Page 91 of Sing Me Home
I shook my head. I just needed to touchher. If only I could lift my hand.
“Can you tell me what you’re afraid of?” she asked.
“You c-could’ve died,” I breathed, a tear slipping out.
Her hands cupped my face and she wiped it away. “But I didn’t. I came home to you. I’m your miracle, remember?”
She was right. She was my miracle and she was right here. Not in a pool hall or a hospital or in bed next to Lorne. She washere. With me.
Acknowledging that, my heart began to slow.
My knees buckled and she met me on the ground. She settled behind me, her back against the siding, pulling me into the steady warmth of her chest, her legs framing mine. Then she smoothed my hair off my drenched forehead and began to sing.
I was lost in the dark, too far to be found
Running from ghosts, too heavy to drown
But somewhere out there, you were singing for me
A melody carried on the Virginia breeze
It was the last song in her notebook. The one she’d titled, ‘Sing Me Home.’
She pressed a kiss into my hair and continued,
You sang me home, through the midnight rain
Through the ache and the echoes, through the fear and the pain
Didn’t know where I was, but you still held on
And somehow your voice led me back to where I belong
I closed my eyes and let her voice calm me. Though it was all I could do to whisper, when she got to the bridge, I joined in,
Every chord was a promise, every lyric a light
And I followed the sound all the way through the night
Everything was calm now. My heart, my lungs, my head.
Now I’m standing right here, no more running alone
You didn’t let go, and you sang me home
Then she added another line.
Thank you for singing me home.
“You’re welcome,” I whispered. “Thank you for coming home.”
As her words dissolved into the night, headlights sliced across the yard. Ashton’s truck skidded to a stop, gravel spraying.
Charlie sighed. “Here comes the cavalry. They must’ve driven a hundred miles an hour to get here that fast.”
Her parents jumped out, meeting at the front bumper. Ashton took Tally’s hand as they jogged toward the house like the acid attack had just happened moments ago.
“Charlie!” Tally cried literal tears, dropping down next to us. “We just saw.”
