"I don't know exactly where to start. You told your friend the man...haunting you," I stiffen at the word. It sounds so negative. I would never say Sterling is haunting me. Maybe the idea of the life we could have had together but never him. "His name is Sterling Barrett. He was in a car accident two weeks ago just like you described to your friend."
I feel the impatience emanating from Sterling behind me. I could almost bet with certainty that he just rolled his eyes.
Celeste licks her lips and places her hands on the table, "Let me think...I'm going to try to explain this so you’ll understand it - not you, dear, him. He's a non-believer even when he's the one dead."
Talia chuckles and brings us over a tray with tea and cookies on it.
"The world is made up of energy waves. They go up and down and can be pretty predictable but every now and then something happens. Two particles of energy share the same space. It's called Quantum Entanglement or resonance. These energies, vibe on the same level, do things the same way and have the same results. They are so entwined with one another, each made for the other that they can't be separated or parted. We are made of energy, it wouldn't be out of character or odd that some of us have a twin spark as well."
"Soulmates." Celeste nods while my mouth opens in shock at the word Sterling just used. He believes we're soulmates.
"He must be tied here...to you!"
A bucket of cold washes over me. "You mean I'm the reason he can't find peace! I'm keeping him Earthbound!?"
"No, no dear. Somethings...off. Something’s not right. He's too loud, too present. He's not dead."
"What?!" It is a word that gets echoed by Talia but feels like it is ripped from me. Sterling isn't dead?
"He's more in a kind of limbo. Not fully in any world. That must be why I can hear him so clearly and why you can see him so easily."
"Oh my God!" Talia stands up so fast she knocks her chair over and goes running from the room. In no time she's back with a newspaper that looks like I might have used it to wrap something breakable in. She puts the paper on the table between me and Celeste and smooths it out so we can both look at what is written there.
"Man's power of attorney fighting for his life as his brother tries to pull the plug. Oh my God!" That cold feeling courses over me again as my heart pounds so hard I think it might rip from my chest.
Celeste turns to look at me placing her hands on my shoulders so she has my full attention, "You have to go to him! You have to wake him up!"
Chapter Seven
____________
Makenzie
We come up with a way to sneak me inside and past the nurses and the security that stay outside his private room. Celeste and Talia are going to cause a diversion while I sneak inside the room and then...figure out a way to wake him up. When we get there and see the guns some of the guards are using, I seriously start worrying about whether this is going to work at all.
"Celeste, why are you doing this? Why are you helping me? You don't have to do any of this."
The woman smiles softly and reaches out to touch my arm. "Love is the only thing that will ever make this world a better place. It can do such amazing things. Why wouldn't I help when the world needs a little more love in it?"
I give her a smile and nod and Talia a hug before the three of us go our separate ways. It doesn't take long before they are making enough noise that everyone is either leaving to go find them or at least looking over at where the sound is coming from. I slip into the room and let my eyes adjust to the low light.
He's lying in a bed a little bigger than the normal hospital bed with tubes coming from his arms and face. The sight of him lying there makes my heart hurt. It feels like it’s going to crack under the weight of knowing he's in a place I can't get to him. It's odd to not have his presence with me, even with his actual body in the room.
I step closer to him until I can finally take his hand in mine. For long seconds I watch as his chest moves up and down and a heart monitor beeps nearby. His hand isn't warm like it is when the ghost him touches me. Instead, it feels cold and lifeless. A tear slips free and tracks down my cheek before I can stop it.
"Hi." The only sound that meets my greeting is the beeping of machines. "I guess if you can hear me I should introduce myself. I'm, um, I'm the woman you've been talking to who just moved into your house."
Nothing but silence.
"Celeste thinks there's a way I can...wake you up." I take a big breath and wait for...something to happen. "How do we put you back together?"
I'm not really asking him just more talking to myself really wishing I would have asked more questions of Celeste.
I bend over his body and brush a wisp of hair back off his forehead. While I'm bent over him I feel a jolt like electricity entering my body and I know the ghost Sterling is here. He's entered my body. He wasn't with me during the ride over here, or when we came into the hospital. I wasn't sure I would ever feel him again but he's here with me now.
His voice tells me to bend lower and place my lips over his. I come as close to him as I can before I take one last look at his pale, perfect face. "Live for me. Please live for me!"
I do what he says and fit my lips over his cold ones, whispering against them, "Live for us!"