Page 16 of Never Leave Me
“Marian?” Ellen searched the room, but the beautiful young woman with flowing red hair and brown eyes was nowhere insight. Instead, Ellen’s gaze landed upon Harrison sitting in a chair beside her bed.
She almost didn’t recognize his face without his thick glasses. He seemed younger, his cheeks and jaw more defined, his eyes more intense. “Did you see Marian?” His expression was completely serious, as though seeing dead people was a normal, everyday occurrence.
Ellen glanced around again. But the room she’d been occupying for the past weeks was unchanged with its mahogany furniture, thick tapestries, bed curtains, and elegant decorations. Along with an array of medical equipment including the CPAP machine, oxygen tank, and monitors.
Even now she could feel the oxygen tube in her nose, the IV in her arm, the electrodes of the Holter monitor on her chest, and the thick, firm mattress of the hospital bed beneath her.
“What did you see?” Harrison squeezed her fingers, and only then did she become aware he was holding her hand tightly.
“I thought I heard and saw Marian.” Her voice was raspy.
“What was she doing?” Harrison’s brow rose in anticipation of her answer, his attention riveted to her.
She stared at the spot where she’d seen Marian—or thought she had. “She was talking with a man about the ampullae in the vault being gone.”
“Then she knows we found what she left for us.”
“I don’t think she’s certain.” How was it possible she was having this strange conversation with Harrison? It was a good thing no one else was in the room to hear her rambling. “She mentioned trying to put more holy water there, just in case.”
“That sounds like her.” This time Harrison sat back and smiled.
Ellen tried to picture Marian again, the flowing nightdress, her slender frame, and her unbound hair. What if the image was nothing more than a dream she’d had while regaining her consciousness?Throughout her nurse’s training, she’d studied the brain often enough to know it was capable of incredible feats.
“I think she might be pregnant.” Once the words were out, Ellen wished she could pull them back. Who was the crazy one now? She’d always believed her dad was addled and that Marian had gone off the deep end last year. Was that what the holy water did to people? Make them slightly insane?
“Pregnant?” Harrison’s voice held a note of amazement. “Can you imagine?”
“No. It was just a realistic hallucination. That’s all.” She hadn’t just seen Marian. She couldn’t have.
“It’s possible you had a time overlap. Marian had a few brief occurrences. And after making a study, I’ve concluded the overlaps are a phenomenon of a quantum concept known asentanglement.”
“Entanglement?” Harrison hadn’t spoken of any of his speculations for months, had been sensitive to her wish not to discuss any of her dad’s research. But now? Her curiosity was growing by the minute.
“Entanglement is a theory proposing that different quantum particles can share an existence, even though physically separated. A quantum system interacts with other quantum systems, existing concurrently, so that the wave systems don’t collapse but split into alternate versions which are equally real.”
“You’re speaking a foreign language, Harrison. I have no idea what you’re saying.”
“Basically, I’m saying physics supports the possibility of the same body existing in different places.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Since we both drank the holy water, why didn’t you interact with the past? Why just me?”
Harrison dark brows came together in a puzzled scowl. “I’d previously come to the conclusion that the holy water wouldprovide healing before a body could cross time. But it’s possible if Marian was in this room, then your wave systems collided for a brief instant.”
It was all too much to comprehend. Ellen stretched her legs. “How long was I passed out?” The lights on the clock on the bedside table glowed a bluish 9:00 p.m. The darkness outside the window confirmed the day was over.
“You’ve been out for eight hours.” Harrison’s fingers caressed hers, making her conscious again of his hold and the fact that he’d likely been worried sick about her during that whole time. After all, she’d been nearly frantic when he’d passed out for less than ten minutes. She could only imagine what he’d endured all afternoon and into the evening.
“How are you feeling?” His eyes practically begged her to tell him she was better and felt like a new woman.
She shook her head, sadness settling around her. Her eyelids were heavy, and the lethargy crashed over her again. “I don’t feel any different. I guess the holy water didn’t work on me.”
“We don’t know yet.” His voice remained upbeat. “I’m still waiting for the test results to come back from the lab.”
“But your healing happened so quickly.”
“In reading about the miracles from the past, some took place immediately while others needed more time. Genetic inheritance can affect how a person responds to a drug’s efficacy or toxicity. The same could be true of the holy water.”
She could understand his desire to cling to hope, but she didn’t need the test results to know she didn’t feel any better. If anything, she felt weaker and more tired. The fact was, she was too near death’s door for anything to help her.
