  “‘An hour ago, I thought that I loved you more than any woman has ever loved a man, but a half hour after that I knew that what I felt before was nothing compared to what I felt then. But ten minutes after that, I understood that my previous love was a puddle compared to the high seas before a storm.’—William Goldman. I couldn’t have said better myself if I tried. ‘At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.’—Plato. That one should be your motto, Mr. Lord. ‘I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.’—Charles Dickens. Okay, scratch Plato, that one is your motto, we should see about getting it copyrighted or something.”

  She giggled and her voice was soft. It was also so close that it was as though she were speaking into my ear.

  “Malachi? Malachi, love, wake up.”

  Opening my eyes, I found myself staring up at a white ceiling for the briefest of seconds before her smiling face blocked my view. Her curls dropped down around her and her brown eyes were filled with glee.

  “I knew you were waking up.”

  I stared at her beautiful face and reached up to touch it.

  “We died.” I finally found the voice to speak.

  “We did.” She nodded but still grinned. “Did you meet him…in the garden?”

  “He gave me an apple.” I whispered.

  “And now we’re alive again,” she said. She placed her hand on my face and I could feel it. Oh…god….

  “Esther. You’re Esther.”

  She laughed and hugged me. “Yes. And you’re Malachi. We’re still us. We’re still here.”

  “HA!” I laughed and hugged her to me.

  “You’ve both aged me at least a decade, do you know that?”

  Esther moved slightly for me to see, but I didn’t let her get far. Dr. Neecey came into the room holdi
ng a chart and looked us both over. She did indeed look exhausted and the bags under her eyes were proof of that. But I couldn’t help but grin.

  “Doctor?” I asked when she came over and took hold of my wrist to check my pulse. “I have three questions.”

  “Hold on.” She put the stethoscope to my chest and listened for far too long, so I looked to Esther who smiled back down at me. “Alright. What are your questions?”

  “First, is she alright?”

  “You do realize you had a heart attack and I’m checking on you right now?”

  I smirked at that. “I do, but I need to make sure I’m not hallucinating.”

  She sighed and shook her head at us both. “We checked her from head to toe and other than her brain scan she’s completely normal. Your second question?”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “A few hours, which isn’t unusual seeing as you haven’t been sleeping well.”

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and relaxed as she asked. “And your third question?”

  Opening my eyes, I looked directly at her. “Is there some sort of chaplain here?”

  She frowned and I felt Esther turn, but I didn’t look at her yet. Grinning I replied. “I’d like to marry this woman before either of our hearts decides to give out on us again…” Esther stared at me with wide eyes. “If she’ll have me of course.”

  She laughed and hugged me again. “Do you even have to ask?”

  “You wouldn’t want to the good doc thinking I was rude now, would you?” I laughed, but bit my lip as I pressed my cheek against her face while she started to cry on top of me.

  “I’ll check and come back,” Dr. Neecey said softly before she turned and left us alone.

  I shifted for Esther, who was still crying on top of me. She wrapped her arms around me and I followed suit as we both lay on our sides.

  “Esther, I haven’t seen your eyes in days…look at me please.”

  She shook her head sniffling.

  “Ah! My heart…”

  Her head snapped up and when I laughed, she looked ready to smack me. But I sat up the best I could and kissed her lips quickly. Her anger faded and she laid back down, her face only inches away from mine.

  “I gave this to you,” she whispered reaching up to touch my scar.

  “You remember?”

  She nodded. “I remember everything. We began in Pompeii.”

  “And we’ll end in this life, looking at each other just like this in eighty years.”

  “Eighty years?” She gasped and laughed. “You’ll be well over a hundred.”

  “That sounds about right.” I pinched her cheek. “I’m sure someone will keep me alive for a long time.”

  She reached up and touched my hand. “You’re confident that this is our last life.”

  I nodded.

  “Why?”

  “Many reasons.”

  She pouted and I grinned. “Share.”

  “Because we already died. Because you already remember and we are still here. Because I feel it. Because I want it. And most importantly…” I thought of them, of all the people who fought for us, defended us and tried to help us.

  “Most importantly what?” Her eyes were so sincere that part of me wanted to tease her more, but I couldn’t.

  “Most importantly, Esther, for the first time history, we live in a world that lets us love, no matter our class status, our families, our skin tone, or our backgrounds. We aren’t involved in a war. After almost two thousand years and one thousand lives, we are free to love each other. That’s what’s different.”

  “My family threatened to get in between—”

  “Diana gave birth to you, but she is not your mother. She isn’t family. Either way, she tried and she failed.”

  She relaxed as if I’d taken a burden off of her shoulders by saying what she already knew.

  “We’re going to live this life to the fullest because we aren’t getting another one.” She grinned as she came closer to me.

  Holding her in my arms I nodded, but then I remembered what she was saying as I was waking up. “You were reading me love quotes?”

  She chuckled. “Yeah, I couldn’t think of the right words to say to you and remembered writers have been saying the perfect thing for generations.”

  “Didn’t you once tell me that you were writing this generation’s greatest novel?”

  She glanced up glared at me. “Are you teasing me, Mr. Lord?”

  “Just a little bit.” I nodded and before she could even frown or pout I said, “‘When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No...don't blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away. Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? But it is!’—Louis de Bernières.”

  She was quiet for minutes, which seemed like hours before she finally said, “‘Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’—Emily Brontë.”

  I laughed. I laughed so hard she shook with me. “Did you spend all that time thinking of a quote to quote back?”

  She nodded and laughed too.

  “And you chose Brontë.” I shook my head. “Such an English major.”

  “You were an English major too!”

  As we argued I thought, yes, I could do this for the rest of my long life. I would. We would.

  “Are you listening to me?” she asked and I had to look down at her as she eyed me carefully.

  “Yes…no…I zoned out there for a second.”

  She made a face. “I’m thinking of writing a new book.”

  “You haven’t even published your first one.”

  “I’m working on it!” she said proudly nodding her head. “What do you think if I publish our story?”

  “Our story?”

  She bit her lip and nodded in excitement as she sat up. “You’ve told our stories, what if I tell the world the truth about you and me. They will never believe it, but still…what if?”

  “What are you going to call it, “The never-ending love story of Malachi and Esther?”

  She smiled and shook her head. “Malachi and I.”

  Discover More by J.J. McAvoy

  Ruthless People Series

  RUTHLESS PEOPLE

  THE UNTOUCHABLES

  AMERICAN SAVAGES

  A BLOODY KINGDOM

  DECLAN + CORALINE (prequel novella)

  Children of Vice Series (Ruthless People spinoff)

  CHILDREN OF VICE

  CHILDREN OF AMBITION – coming soon

  Single Title Romances

  MALACHI AND I

  BLACK RAINBOW

  THAT THING BETWEEN ELI AND GWEN

  SUGAR BABY BEAUTIFUL

  About the Author

  J.J. McAvoy was born in Montreal, Canada and graduated from Carleton University in 2016 with an honour’s degree in Humanities. She is the oldest of three and has loved writing for years. Her works are inspired by everything from Shakespearean tragedies to modern pop culture. Her first novel, Ruthless People, was a runaway bestseller. Currently she’s traveling all across the world, writing, looking for inspiration, and meeting fans. To get in touch, please stay in contact via her social media pages, which she updates regularly.

  http://jjmcavoy.com/

  https://www.facebook.com/iamjjmcavoy/

  https://twitter.com/JJMcAvoy

 

 

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