Wait, what?

Her hands were shaking.

As she looked down at the paper in front of her, the words blurred together under fresh tears that pooled in her hazel eyes.

“Are you sure? I just…” her words failed her as a sob carrying the weight of her emotions erupted from her.

The nurse stood there quietly. Her eyes were kind, and her presence a comfort. She placed a cold hand on the woman’s shoulder and invited her in for a hug.

For a moment, the two women stood there in a tight embrace, standing outside of the room where a young man’s life had just changed forever.

“Take all the time that you need, we still have a few hours before we can release him,” the nurse said finally. She gave a warm smile and walked down the hallway, toward the nurse station.

Shiloh closed her eyes. She allowed the sounds of the hospital around her to fade away. In its place she imagined the sounds of a tropical forest. Exotic birds of every color making their unique music as they call out for a companion. The smell of earth prominent, and a slight sweetness drifted effortlessly on the subtle breeze. She stood there in that moment, allowing her worry and pain to subside for a moment.

“Shiloh Ellerman?”

The words came suddenly into her meditation, causing Shiloh to gasp.

“Yes, yea sorry, hi,” she said nervously, heart racing still from her little shock.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Calder, I am here to talk to you about Gentry. Do you have a moment?” he asked, his tone even and patient.

“Of course!” She responded, louder than necessary.

“I just want to start by saying that he was incredibly lucky, and has no internal bleeding; he is, however, in a medically induced coma. There was severe damage to his neck and brain. Our hope is that his body will recover, and he will not lose functionality of his limbs. It is time to begin thinking about a more permanent situation for him, as the healing process could take months.”

The words seemed to take their time on their journey from his mind to hers, and even longer to process. Shiloh stared passed the doctor, exercising every ounce of willpower to remain consciously present in that moment, the temptation to dissociate and relive her accident overwhelmed her.

“Thank you Doctor,” Shiloh said cutting off his next sentence. He read the energy in her words and simply nodded, walking swiftly away, his coat billowing behind him.

She looked at the paper in her hands again, reading the words very slowly.

Saint Amenadiel’s Long-Term Care. We can help…”

She stopped reading and crumpled the paper in her hands.

No. She thought to herself defiantly. I refuse to give up on him.

She balled the brochure up even tighter in her clenched fist and took in a deep steadying breath. With clarity of mind and strength once again, she opened to door. Lying on the hospital bed, in a hospital issued gown, Gentry slept peacefully; courtesy of the propofol hanging above him like a little umbrella of hope.

Shiloh sat next to him and took his hand in hers. There were dozens of small lacerations, all crossing one another, causing the tears that had retreated to pour down her cheeks once again. The sound of metal colliding with metal echoed in her mind as flashes of images from the accident overwhelmed her. She shook the memories from her mind and took a few steadying breaths. She herself was also lucky to have been so unaffected by the accident; her seatbelt effectively having done its job. Aside from the bruises that ran across her chest and thighs she was uninjured.

“It’s all going to be just fine, man,” Shiloh sniffed, forcing a chuckle into her words of comfort. “They want me to put you in a home; guess it wasn’t all empty threats after all,” she jested, referencing the long-standing joke between them. The two had been thick as thieves since they were both nine years old; having met during the summer at a local park they had been inseparable ever since. Many nights were devoured dreaming of impossible worlds and grand adventures; only brought to end by the human need for sleep.

Sitting in that cold plastic chair, Shiloh’s eyes poured over the sleeping face of the man that boy had grown into. His green eyes hidden from the world behind his closed eyelids, brown hair that curled at the ends; its length just enough to brush the top of his lashes. She took in his features greedily and set his hand back on the bed.

“Do you remember the night before graduation? When you and I went down to the mines and found that weird looking map?” she asked, an idea suddenly popping into her head. “It said there was a book, one that could grant a wish…” her voice trailed off and she turned to look at the still closed door.

“Im going to find the book… Im going to get the wish. I will save you Gent, I promise,” she said defiantly, rising from the chair. She kissed the top of his forehead gently and turned to leave the room. As she reached for the handle she stopped and looked back at him. In the twelve years they had known each other, she had fallen in love with him a thousand times; yet never told him just how much. Let me save you, and then I will tell you, she thought finally as she rushed out of the hospital room, down the hall, and out the nearest exit she could find.

The drive to the mines seemed to take no time at all, and before she knew it, she was turning off her car and stepping out onto the cold hard ground. The air whipped around her face as she made her way to the mouth of the cave; that weird map from her childhood committed to memory. Gentry and Shiloh had spent countless summer nights perusing the rocky tunnels, looking for the one that did not exist. Shiloh clicked on the flashlight she had grabbed from her car and started once more down into the belly of the cave.

There were little tunnels that branched off in every direction, as if the place were a large web of rock, created by a spider that could not possibly exist. Shiloh took in a deep breath, wondering how this time would be any different than the millions before, when her and Gentry failed to acquire the prize.

Emotions overwhelmed her suddenly and she fell to the ground, her knees no longer willing to support her. Tears rained down amidst thunderous sobs, as the tempestuous grief consumed her. As a result of her sudden and unexpected barrage of feelings, her flashlight had fallen to the ground; causing the bulb to shatter.

Shiloh opened her eyes to darkness.

Fear crept up her spine like suffocating ivy and her heart began to pound loudly in her chest. The darkness brought with it a new kind of silence; one where you could hear nothing, and everything at once. Too afraid to move for fear of walking into a pit; Shiloh sat cross legged on the ground.

She turned her face upward, eyes open, and spoke aloud to the universe.

“Okay!” she said, almost in a shout, “I guess I will just wait right here...” her voice cracked slightly as she addressed the cosmos.

She was just about to close her eyes, when suddenly the ceiling of the shaft she was in began to light up with a blue glow. Shiloh blinked her eyes and rubbed them hard, thinking this was surely a trick her mind was playing. When she looked up again the lights were still there, but they were not alone, there was a blue florescence that was illuminating the entire top of the tunnel to her right.

A realization hit Shiloh very suddenly: they had never turned off their light. In all the times her and Gentry had explored the mines, the never once traversed in the dark. Shiloh’s heart filled with hope and she ran recklessly down the now lit path. The tunnel end was abrupt, and a wall appeared suddenly in front of her; but she couldn’t stop.

Expecting intense pain Shiloh screwed her face up in preparation for the impact; only to find that she passed right through. Shiloh tumbled to the ground and felt the cave rock tear through the fabric of her jeans. Shiloh wiped the sticky blood from her skin and stood, wincing from the pain. She looked around and saw a pedestal that seemed to glow with its own light, a little black book levitating atop it; opened to the very page she needed.

Disbelief rippled through her as she walked closely to the center of the room, her fingers outstretched; reaching for the item she so desperately wanted. As she was just about to reach it, a bright light flooded into the room, blinding her.

“Okay here she is,” she heard, the words distorted at first but with increasing clarity. Slowly shapes began to appear in front of her; faces of people she didn’t know. “I think she is coming out of it; can you hear me?” the voices asked. Suddenly the images sharpened, and she could see that she was laying in a bed, the sound of machines beeping flooded into her reality and she blinked furiously, trying to adjust to the light. Beside her, in an identical bed was Gentry, who looked just as confused as she did.

“What happened? Where am I?” Shiloh asked panic creeping into her voice.

“Be still human, you are well. I am going to reintroduce your memories now, please bite down on this,” the stranger said, placing a sponge into her mouth. With that he touched her forehead, and a flurry of images rushed into Shiloh’s mind. After what felt like ages the stranger gave her a forced smile and gestured toward the exit. Shiloh’s shaky legs threatened to forsake her but carried her nonetheless through the heavy metal door marked exit.

Waiting on the other side was a small window occupied by a strange looking creature, with scales where skin should be. It handed her a large envelope and closed its window abruptly. She remembered everything now and waited patiently for Gentry. The door opened again, and Gentry walked up to the window, his hand out for the package.

Inside their packages was A little black book with soft binding, identical to the one from her hallucination, and a strange looking quill.

Opening the little black book, Shiloh read aloud the words that were scrawled in otherworldly ink: We, the Centurions thank you for your participation in our study of humanity. This little black book is a gift to you; may your record your adventures, both real and imagined; for there is no greater path to power than putting pen to paper. Blessings.

Her words echoed in the strange corridor that they stood in. Shiloh grabbed the quill and turned the page speaking aloud as she wrote “I am in my home; my bank account has twenty thousand dollars in it.” In an instant she disappeared with a pop.

Gentry quickly opened his book and wrote, “I am with Shiloh, we are safe.” He immediately appeared next to her in her home.

“How did you know what to do with the book?” He asked his face fixed in an expression of shock. “I didn’t,” she replied, “I just figured if aliens were real then anything was possible. Suddenly her phone chimed from the counter in her kitchen She checked the device and dropped it immediately; her face now mirroring his shock. “what?” he asked scooping up the phone off the ground. The message read: account balance update: $20,000.00 available. Enough to pay off her debt, and finally publish her own story.