Hiding In His Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page B

to
take a break.
    A warm Spring draft came in from the
open balcony, brushing against his cheek. For a while, they focused
on their breathing.
    Alyssa was the first to speak. “A
family of three came into the ER today. Only one of them came in
alive. A little boy. He had so many broken bones he might not even
walk again. I stood there, and didn’t know how to tell him about
his parents.”
    Luke turned around to look at her, who
looked like she was trying not to cry.
    “ An ER doctor finally broke
the news to him after an hour,” she continued. “He didn’t cry. He
just lay there in his hospital bed and looked at me with a blank
expression on his face. There was total silence. Then he said a
single word. Why .
And then he slipped into a coma.”
    Luke pulled her closer to
him.
    “ I didn’t know what to tell
him. So I just held him.” She looked at Luke. “I wanted to adopt
Drew right there and then.”
    He stroked her hair, pushing it back.
Then, he kissed her on the forehead.
    She leaned in closer. “This kid’s
special. Can you promise me something?”
    He nodded.
    “ If I’m not around, can you
make sure Drew’s OK?”
    He looked at her curiously. “What do
you mean if you’re not around?”
    “ I meant that if I can’t
take care of him for some reason, will you?”
    He nodded, still puzzled. “Yes. Of
course I will.”
    She started to talk again, but her
words slurred into each other, and she stopped. He took a look at
her, his eyes barely staying open.
    Alyssa was already out cold.
    Luke closed his eyes, but found he
could not sleep. He got off the bed softly, careful not to wake his
girlfriend.
    He opened the sliding door of the
balcony and stepped out into the open air. The pleasantly cold air
massaged his skin at once. He stared down at the steady city
lights, the blinking traffic lights, and the massive sprawl of the
suburbs below.
    I was passed over today, he thought. I
wasn’t good enough. They gave the job to Mike, who now has
everything.
    He felt so useless, like a total
failure. When would he get promoted then? Never?
    He sat down on the hard floor, and
wrapped his arms around his legs. He then put his head in his lap,
and closed his eyes.
    He felt old feelings of incompetence
come back to haunt him. Old, buried feelings from being fired as a
restaurant dishwasher when he was 16. His boss at the time said the
dishes just were not clean enough. Luke had even requested to work
an extra shift just to prove he can do it, but the boss wanted him
out right away.
    Lightly, he rocked back and forth,
trying desperately to get rid of those old feelings. They made him
feel so small.
    Just then, a gentle voice made Luke
look up.
    “ Luke? What are you doing
out here?”
    Alyssa slid the door all the way open,
and joined him on the balcony in her silk nightgown. She sat down
next to him, and put a hand to his head, stroking his
hair.
    “ Is this about being passed
over?” she asked.
    Luke nodded, his face
serious.
    “ Don’t worry about it,”
Alyssa assured. “You’ll be promoted sometime soon. You already work
so hard. How can they afford not to promote you?”
    He said nothing, and reached for her
hand.
    She let him hold it. “I don’t think any
less of you.”
    He put her hand to his cheek, reveling
in the warmth of it. The feelings of failure were starting to
vanish.
    For a while, they looked out into the
quiet spring night. They saw scattered city lights amid a backdrop
of blackness. They heard a car door slam, then an engine start
up.
    “ You’re right,” he said.
“I’ll just work harder.”
    “ Let’s go to
bed.”
    She led him by the hand to the bed, and
they both collapsed into it.
    When he closed his eyes again, he found
sleep to be close by.
    The last thought he had was how selfish
he had been. Alyssa had had such a traumatic day and all he could
talk about was how he had been passed over for a promotion. All he
could think and talk about was himself today. Shame invaded him