“Where did it happen?” He asked as he pulled a notebook out of his pocket.
I plunged into the story that I concocted. That we were walking on the beach when two masked men jumped us and how they grew angry when they discovered I had no purse. They knocked me down and when Mark tried to protect me they shot him.
“They ran away after they shot Mark. I think they thought he was dead,” I said in a shaky voice.
“You were very lucky,” the younger officer told us as they got up to leave the room.
“One more question?” The older officer said just before they reached the door. “Where did you get the van?”
I felt a moment of panic; I had not thought that far ahead. Suddenly the answer flashed through my head as Mark sent his thoughts to me.
“It was on the road when I helped Mark up off the beach. I know I stole it, but the keys were in the ignition and I felt I had no choice. You can tell the owner I’m sorry,” I added knowing they would never find the owner. I knew for a fact that all our captors had vanished.
The cops seemed satisfied and left the room after promising to try to catch the men who shot Mark.
I looked at Mark who returned my grim smile. We knew that the true perpetrators would not be caught; we would have to find them ourselves.
Another knock sounded on the door.
The person at the door knocked again slightly louder.
“Come in,” I called.
Sam stepped into the room followed by Shawn and another couple.
I knew who they were instantly. Lynn and Robert had found us.
Sam took over with introductions.
“Krista, Mark, this is Lynn and Robert,” Sam said pointing to the couple next to Shawn.
Lynn was taller than me, probably about 5’10.” She had dark brown eyes and brown hair that was cropped off in a cute haircut that I would have loved to try, but lacked the guts. She was dressed in jeans that had tears throughout them. They looked like the jeans girls spent hundreds of dollars on, but I could tell the tears were genuine, they were just worn. She wore a black shirt advertising a band I had never heard of. She was quiet and pretty and even though she had more piercings in her ears than most girls I knew, she didn’t seem over the top Goth, but more like a person saying, This is my style if you don’t like it too bad.
Her significant other though was a complete contradiction to her style. His light blonde hair was parted and combed nicely to the side. He had the prettiest shade of green-blue eyes I had ever seen on a guy. He wore chinos that looked like they had been pressed with a half of can of starch. He had a casual polo shirt on, but even that showed signs of being ironed using the other half of the can of starch. He looked like one of the models on the cover of GQ, the only thing missing was a sweater slung over his shoulder.
They seemed as different as day and night, but there was no denying their affection for each other. They were as in sync with each other as a couple that had been married for twenty years.
“So fill us in on what we missed?” Shawn said coming over to give me a one arm hug.
I looked at Mark and he gave a small nod. There would be no story telling for them. They all deserved to hear the truth and to know about the evil waiting for us.
I did most of the talking since Mark had such limited contact with anyone at the lab. I filled them in on everything, about our parent’s death, our separation and about the other two that Russo had stashed away. I held nothing back, laying it all out there in the open and watched as the others looked at me in horror as I told them about Mark’s dad. I gave Bruno his moment in the spotlight and told them how he saved Mark and me. Finally, I told them about Mark being shot and about my heart breaking when I thought he was dead.
“This was not grief. We can’t live without each other, which I already knew since Mr. Russo had filled me in on that part. I felt everything in me die when I thought he was dead,” I told them.
It took me over an hour to catch them up to speed. None of them interrupted, they all listened to me with rapt attention. I explained how Sam was right when she suggested that we might share a twin link we just needed to learn to open our minds to it.
“Mark and I were able to do it after he broke down a wall that separated us in our current dreams and figured out how to send thoughts back and forth,” I said looking at the others. Sam and Shawn looked shocked, but Lynn and Robert just exchanged a look.
“You can already do it?” I asked them.
“Yeah, we figured it out a few days after we found each other when things got sticky on the road,” Lynn said answering for both of them.
“Wow, that’s wild,” Sam chirped in. “Do you think we can do it with the rest of us too?”
“I think so because Russo had no problem reading my thoughts,” I said bitterly.
My last comment broke the silence and soon all of them were peppering me with questions. I answered their questions as best I could. The bigger questions were harder to answer. I didn’t know who our arch angel was supposed to be, and I didn’t know where the last couple was being held.
The guys quickly got into a discussion about our parent’s and our origins while us girls soon lost interest and drifted to the corner of Mark’s room. Sam and Lynn caught me up on what I missed while I was held captive.
Lynn was as easy going as Sam with the exception of having a bit of a hard edge about her. I chalked that up to the fact that she had been adopted by people that always wanted to hospitalize her for her abnormalities.
I learned that she and Robert had found each other six months ago while she was on a class trip to Washington. He recognized her instantly, but she thought he was some kook. When he tried to explain that he knew who she was, she quickly ditched him, but that night he stepped out of the shadows in her dreams. When she walked down to the lobby of her hotel the next morning, he was waiting for her. They spent the rest of the trip together. Once she got home though, they rapidly discovered that they couldn’t be separated. They tried to explain it to her parent’s, but they thought she was crazy and that she needed to be hospitalized.
“We discovered that both of us had the urge to visit here, so we hit the road. We both had already graduated high school, the Washington trip was a special bonus for those of us in the state of New Mexico that graduated early,” She added.
My ears perked up at Lynn’s last statement. “You were both found in the same state?” I asked.
“No, Robert’s dad was transferred there for work. He was found in Texas.”
“What do his parent’s think about you guys taking off like that,” I asked.
“They were fine with it. We stayed with them for a few weeks before we headed this way. They’re left over from the hippie days. You know, free love, follow your dreams, which by the way, they completely believed us about the dreams. Of course, I think in their younger days they smoked a lot of pot, so I’m not sure if them believing us was an endorsement or not,” she added with a smile.
I returned her smile. Lynn was an easy person to talk to. She had enough of an edge to keep things interesting.
I looked over at Mark and could see he was struggling to stay awake. I shooed the others out of the room and promised to call if anything happened with Mark during the night.
Sam paused to give me a hug at the door.
“Hey, why did the nurse think you were Mark’s sister?” I asked.
Sam looked sheepish. “Well are all practically related anyways. Shawn thinks Robert is my brother,” she added looking hopeful.
“It’s a possibility, both of you share similar features,” I said giving her a reassuring hug.
“I am so happy you guys are okay. Shawn and I were so worried; we thought we had lost you both. It really tore Shawn up to think he lost his sister just as he was getting to know you. I felt the same. I was afraid I had lost my best friend,” she said tearfully.
I felt bad. I had been so wrapped up in Mark and my drama, I hadn’t thought about those we would leave behind. I felt a twinge of guilt for being ready to embrace death when I thought Mark was dead. My poor mom would have been devastated, but I also knew that if the situation arose again, I would still feel the same.
I waited until Mark drifted asleep before I left his room and headed down to check on my mom.
My mom was sleeping when I entered the room. I tiptoed in and sat quietly beside her bed. I reached over and linked my fingers lightly through hers. Her eyelids fluttered open.
“Hi mom,” I said choking back tears.
“Hey, honey,” she answered in a weak voice. “Are you okay?” She asked, obviously worried about my history in this area.
“I’m fine, just worried about you.”
“Don’t worry about me; I’m going to be fine,” she said in a near whisper, dropping off again.
I spent several hours with her as she drifted in and out of sleep. When the nurse came in to give her pain meds, she suggested I take a break, that my mom would most likely sleep through the night. I thanked her and headed back to Mark’s room.
I knew it was probably against hospital policy to stay overnight. The announcement ending visiting hours had sounded a few minutes ago, but I didn’t let that deter me. I walked purposefully past the nurse’s station and gave a sigh of relief when I saw that the station was empty.
I closed the door to his room softly behind me and headed to the chair beside his bed. I pushed it as close as I could to the bed and lowered the railing of the bed, so I could hold his hand while he slept.
As I watched him sleep, I knew that I would never allow this to happen again. Together we would become stronger. We would never allow ourselves to be the victims again.
Mark opened his eyes a few hours later and saw me watching him.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
Mark used his hand and pressed my head on his heart where I longed to be. I could hear his thoughts as plainly as mine and smiled as I felt his heart beat against my ear. I would never grow tired of listening to his heart. Rightfully, it was my heart also, since neither of us could live without the other. We weren’t some aliens or scientific project, we were meant to be.
