Synchronicity by A.J. Downey

Author:A.J. Downey [Downey, A.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Second Circle Press
Published: 2020-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

8

Annika

I hesitated in the vestibule of the surgical center. There were curtained bays around the room where patients on gurneys were prepped and waiting to be wheeled back. Into the unknown. Into unconsciousness and pain.

I hesitated not because I didn’t want to see Brody before they took him back and drilled into his bones to vacuum out the marrow that would save my brother’s life. I absolutely wanted to see him. I was going to be late for my menial job just so I could see him before they took him back. It’s just there were other people with him. His parents, by the looks of them, standing at his bedrail, smiling kindly on him and I stood frozen to the spot, looking at the three of them.

The older man and woman, lined slightly with their aging and likely with some worry for their –

“Annika!”

I startled and pressed my lips together. Brody was smiling and beckoning me nearer and I went, my feet carrying me across the sparkling, slick-looking linoleum to his bay where he waited.

A part of me hung back and resisted my forward path of travel. I mean, I wanted to see Brody, but I wasn’t exactly sure about how I felt about meeting his parents.

“Annika.” He reached up a hand, and I went to the opposite side of the bed from where his parents stood. I thought he’d said they were out of town. They must have come anyway.

“I’d like you to meet Robert and Anna, Maia’s parents.”

“Oh!” I uttered in surprise. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. Er, I’m sorry for… for everything.” I flushed, unsure what else to say. I mean, their daughter had died and Brody was here to save my brother’s life when no one had been there for Maia.

“Brody has told us so much about you,” Anne declared, holding out her hand over Brody for me to take. I held out my hand, my mouth suddenly dry and shook hers, the gesture holding a sort of strange weight or meaning. Like… like a torch had been passed or something.

“You mean my brother, right? He’s told you a lot about Luke…” I cleared my throat when their eyes went a little wide in surprise. “About Luke’s family,” I finished lamely.

“No,” Maia’s dad said with a kind smile. “He’s told us a lot about you.”

I blushed and felt slightly dizzy for a spell with something strangely akin to elation.

“All wonderful things, I promise,” Anne said, releasing my hand. I stuck it back in the pocket of my jean jacket.

“Give us a minute?” Brody asked, his eyes fixed on mine.

“Take all the time that you need.” Maia’s dad smiled once more and he and his wife moved off toward the double doors that would take them to the waiting room, pausing to talk softly in front of them.

“I’m so sorry I interrupted,” I said. “I just… I just wanted to see you before you went back. You know… ah…”

“To thank me?” he asked, his lip raising at the corners in a specter of a smile.

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