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Sweet Jesus I was bargaining with my son&039;s life His years "One," I said "Only one"

"Two," he screeched "Two! And no less!"

"Okay," I said weakly "Two"

He clapped his hands thunderously "Then it is done!"

Chapter Fourteen

Before crawling into bed, I called the hospital According to the doctor on staff, Anthony was sleeping quietly and showing signs of marked improvement I could hear the relief in his voice

I thanked hihter, I kneithdown I sent texts to Danny and ood news, that Anthony wasI didn&039;t explain the miraculous part I hoped I would never have to, either I told my sister to tell Tammy that I loved her, then set my alarm for noon I had just slipped into bed when I felt the sun rise, felt it in every fiber of ht

And just before blackness overcaiven

Archibald Maxiishly, reluctantly, painfully

During the day, I felt ed my tired ass out of bed, hopped in the shohere I stood under the scalding hot spray until I used up all the hot water In the bathroom mirror, other than a few beads of water that see Neither follicle nor fingernail

Nothing

How is that possible? What the hell is happening?

My son would see nothing, too Forever nothing, unless I found hi in the mirror, I realized that I would forever be undead

Forever

Jesus

Recently, I had held out hope that I ht never occurring to me that I would need it for my son instead

An eternity on this earth

Alone

I continued standing before the e on the bathroo below methere was no reflection there either

I don&039;t exist, I thought

Panic gripped me It had been quite a while since I had had a full-blown panic attack, but I was close to having one now I circled the bathroo alongside ofyourself in aon one&039;s nerves Andshot

I circled, breathing deeply, trying to cal deeply didn&039;t cal deeply didn&039;t do shit

I broke out in a sweat

Maybe I really don&039;t exist It&039;s a fear I&039;ve had over the years A fear that I was still back in the hospital, recovering froo In a co in my dead mind Was that even possible?

I continued sweating, continued pacing in the bathroohostly, wet outline of a curvy woht That&039;s just fucked up I mean, who can&039;t see themselves in mirrors?

Vampires can&039;t, Sam Vampires

Calm down Relax You&039;re okay You&039;re here You&039;re really here

Naked and still dripping, I foundroom, at my house phone I called the only number I trusted to call My sister Mary Lou answered immediately

"Hi, love!" she said excitedly "I&039;ve been waiting for you to wake up Such great news about Anthony!"

I agreed and her excitement buoyedreasonably A great panic had taken hold and I was a wo in her own fear

"Mary Lou," I said, and her na okay?"

"Mary Lou, I don&039;t understand"

"Understand what?"

I tried again,faster than it had in quite so?"

"What do you , so hard that I could barely hold the phone I was losing it You would, too Anyone would Trust me, there&039;s only so much a person can take "Am I really here, Mary LoupleaseI need to know Is this real? Is this really happening to me?"

"Is this about Anthony? But he&039;s okay, Sam He&039;s - "

"No It&039;s not about Anthony Please, Louie Please"

"What do you need, Sam? What is it?"

"I don&039;t understand what&039;s happened to me, Louie"

"Oh, honeysweetie"

I wept harder than I had wept in a long, long time I sank to ain "Is this all a dream, Louie?"

"It&039;s not a drea&039;s real"

I thought of the ehmy head

"No, it can&039;t be It&039;s i very bad happened to you, but you&039;re going to be okay I pro to be okay, too"

I thought of Anthony and what I had done to hi nearly hysterically The last words I heard froht over