Page 22 of Forever Frenzy
To thank everything in the heavens that my mom was still alive.
I needed Tage to make her happy, but I couldn’t hang around to watch it.
A warm breeze fluttered the curtains as I blinked awake. My head tingled from the inside out. It’d been that way for days. Tage had already told me what happened – a large tumor formed in my brain. It distorted everything.
When I died, he brought me here.
I left behind a son, our son. But he’s grown, Tage said. He’s carving his own paths, bringing light to a dark world.
And my sister and Roman? They were happy, with a little family of their own.
My dad? He was old, but still cantankerous.
Saul and Seth. The two were taking on the world together. Tage said they took my death hard. I hated to hear that. When they hurt, so did I. Because when you loved someone, there was a tether that formed from one heart to the next.
For some reason, I felt a tug from time to time from Seth, but never from Saul. My heart nearly tore apart, but it made me wonder if he’d found someone new and severed our bond. Maybe he didn’t love me anymore.
I shook my head and those thoughts away.
Tage brought me here so I could rest.It’s heaven, I’m sure of it. The sand. The sun. The dark cloak of night, studded with diamonds and thick as wool.
“You’re awake,” he said, the deep timbre of his voice giving me goose flesh.
“I am.”
My fangs raked across my bottom lip as I stretched my arms overhead. I couldn’t remember why I still had them. Tage said it was because I liked having them.
He likes them.
He stares at them often enough.
There was a strange feeling here in The Sand.I wonder if I’ve died and this is the version of heaven my mind created for me?
There’s something missing.
Yet, everything is right.
Or at least Tage says it is.
“Would you like to swim?” he asked.
“Yes.”
When I threw my covers back, I found my body already wrapped in a bathing suit of crisscrossing black fabric. Tage’s eyes raked over me.
He had barely spoken in weeks, but every day, we spent dawn to dusk together. Side by side. In silence.
Sometimes, we walked. Sometimes, we sat. Today, we would swim.
I took his hand and let him lead me outside. Today, I needed answers. I would do my own fishing while we swam. A lake of crystal-clear water stretched as far as the eyes could see, replacing the sea ofdunes that normally stretched out in every direction.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Why am I here?”
He smiled. “Because you’re happy here.”
“Do you like it that I’m happy?”
