The door flung open before he even had a chance to pull away, his ear was now level with Kenny’s lips as she sighed, “Lincoln.”
Standing straight again they watched her. She had lost weight but had a sun-kissed glow to her skin thanks to the Mediterranean sun. Her hair was redder, slightly shorter, only kissing just below her shoulders. Her eyes shot between them nervously waiting for them to say something.
Wringing her hands together, she looked over her shoulder and another woman appeared. “Hi,” she greeted them enthusiastically with a small wave.
Nodding their heads at her, they both kept their eyes locked on Kenny. When she finally looked back at them, she gulped down a breath before stuttering out, “Why are you here?”
“Sunshine, we haven’t stopped looking for you since you left,” Creed explained.
“Almost didn’t make it, either. Fucking steward kept trying to feel me up on the flight. Bastard’s lucky I couldn’t carry my concealed with me on a passenger plane,” Linc tried to joke, making her friend chuckle low.
“Ken, are you gonna introduce me to these two tall drinks of water or what?” she demanded.
“Right. Sorry. Creedence, Lincoln, this is my friend Deedee.” Her voice was flat with a twinge of fear in it that he really didn’t care for.
“Lincoln and Creedence, huh? Apt names for such gods. Tell your mama thank you from all of womankind alike, will ya? Ken, I’m gonna go and let y’all talk.” She left before they could say anything.
“Odd eyes,” Linc mused.
“Sunshine?” Creed asked.
Looking up at him, she had tears in her eyes, her face had gone pale, and she started to shake. As a tear escaped, he caught it with his thumb before bringing it to lips and sucking it off. She began to cry, sobs wracking her entire body, making her knees go weak. He and Linc grabbed her fingers and laced them together, ever mindful of her issues with touch. Not knowing if it was still a problem or not.
After a few minutes of her standing there with her emotions on display, Linc finally asked, “Can we come in now, Sunshine?”
She turned not letting go of their hands, making it so they crossed across her stomach. As she reached her small living area she let go of them, wandering to the small fireplace against one wall. Turning, she leaned back against it and asked again, “Why are you here?”
“You really don’t know, Sunshine?” He was baffled. Yeah, sure, she was in a bad place when they met her up until they left, but they were the only ones she connected with while she was in the hospital. Her brothers told them she’
d deteriorated after they left. That she’d closed into herself even more, so they thought that maybe she felt a connection to them.
Looking between them, she seemed to ponder her words before speaking. “Your voices, they’re everywhere. They follow me in my dreams, chase away my nightmares. I get chills down my spine and it feels like you’re here.” She stopped and took a breath while they were trying to grasp what she was saying. “But when I look around and realize you’re not? It’s the worst feeling in the world. Like I can’t breathe; the air would get sucked from my lungs and I’m left gasping like a fish out of water.”
“Sunshine,” Linc whispered walking closer to her, only stopping when she shook her head no.
“I just don’t understand what you want. You were there, I was safe, and everyone left me alone. But then you left and it was like I was in hell again. For days I waited for you to come back and you didn’t.” Sobbing, she sunk to the ground with her arms covering her head.
“Oh, Sunshine. Kennedy. Fuck,” he growled out, not sure how to make her understand they weren’t leaving her again. For anything.
·?•? ?•?·
She sat there crying, waiting for what she wasn’t sure but something. She had never dreamed they would come for her. Their voices had been a soothing comfort to her nerves for months; naturally, she thought that’s all she would get. When she went to her therapist that morning, she felt like she’d had a real breakthrough. She’d never opened up to him before in the way she just had. It was liberating talking about the soothing voices that plagued her mind.
But to have them there, in her home, after not hearing or seeing them in months left her unbalanced. What Dr. Schroder had said was playing in the back of her mind— how maybe they were brought to her to keep her safe. They could be her salvation. But was she ready to have anyone that close to her again?
She was still so broken and damaged; her head was never in one place and she often had to leave wherever she was because she would become overwhelmed. It was why she chose to live so isolated. Having the ocean behind her offered her a freedom she lacked. Would they understand? She wondered.
Feeling the heat from their bodies on either side of her as they sat down, she waited for the touch she knew was coming. When it didn’t, she lifted her head up, not looking at either of them but not shutting them out either.
“We’re not going anywhere, Kenny. We’re here to stay for however long you want us to,” Linc explained gently.
“It wasn’t our intent to leave the way we did last time, Sunshine. We need you to know that had we been able to turn that assignment down, we would have. But I swear to you it was our last. Nothing short of death will take us from you again,” Creed whispered close to her ear.
Nodding her head in agreeance with them, she figured they would just have to show it. Her trust in anyone but her parents and brothers had been shattered. She needed the actions to prove the choices and even then, she didn’t think it would be good enough.
They sat that way for hours. Every once in a while Kenny could feel tears gather in her eyes and at one point, she got so completely overwhelmed and distraught with her emotions of not being alone anymore she started to sing…
The other night dear, as I lay sleeping