The Way Your Heart Sounds

A few days later, Lauren had Brian and Michelle over the house for lunch. Their wedding had originally been planned for January, but after Jimmy took off they decided to postpone it. Since Jimmy was Brian’s best man, Brian didn’t feel like he could go through the wedding without him.

Lauren sighed as she picked at her food. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jimmy, wondering if he was okay. Aside from that one letter, she had no contact from him at all. She even called the facility several times and asked to speak to him, but she was never able to. Dr. Kramer told her as tough as it was, she would just have to wait until he was ready to come back. That didn’t feel like a good enough answer for her. She hadn’t seen her fiance in over a month, and she thought she deserved something from him besides a letter.

“You okay there, Lauren?” Brian asked, noticing she seemed to be lost in thought. She nodded and continued to eat.

“No word from Jimmy I guess?” Just hearing his name made her heart sink.

“No,” she sighed. It was painful for her to look at Brian and Michelle sitting next to each other. They looked at each other and smiled throughout the meal, clearly a very happy couple. Just like she should be with Jimmy right now.

They finished lunch and chatted for a bit before Brian excused himself to the bathroom. Lauren and Michelle made some conversation in his absence. When they heard a yelp and something crash from the other side of the house, the girls quickly jumped up and darted down the hall to see if Brian was alright. Lauren knocked on the door loudly.

“Brian, are you okay?”

The door opened, and Brian appeared looking pale and startled. Lauren noticed that something was shattered on the floor by his feet, it looked like the soap dish that normally rested on the counter.

“Baby, what happened?” Michelle asked, grabbing his hands. “You’re shaking.”

“I don’t know. I got really spooked there for a second, it was weird… I thought there was someone behind me in the mirror... I think I just need to sleep,” he shook his head. Michelle frowned and hugged him. “I’m sorry about the dish, I accidentally knocked it over,” he mumbled.

“No worries, as long as you’re okay. That’s all that matters,” Lauren responded. Michelle took Brian into the living room to try and calm him down while Lauren swept up the broken ceramic pieces from the bathroom floor. She couldn’t help but wonder what Brian saw that spooked him out so much.

Once the mess was cleaned up, she walked back into the living room. Michelle had her arm around Brian’s back. While he certainly looked calmer, he still seemed a bit off, and he didn’t want to talk about the incident any further. The couple left a little while later, although Brian invited Lauren to come to Zacky’s house tomorrow to hang out with the guys.

Lauren cleaned the dishes from lunch, and made her way to the bedroom when she noticed Zacky calling her. She picked up the phone and placed it to her ear.

“Hey Lauren, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine, how about you?”

“Good, good. Just wanted to check in on you, and to see how my dad is doing.” She had been seeing his dad for a few days now, and was starting to get to know him.

“Don’t worry about me. Your father is doing well. He seems to be comfortable most of the time, and yeah…” she trailed off. For some reason she had trouble thinking of anything else to say to him.

“I’m glad to hear that. He really likes you. I talked to him this morning and he thanked me for bringing you into his life,” she could practically hear Zacky smile on the phone. “He’s so damn cute.”

“He really is, I’m so happy that he likes me,” Lauren smiled and plopped down into bed.

“I told you that you had nothing to worry about. So, we’re seeing you tomorrow at my house for dinner, right?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“Sounds great. I’ll see you then. Sleep well, Lauren.”

“You too, Z,” she murmured.

After she hung up with Zacky, and tossed her phone onto the bedside table. she planned to read for a little bit and maybe watch TV before figuring out what to do for dinner. She must have dozed off just from laying in bed, because the next thing she remembered was waking up in bed, seeing a figure standing in the corner of the room. It was now too dark to make out who it was.

Panic flooded through her. Who would be in her room at this time? Was someone here that she forgot about before she fell asleep? No, she would have remembered that for sure. She found a moment of bravery inside all of the fear and called out.

“Who’s there?”

The figure turned, and it appeared to be a tall man, but she had trouble seeing the face. With shaking hands, she flicked the bedside lamp on. The figure slowly came into focus, and she watched the person take steps towards her bed.

It was her father.

“I’m dreaming,” she said out loud, before pinching her arm and shutting her eyes. Nothing changed. He was still standing beside the bed, looking at her curiously.

“Lauren? Can you see me?”

Tears prickled her eyes at the sound of his voice. She hadn’t seen her father in years, and had almost forgotten what he sounded like. Hearing his voice brought up all kinds of feelings in her chest that she wasn’t prepared for.

“Dad?”

“Yeah, it’s me honey, I’m right here.” She felt a warm hand touch her own, and started to bawl. She wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating his presence or what, but she was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t think of anything else to do but cry.

“Hey, don’t cry. You’re okay,” he said softly, squeezing her hand. The crying didn’t cease at all, if anything it got worse.

“Y-You’re dead,” she choked out.

“I know.”

“Wh- How? What are you doing here?” she struggled to say.

“I have no idea. I wish I knew,” he answered. She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she stayed quiet for a moment, just enjoying the feeling of his hand on hers.

“I really miss you,” she murmured.

“I miss you too, princess. I’m so proud of you and the woman you’ve grown up to be. Your mother is too,” Lauren continued to cry as he spoke. “I know what’s been going on, and I’m sorry. Just know that you’re not alone and that he loves you more than anything. He’ll be back when he’s ready.”

She had no idea how her father knew about what was going on with Jimmy, but she nodded. She knew he was right. There was never a doubt in her mind about Jimmy loving her with all his heart, but this time apart with no communication was really testing things. Then again, if they could make it through this, they could make it through anything, right?

“You’re not alone.”

Before she could respond, she looked up and noticed that her father was gone. She called out for him, wondering if he would ever be back again. There was no answer. It took a long time for her to fall asleep, and her dreams were filled with nightmares when she did.

Notes