Permission by T.M. Frazier

Author:T.M. Frazier [Frazier, T.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: T.M. Frazier

Fifteen

“EJ!” Gabby says with an enthusiastic smile. She’s standing, holding the back of her hospital gown together, one arm tucked behind her back, the other is wrapped in a thick black sling. Sandy is standing on the other side of the bed with a pile of clothes in his arms. He drops it on the bed with a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong?” I ask him.

He looks to Gabby. “You’re about to find out.”

"Don’t mind him. He’s just being pouty,” Gabby says, sticking her tongue out at Sandy who scrunches his nose in return. I love this playful side of Gabby. A side of her I haven’t seen since we were kids.

It’s not her playfulness that throws me. It’s the familiarity between her and Sandy. I wonder just how familiar they’ve really become.

“Did you hear? I’m being released!” Gabby exclaims.

“Yay,” Sandy mutters under his breath.

“No, I haven’t heard. That’s amazing.” I sit on the corner of the bed while she gets dressed. She spins her finger in the air. Sandy rolls his eyes and reluctantly turns around.

“Listen, I have to tell you something,” I say. “Actually, I have to ask you something.”

“About Ireland?” She jumps up and down then winces, grabbing onto her shoulder.

“You know?”

She pulls a black sundress over her head. Sandy turns back around as if he instinctively knows she’s done dressing. I spot a mirror on the wall Sandy was just facing and realize instincts had nothing to do with it. When he spots me looking at the mirror, he flashes me a wink and a sly smile.

“Yes, I know. Callum came in. He told me all about it. Can you believe we’re going to Ireland? He says he lives in a town with rolling green hills, and they have festivals and schools. Can you believe it, EJ? We could go to school!”

In all the years I’ve known Gabby, I’ve never seen her so excited before.

“And you have a family! A mom and a dad! I can’t wrap my brain around this. It’s all so…everything. It’s what we dreamed of, Emma Jean. The day has come when it’s all finally coming true. We’re getting out of this town. We’re going to stop surviving and start actually living.”

If I was undecided about leaving before stepping into Gabby’s hospital room, I’m not anymore. I can’t deny Gabby her safety, this opportunity, or anything that makes her as excited as she is right now.

“We are going to be living our dreams,” she repeats, embracing me in a hug.

I stare over her shoulder at a somber-looking Sandy and hold her tightly. “Yeah, we are, Gabby. We finally are.”

My words aren’t entirely true. They would be if I were speaking them months ago. Over the past few months, my dreams for Gabby have remained the same, but my own have changed. They no longer only include safety and security or a life outside of Lacking.

I dream of a man in a black leather hood, bleeding black roses, and an unbroken heart.

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