Chapter Six - Revelations

James woke hard, her breath stopped, pain so fierce in her solar plexus that her hand found its way there instinctively. It was an eternity before she took a breath in. But it did nothing for the pain. She drew her hand away, half-expecting to see it painted in blood. But there was nothing.

This was not like the other visions. There was nothing clear but the sense of something being ripped out of her heart, something intangible yet immensely real. And the name on her breathless lips – Guy.

She reached blindly out in the moonless night and her trembling fingers found her cell phone. She flipped it open, pressing the first speed dial number and Guy’s photo popped up on the ID screen. Her thumb hovered over the send key, uncertain. The rending in her chest involved her good friend, of that she was certain. But certain enough to call him in the dead of night over… what?

She closed the phone and got up, her bare feet leaving warm imprints on the suddenly icy floor. She didn’t notice.

Her hand went back to her heart, this time wrapping around the medallion. This, she noticed, was freezing cold to her touch.

James lit a small fire in the fireplace, curling up in her favorite chair, contemplating the flames while her mind worked on the Rubick’s cube that was her mind.

She felt an overwhelming sense of loss when she thought about Guy, yet she was certain that he was all right. Still, her heart ached to its core, beyond a physical sense of hurt. something deep and powerful had been taken from her and it would be some time before she could name it.

As James stared into the embers, there were two things she did not know.

First, across town, at the exact moment that she woke, Guy shared the identical experience, down to the breaking of his heart. James was the name on his lips nd he, too, failed to complete a call to his dear friend, opting to keep the pain to himself.

Second, Kelly Matheny shared that exact moment, relishing what was being set in motion.