Give Me Hope Read Online Free PDF Page A

little tramp, huh? What are you playing at, Bennett?” I say as I reach the door to the chapel.  
    It doesn’t surprise me that he’s found a connection; he’s a crooked-ass, wannabe politician. It’s clear to me that his attempts to cover his own ass are backfiring already.

Nine
    I leave the chapel and head down the hall towards toward the bank of elevators that will take me up to the surgery floor. I’d rather wait up there then down here.  
    Jesus, what the hell was all that about?I shake my head but can’t dispel the image of an angel – the painting my mom had above the hutch – from my mind. Could all that talk, all those years ago, really be true? Am I really an angel? But if I’m an angel, doesn’t that mean that I died?
    “Not necessarily.”
    “Jesus!” I sputter, stumbling in my surprise. Falling against the wall, I look behind me, but there’s no one there. There’s not a person to be seen in either direction.
    “No, not Jesus, angel. I am Seraphina – your guardian, your teacher.”
    Rather than look like an idiot talking to myself in the middle of a deserted hallway, I try speaking to her in my thoughts. Then show yourself.  
    Good God, I really am loosing it.
    “I cannot show myself to you. Not until you’re ready.”
    But don’t you think it will help me better understand what is going on?
    “Not hardly, young angel. You have a lot to learn. When you’re ready, you will see.”
    The more she talks, the more convinced I am that she’s not the same voice that spoke to me in the chapel. Ugh! I don’t know how much of this I’m supposed to handle before I break.  
    Does this have anything to do with the tattoo on my back?
    “Everything. Although, young one, it is not a tattoo.”
    I nod my head. I’m growing well aware of that. I swear I saw it shimmering last night. What on earth is it?
    “Why, what else would an angel have upon his back?”
    My knees buckle as reality strikes. Wings?
    The answer to my question comes in the form of a tingling sensation radiating across my back. The reinforcement of my conclusion leaves me shaking my head. This is all just way too much. Are you going to keep blindsiding me when you start talking?
    “Yes, and no. Now, young angel, know that I will be ever-present and will do my best not to frighten you.”
    I push away from the wall and begin moving back down the hall. Finally I reach the elevator and press the up arrow.
    There are so many unanswered questions, I feel like my head is going to explode. But something that the other voice told me comes flooding back.  
    The voice before, she said something about helping Vivienne. What did she mean?
    “She meant that we can only help her start the process. The rest is up to her. You are here to protect her, to keep her safe and to help her heal.”
    How on earth am I supposed to do that?
    “Be here.”
    Well that won’t be hard., I have no intention of leaving. Not until she does.  
    The elevator finally arrives and I step in. As the elevator rises, all the angst and anguish I felt earlier returns. I get this strange sense of emptiness, and I wonder if the voice has gone.  
    When I get no answering reply, I’m assured that she is. At least for now. With each passing floor, my anxiety rises, and the buzz strengthens across my skin. But for the first time in all of this, I feel a sense of hope.

Ten
    I’ve never been a fan of hospitals, let alone waiting rooms. The last time I spent any amount of time in one was after the accident. My youngest brother, Ronin, had survived the initial accident, then surgery, only to pass away about six hours later. We waited, Victoria and I, for nearly four hours while he was in surgery. We had already found out about Dad and my other brother, Shane.  
    I spent hours pacing the room while Victoria slowly lost her mind. She was far closer to Dad and Ronin than I ever was. I had always been closer to Mom.
    All things considered, I will take this waiting room over