Chapter 14/Faith
Selah went home the next morning with a headache from considerable lack of sleep, she crawled into bed and was snoring in no time. She was going to go again to the hospital tonight; she figured if she had slept already she might not be so tired after a few efforts to reach Daniel. She got out of bed around 2 in the afternoon, she showered and ate and thought about what had happened the night before. She should have been in shock somehow that she had moved her body from one point to another with sheer will alone, but she had expected it to happen, wanted it.
Believing it would happen was a better way to explain it, and she believed she would get him out; she had come up with a different way to transform her energy to break through the barrier she had found last night. She thought of Caleb suddenly, when he had weaved air to lift the water into an invisible force to push the water back, she imagined herself making such a barrier and moving the obstacle between her and Daniel. Something told her that he was just beyond that wall, she would use her energy as the element to weave, Caleb’s strands of power had been as thick as 1 inch rope, she could weave that she was certain of it. Then she would throw herself at the wall, if that didn’t work then she was going to have to begin at square one again.
The day passed quickly Selah more determined than ever to bring Daniel out tonight, she had went over and over in her head what she would have to do. She cared not one bit for her safety; it hadn’t once crossed her mind, as she only looked to the outcome if she succeeded. She had to go to school in the morning so she might not be able to come every night after tonight that alone made her focus as she had never done before.
As she made her way once again to the hospital, she smiled at the nurses at the nurses station as she made her way into the bedroom, the night shift had yet to come on she hoped it wasn’t the same cheerful nurse as the night before. It didn’t matter to her much she was going to let anything hamper what she was going to accomplish. Her faith was strong, even if she hadn’t been brought up as a devote catholic; her parents hadn’t been insistent on attending church. But she just knew there was a higher power somewhere and she reached out to it now, she hoped her faith was coming from the proper place, and selfless actions were what would help her now.
Cece explained how there was no real change from the night before, Selah noticed she was beginning to look extremely haggard, her eyes were swollen and she even had one eye that was twitching constantly, her hands were shaky and she looked to have lost weight already, Selah wondered if she was eating at all.
“Are you alright Cece, can I go get you anything to eat, have you even slept?”
“Actually I’m going home to sleep now, I managed to get tonight off so I could rest, and you know I still want you to call if there’s any change with Daniel ok.”
“No problem, I will call a.s.a.p.”
She reached over to squeeze Selah’s hand then changed her mind and then hugged her fiercely, “I miss him like crazy,” she whispered.
“He’s gonna come back soon, I just know it.” Selah wished she could tell her what she was going to attempt tonight.
As the nurses changed shifts the new nurses came in to check on Daniel, Selah didn’t see the ones from last night they were all different, one was really young and had a pretty smile she looked at Daniel then back to Selah, “I bet he’s a real looker, when he’s all healed up.” She continued with his examination. “His vitals are strong and the swelling is almost gone, according to his chart, hopefully it won’t be long now,” She tried to reassure Selah.
As Selah settled in she didn’t want to start anything yet it was still early and she knew the nurses would be in soon to take his vitals and change his Iv meds, the bag hanging was almost empty, she watched the drips and waited for the beeps. Daniel had lost some weight, she noticed.
AS she decided to do the ROM exercises with him again, wanting to do anything to help him so when she got him out he would be alright.
As she rubbed him down and flexed and rotated all his extremities, she took special attention on his fingers, the fingers she so loved when they touched her. She told him stories of her day and anything else she could think of. How the nurses seemed nicer on the night shift tonight, and how he would be awake to meet them later on, she applied cream liberally to his legs, loving the feel of him under her fingers. She could already tell there was a difference in his muscle mass in just the short time he had been bedridden. It added to her determination to bring him back. When she was done she swabbed out his mouth, his lips were so cracked and dry, she saw there was some Vaseline on his side table and applied it, as she finished she bent down and kissed both his eye lids as he had once done for her a long time ago.
“I’m sure it would be much better if he was awake eh.” the young nurse had just entered the room startling Selah, “I’m sorry I thought you had heard me come in, I’m Kayla, I’ll be taking care of Daniel tonight, he looks so much better. I saw him the night he came in; he wasn’t looking to good then.”
Selah smiled at her “He was a mess, your right, he’s healing nice, and will be back to his old self in no time.” She looked hopeful as she stared at him.
Kayla checked his bandages, “And thanks Selah for helping with his care, not everyone would do those things you know.”
Selah looked a bit confused “How did you know my name?”
“Oh I didn’t realize the nurses mentioned how you had been staying with him at night and they told me, it’s a very pretty name by the way I never heard it before.”
Selah looked distracted “My mom named me she said she had dreamt about it when she was pregnant for me, and when I was born knew she would name me Selah the second she saw me, it’s a very old name from the bible.”
“You’re lucky I’m sure there wasn’t any other Selah’s around at school, when I was in little there was 3 other Kayla’s in my class alone. If I ever have a little girl I’ll find her a name like Selah, maybe I’ll even name her that, I like it that much.”
She changed the bag for Daniel’s IV before it began beeping like crazy, she had timed it just right as she documented the time and date on the new bag Selah watched her. She had noticed that his bandaged hadn’t been changed in a while from his chart and asked Selah if she wanted to stay and watch her put different dressings on. She left, but was back in no time will everything she needed to “make him look prettier” she said.
Selah was curious about how bad his scrapes were under the dressings, as she watched Kayla unwrap him, the bandaged was stuck to his skin in a few different places and as she pulled it off gently it took new growth with it. He was still a mess but she could see her Daniel underneath all the scabs, she washed his sores with a solution and it made them look even better, as some dried blood was washed away with it. ”What color are his eyes?” Kayla asked Selah.
Selah suddenly choked full of emotions croaked out “grey.”
“He’s one handsome fellow even with all these sores on his face, your one lucky girl.”
Suddenly Selah felt a stab of jealousy towards this young pretty nurse, she wanted to tell her he belonged to her, but bit her lip instead. She was right he was beautiful, she concentrated on him, and it cooled her temper in a flash.
Kayla had saw the look in Selah’s eyes and was surprised at how quickly she had controlled her anger, so she was a smart girl as well, she wished she could have met her under different circumstances she thought she would of like to have been friends with Selah. She kept quiet, she put much smaller bandages on Daniel’s face and it improved his visage immensely. She quickly finished the other bandages on his arms, she didn’t want to overstay and ruin the fragile friendship she had formed with Selah, or it could be a long night.
As Kayla disappeared Selah picked up her book she had brought with her, she glanced at the first page she had opened for the next twenty minutes not seeing any words at all. She was focusing steadying her thoughts to her task ahead. When Kayla entered once more to add some medicine to Danie
l’s IV bag, Selah was so focused she barely noticed her. Kayla glanced at her and thought her book must be really good as she walked out.
Selah lifted her head she had watched the medicine go through his IV the night before, knowing Kayla would have to come back in. In about twenty minutes when it was done to switch it back over to regular pumping. Then she would be alone with him for a while it would be after ten and she would ask Kayla to close his door for privacy… finally she would begin.
Sure enough the next twenty minutes were slower than molasses going uphill, but Selah had waited this long she could wait a little more as she watched the timer counting down the minutes, when the beeper went off it made Selah jump. It took all of 15 seconds for Kayla to come into the room to switch it over; Selah asked her “Are you done your rounds with him for a while? Do you think I could close the door and try to get some sleep, this is a bad place to sleep with you guys checking in all the time, but if you think he’s ok for a while?” Selah smiled her best smile for her hoping she had won her over.
Kayla looked at Selah something was up with her but she agreed to close the door so she could have some rare peace and quiet. As she left, she made a mental note to check back on him before midnight.
No sooner had the door close that Selah went to work she laid down next to Daniel as she had the night before, she was going to approach things slightly different tonight and try to move what had been blocking her last night instead of trying to move herself. As she slowed her breathing and relaxed all the parts of her body individually, she focused on
the sound of her heart beating she could feel it slow she imagined the blood flowing in her veins as energy, pure yellow energy, she was a ray of light, as she saw her physical state transform to energy, she had no idea of the time passing she just saw straight ahead she felt the barrier that prevented her from entering the void the night before, she thought of the beautiful quilt her mom had made all the intricate patterns and designs and she began to weave her life force into a blade. A blade of pure energy the threads she used were enormous as she weaved, and weaved until there was nothing left to weave, and if someone had walked into the room at this point they would of thought there was a fire in the bed with Daniel, her light was so bright it could of blinded someone on sight.
Kayla had just finished making rounds and giving all the meds to her patients tonight, she hadn’t had a chance to sleep much today. She hated the first night of her three night rotation she was always extra tired, as she sat down and poured herself her first coffee of the night she was suddenly attracted to a bright light coming from Daniel Evans room ,as she put her coffee down and headed towards the door. It was extremely bright she had never seen a bedside lamp become that bright maybe it was about to blow out, she thought.
Selah then threw all her power into the wall she felt that was between her and Daniel. While she had been making her weave she had noticed it, last night she had been hasty and had only attempted to move her own body, tonight she saw exactly what she had to do. The wall looked like a transparent shield between them, which was why she had begun to weave a knife she had to cut thru that barrier to reach him. She felt the wall groan as she struck it with all her force, as she retracted and came at it once more, she felt it as it began to give a little, she pulled all the way back as she focused on the exact spot she had just hit and then drove into it as if she were stabbing into a piece of flesh as she made contact she was pushed back slightly, she bore down and put her whole heart and soul into the motion.
She heard a loud ripping sound, a sound she had never heard before her ears drums felt as if they would shatter in that instant, she pushed through regardless she felt the fabric giving way beneath her force suddenly she was through as her momentum plunged her headfirst into the unknown.
Kayla had been almost to the door when she heard the ear splitting sound it was loud enough it brought her to her knees, her hands were shaking and she had tears in her eyes. She stood on wobbly knees and forced herself to enter the room before her. The bring light was gone and the room was as she left it, except for one thing, Daniel was alone she glanced into the private washroom attached to the room wondering if she was inside, but she was no-where to be found. She thought back as she was doing her rounds she had kept a close eye on this room, her curiosity peaked knowing Selah had had something in mind when she had asked Kayla to close the door, she was sure she hadn’t seen her leave. But as she looked around once more she saw for sure…. Selah was gone, she was nowhere to be found.
The creator had been watching almost painfully holding his breath; he was amazed at her ingenuity to weave something as simple as a blade. He had always wondered how she would accomplish it, no-one had ever broken through the barrier of time between the worlds. But here she was, Selah, his Selah, doing as she had been
prophesied to do thousands of years before. He felt the anxiety crawl along his flesh; he hadn’t been this stimulated in the last millennium. He secretly rooted for her, as he glanced at the horde surrounding him, he watched as she took her first attempt at the veil. The ball of anxiety was growing inside the pit of his belly as a child inside the womb. As she threw herself the second time he found himself on the very tip of his toes arching to see more. When he saw how she struggled he did one thing perhaps he shouldn’t of, he planted the smallest seed of an idea inside of her head. To stab flesh one had to thrust a blade with the pointy end first. He watched spellbound as she took his advice and literally ran with it. He was not prepared for what happened next, the sound was otherworldly,as it reminded him of the underworld beast screeching incessantly.
Then he saw it the light pouring forth as a river as she ripped through the veil and tore a whole between the two worlds. She had done it selflessly, without provocation as she was supposed to do, for the one thing that mattered above all else… love. Her faith had brought her far, she had done what he had wished all mankind would realize, with faith anything is possible, and Selah had just proven it to them all. She had done what no other had ever accomplished before; it was a new day under the sun, the time of change stood before them with open arms.
At first Selah hadn’t believed she had actually gotten thru, even the awful sound she had heard left her bewildered. As she looked down at her body she saw she was still bright as the sun. She was back into her normal shape but still pure energy, she stood up and glanced around it looked familiar but not, she seemed to be in a version of the hospital but not inside Daniel’s room. She saw the door and immediately went through it hoping she would see where she had ended up. As she immerged she saw she was in the corridor quite a ways down from Daniel’s room. She headed straight for the familiar room she held her breath as she pushed the door open hoping she would find what she wanted behind the door.
She saw he was just as he had been in the hospital room and it was him, he wasn’t a teenager or little he was just as she had left him. She walked over to him she murmured how much she loved him and began to touch his face gently, she had only thought about finding him here, she hadn’t put one iota into what she would do once she did.
Her tears overwhelmed her she threw her arms around him and wept from sheer frustration and having achieved her goal for naught. She wept until she could no more, and never noticed as a hand began to stroke her hair, trying to comfort her in return.
Daniel had felt her life force fill his soul, beckoning him out of his slumber, he had been lost and confused for a long time, as his thoughts had been plagued by memories of the past, with never a vision of a future. As she had held him her tears washed away his wounds and filled his spirit with renewed hope, as he opened his eyes and saw her lying on his chest. She was as she had been the first time, at the very beginning so long ago, a vision of light, pure goodness; an angel…and she had chosen him.
“It’s ok Selah; I’m alright, you found me.” Daniel’s voice seemed not his own, it was all foreign to him.
Selah heard his sweet voice and pulled her body back from his
chest, hope filled her veins that it was so, her Daniel was talking to her. To her amazement he looked completely healed, she reached over and peeled back his bandages and saw not a scar or scab, he was whole and more beautiful than she could ever had imagined before. They held each other for a long time, needing no words to express what they were feeling.
As time stood still for them, they reluctantly pulled away from their embrace. “Can you come home with me Daniel?” She asked eagerness showing in her eyes.
Daniel looked at her trying to come to the conclusion as to how she had reached him, “You’re so bright here, how did you come here? Are you awake or sleeping?”
Selah looked down at the floor suddenly fearful to tell him what she had done out of desperation to reach him. “I…I came through, I’m awake.” She stuttered.
“You came thru? What does that mean?” he pinched his eyebrows together in consternation.
“I broke through; I’m whole right now there’s nothing on the other side.”
“But that’s impossible, to be here whole, I have never heard of such a thing, how did you do it, tell me everything.”
Selah wished she hadn’t told him anything, she had a sinking feeling all of a sudden as if the world was going to crumble before her, “I tried over and over to reach you in the void while you were in your coma, it’s been a week since your motorcycle accident, do you remember?” she turned the questioning towards him hoping he would forget how she had gotten here.
Daniel shook his head in denial, “Accident? I just remember thinking a lot about the past remembering older times, was it bad?”
“Yeah, you were a mess, your arm was broken and you had skid along the pavement quite a ways, you were thrown from the bike a good 25 feet away. Some really bad swelling in your head, and a lot of the skin on your face and arms was just gone, scraped off. You were not as pretty as you are looking right now, I don’t know how we are gonna explain to your mom how you healed so fast.” She smiled at him, and reached over and gently touched his face where he had been bandaged.
Daniel felt his face himself, “My mom must have been really worried, I’m all she has left…” he got a faraway look in his eyes as they clouded over, then he turned his eyes towards her, clear and questioning “You healed me, I didn’t think you knew how, why aren’t you fading or tired after healing me, you must of used so much of your life force to do it.” He looked concerned and frankly a bit put out that she had done something so reckless for him. He would go ballistics if when he found out just how far she did go to save him. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly making her lips pout out, how could she stall him…there was no way to hide this, it was done she had to explain, hopefully he wouldn’t be too mad at her.
“I, Daniel…every time I reached you in the void I only found you in the past, I found you were maybe 3 or 4 years old, then I found you again when you were 14.” Daniel was listening intently to all she was saying, “I could only reach what you were seeing, it’s the only thing that makes sense right now, for the past two nights I have been giving your mom a break and staying with you, hoping there would be a change in your condition and you would wake up. But even with the swelling down you weren’t responding to any kind of stimuli, last night I discovered something…” she paused at how she would explain the rest of the story. Daniel looked at her waiting for her to continue.
“I discovered that I could make my physical body into energy, liquid energy while I was awake, it was a fluke really, I was trying to slip into the void while awake, and there was a barrier stopping me from reaching you. The next thing I knew I had physically moved from the bed to the chair and I had a part of the chair coming out through my arm, I just pulled it out. That part was really freaky, I mean I looked down and I saw my arm half in and half out of the chair and it didn’t even hurt, it was awesome when I think back on it now, but at the time I was a bit freaked out.” She realized how much she was rambling he had the weirdest look on his face but he said nothing and just watched her patiently listening to her words. He had looked a bit frazzled as she told him about the chair but overall he kept his composure well. Now the hard part, she put her hands behind her back and crossed her fingers hoping all would go well with the rest of her explanation. “I went home and I thought about what happened, and I realized I had to get thru the wall that kept us apart, I slept some then came up with the idea of throwing myself at the wall to break through it. When I had a chance to focus, do what I had done last night I did just that and pushed and pushed against the barrier until I heard this really loud ripping sound, and that’s when I broke through the shield that was between us. Then when I saw you , and you were still asleep I began to cry and just held you and the next thing I knew you were talking and that’s what happened, that’s all, I had to come get you your mom is a mess, and dad and Jacob missed you and most of all Daniel I need you and missed you and I love you, so don’t be mad I found you and I’m gonna bring you home and everything will be back as it was and we can be together, ok, I love you, and if I had to do it all over again I would, just like I know you would do it for me if the roles were reversed.” She sighed deeply and clenched her teeth, closed her eyes waiting for him to come down hard on her.
Daniel said nothing as he looked at her, she had done it…it was over no more secrets. Everything she had been supposed to do, no-one had told her she had taken it upon herself to save him, and she had torn the veil now both worlds would merge together. Contrary to what she thought nothing would be the same ever again, he had to reassure her she looked as nervous as kid who had been caught with their pocket full of stolen candy.
“You are amazing, just freaking amazing; thank you for coming for me for going well above and beyond what anyone else would have done…it’s one of the many reasons why I love you, and why we belong together.”
Selah couldn’t believe her ears, he wasn’t mad? He was happy? “Are you for real? Do you mean it? You’re not just playing me right?”
He got up out of the bed oblivious to the catheter hanging from his body and the barely there hospital gown, as he looked down he focused slightly and waved his hand over his clothes and was back to his normal self in a few seconds, nice fitting jeans and a tight t-shirt hugging his frame.
Selah feigned annoyance “I really was enjoying seeing you half naked in that polka dotted night gown.” She bit her lip seductively.
“Well now, if I wasn’t so tired from the healing you put on me…I’d,” he let the rest of his thoughts trail.
She looked up at him as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, always have and always will I promise. Now you sexy thing, take me home ok.”
Selah took his hand and lead him through the tear she had created in the veil, there was no sound as they passed through together all the damage having already been done. It was strange as they stepped into his hospital room to see him lying there while she held his hand, she could still feel herself as pure energy as she bathed Daniel in her light. The door to his room was open, Selah returned to her normal state as fast as she could as soon as Daniel was back whole with his body. She glanced at him in bed as he opened his eyes and sat up, he began removing his bandages not needing them anymore.
Kayla once again saw the bright light in Daniel Evan’s room, she didn’t hesitate a second to make her way there to see what it was. She still hadn’t seen any sign of Selah. As she entered the room she saw Daniel was awake and sitting, removing the dressings she had just put on, just as she opened her mouth to protest she saw there was nothing wrong with his face the scrapes had completely disappeared, dumbfounded she just stood there with her mouth hanging open.
As Daniel saw the nurse come in he said nothing and continued to remove the gauze on his arms as well, “Do you think you could take out the catheter please I really want to go to the washroom.” She said nothing as she looked and saw the missing Selah in the room with him; she was totally lost could she had fallen asleep
and imagined everything?
“Wow your awake let me take your vitals and see how you’re doing how your head is? I’m in shock to see your already healed I just saw those earlier…and well.” Kayla was lost for words.
Daniel smiled his sexiest smile in her direction hoping she would get the hint and take it out, if she didn’t he did have a clue how to. When his dad had been sick he had spent endless hours on the internet reading about every different thing they did to his dad in the hospital. “If you don’t want to, just pass me an empty syringe and I take the water bubble out myself so I can pull the tubing out.”
She saw the seriousness of his face, “Ok I’ll be right back, let me go get the syringe,” she suddenly felt like a small child before a much larger and more important person as she rushed to get what he needed. She returned shortly and just passed it to him without question, never mind any of her training.
Daniel reached over and found the end of the tubing from the catheter and saw where to attach the syringe her pulled back until it was full of saline, he squirted it out into the nearby wastebasket it and repeated until there was none left, he pulled the tubing and saw it was letting go easily as he removed it he breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Here you go now you can chart how much output I had, and say you had no problem removing it.” He turned toward Selah and began getting out of bed.
Kayla knew this was impossible he had been in a coma for a long time he shouldn’t just be getting up! “You should lay down Daniel your moving way too fast, it’s not good.” As Daniel turned and gave her a look that set her back, she zipped her mouth shut and watched him. She did get closer just in case he needed her help, but something told her he wouldn’t in the slightest.
Daniel got up his legs felt foreign to him for a few seconds he ignored the strange sensation he was experiencing and walked over to where Selah was. “Thank you, I missed you like crazy, I knew you could do it, I always had complete faith in you.” He whispered in her ear as he bent and kissed her slowly and completely trying to make up for lost time.
Kayla suddenly felt like she was somewhere she didn’t belong, she backed up slowly. She made her way to the nurses’ station her mind blank as she tried to think what she would chart about Daniel Evans. She decided to call his mom Cecile instead, she thought back to all that she had just saw and all the events leading up to it tonight, the bright lights, the missing girl, had something extraordinary happened? Could it be a miracle?