Final Destination III Read Online Free PDF Page B

prayers.”
    Mrs. Blumberg shuffled back into her apartment. As annoying as she could be, I was blessed to have her in my life. She was a good person who meant well. I promised myself to spend more time with her. A widow, she was probably lonely.
    The bright sunshine contrasted sharply with my mood and did not help my headache.
    Slugging to Penn Station, I was grateful that I had overslept. Not just because I needed the extra sleep. Chances were I wouldn’t run into Ari on the train since he likely took an early morning commuter train.
    The train ride to Philadelphia added to my gloom. I was in crowded economy class, sitting next to an overweight woman who kept farting. Memories of that fateful ride last Friday danced in my head. I longed for Ari as I penned ideas for Combat Wombats. Half way through the trip, I dozed off. I was lucky I didn’t miss my stop. 30th Street Station.
    While I had been in 30th Street Station many times before, this time was different. I stood in the middle of the vast station and spun around, taking it in like a panoramic camera. My eyes stopped on the mezzanine, above the escalator, and I relived the moment of seeing him there for the very first time. My beautiful Trainman. That Adonis who had held me, kissed me, and made delicious love to me. That Adonis who had awoken every fiber of my being. That Adonis to whom I had given myself, unconditionally and oh so passionately. Only a week ago and yet it felt like a lifetime. Tears pricked my eyes.
    Enough. He wasn’t magically going to reappear. With a heavy heart, I exited the station and headed west on busy Market Street until I reached the hospital on Spruce Street. It was short mile-long walk, but with my leaden feet, it felt like forever.
    The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was a venerable institution renowned for its clinical and research excellence as well as its world-class patient care. I was glad that my mother had been selected to undergo an experimental but promising cancer treatment. But now that her insurance coverage was coming to an end, hope was dwindling. I still hadn’t figured out how I would come up with the money to allow her to continue. Or break the bad news to her.
    My mother’s room was located on the top floor. I always got depressed when I stepped off the elevator. Roaming the halls were men and women of all ages and races, hooked up to IV’s, their skin ashen, and their heads bald. I always thought this floor was a just a stop away from heaven.
    The door to my mother’s room was opened. She was propped up in her bed, sketching. She looked up from her sketchpad and gaped when she saw me.
    “Sarah, what’s wrong with you?”
    “Nothing, Mom.” Everything, I solemnly thought as I stepped over to her bed to kiss her. She looked good. Her head was wrapped in a colorful scarf, and she had some color in her cheeks that was not there the last time I saw her. And she wasn’t coughing.
    “My darling, you look so pale and thin.” There was alarm in her eyes.
    I couldn’t hide a thing from my mother. No matter how hard I tried.
    I sat down on the edge of her bed, and the tears I had held back all day ran down my face.
    “Oh, Mom,” I sobbed. “Someone broke my heart. Or maybe I broke his.”
    “Oh, Baby.” She leaned forward and wrapped her stick-thin arms around me, letting me cry into her bony chest. Oh how frail she was! Here she was taking care of me when I should be taking care of her.
    After my sobbing subsided, I told her everything about my week, sparing only the very explicit sexual details and Gwen’s bribe. How I’d lost my virginity to a stranger on a train and fell in love with him… only to find out that his evil ex-wife was my evil boss who threatened to fire me if I didn’t stop seeing him.
    “Oh, Mom,” I sniffed. “I miss him so much, and I think I’ve hurt him terribly by pretending to be in love with someone else.”
    My mother hugged me again and then framed my face like a