CHAPTER 27

The nurse dashed hurriedly into Justin's room, and looked around, expecting to find an emergency. She hesitated for a moment, and just when she was beginning to think she was in the wrong room, Justin impatiently cleared his throat. "What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. "I need you to take me to room 637." He calmly responded. "But sir--" she tried to finish but Justin cut her off. "Please take me." His eyes and voice were begging. He HAD to see her. He just had to. The nurse's expression softened, and she, not believing what she was doing, called in an orderly to wheel him down.

"Joey, she was my BEST friend. WAS. Don't you get it? She's gone. She was one of the only people who ever understood me. She's gone." Amber kept saying the words over and over, but they still didn't make any sense to her. She was so, so tired. She laid her head down on Joey's chest, exhausted more emotionally than physically. Within 5 minutes, she fell into a deep sleep.

Joey felt Amber's body slowly stop moving, and soon heard the regular intakes of breaths. Carefully, so as not to wake her from her slumber, he laid back and found a comfortable position. She'd been through so much in the little bit of time that he'd known her. He breathed in the sweet scent of her hair. It would have been the perfect setting. Except for the fact that it wasn't.

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Amee felt herself being lifted up. All she knew was that she was going somewhere, and she was going there fast. There wasn't any more pain, which was better, but where was she? "Amee…" The voice called out to her. But that was all she could understand. It started babbling in some language that she couldn't understand. Abruptly, though, the voice stopped. Amee stopped moving, and finally got a good look at her surroundings. Not that there was very much to see. There was white on all four sides of her, and it extended on all four sides. "You're in Purgatory." A loud voice suddenly boomed, as if it was over a speaker system. "Where had she heard that word before?" her mind searched, and then she remembered. "So-I'm-dead?" she asked fearfully. In response, something like a TV screen came up in front of her. She gasped, for it was the first time she really saw what she had looked like. There was someone else in the room, holding her hand. "Justin?" she said, astonished. She held her breath, watching the scene unfold right in front of her.

Justin leaned over Amee's bed, and prayed for her recovery. She was still alive, but barely. She had suffered from a cardiac arrest, and a very serious one at that. And you think you're hurt? Justin ashamedly thought to himself. He looked down at her, remembering their last conversation together. He remembered her refusal to give up, even though the odds were stacked up against her. She was tough, but he also had sensed that there was more to her as well. "Please don't leave us." He begged her. "Don't leave me. There's so much left for you to do, so much left for you to see. Come back." He said, blinking away his tears. Unable to take any more, he turned away, and was wheeled back to his room, thinking of Amee all the way.

Amber woke up with a start and was blinded by the bright sunlight. She was absolutely ravenous. As she sat up, Joey's arms fell away and dangled loosely. For a second she smiled down at him, but then went to her car to find the nearest food place. When had she last eaten? She couldn't even remember. "God help the person who has to wait on me." She grinned, as she stopped the car, and walked inside the little café.

Lance and Katy were huddled together, leaning on each other not just physically, but mentally as well. "I could use a break from this dreary place." Katy said, as she got up. Now that she knew Amee was ok, she had no desire to stay any longer. "Where are you going?" Lance called after her. "Anywhere that isn't here" came the response. He smiled. "Right on!" he said happily. He was REALLY getting to like this girl. Things were starting to look a lot brighter. "Maybe there is a light at the end of this tunnel." Lance thought as a summery breeze met him at the exit. He took it as a good sign.

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