For Everything a Reason Read Free Page A

shrink. Notes struck the sides,
shattering instantly in a shower of gleaming white ceramic. Joseph knew now
that if he didn’t make it to the opening, he would become trapped in this abyss
forever.
      
    ***
     
    The window opened out an inch, just
enough to allow the clatter of music to filter through. The door swung shut,
turning Marianna’s thoughts away from the troublesome noise outside. A young,
pretty nurse had entered, carrying a clipboard and chart underneath her arm.
     
    ***
     
    Someone had pressed fast-forward. The
notes raced around him in a blur, individually unrecognisable, and had now merged
into a single streak. Joseph hung onto the note or sign, whatever it once was,
now little more than a jagged white rock, and watched in horrified wonder as
the rift dwindled to the size of a manhole. He hunched his shoulders, gripping
tightly onto the hurtling meteorite, offering silent prayers, watching as the
tear drew closer. The lines flapped crazily, some disappearing through the
hole, taking the notes and signs with them, while others continued into
darkness, and there they faded quickly out of existence. 
      
    ***
     
    The nurse stepped back from the foot of
the bed, her initial job completed. She frowned slightly, something clearly
beginning to bother her. “What’s that god-awful racket?” she asked, her
attention drawn to the window. She stepped past Marianna and reached out,
intent on shutting out the annoying sound.
    “Wait!”
Marianna said, stopping the nurse’s arm short.
    “What is it?”
she asked, concern written across her face.
    Marianna
stepped closer to the hospital bed. “I-I thought I saw something.”
    “What?” the
nurse asked eagerly.
    Marianna bent
over her husband. A faint exhalation of air was the only real sign of life.
Then, just as it had happened moments earlier, Joseph’s eyebrow ticked upwards.
“There!” she said, pointing towards his face. The nurse joined her at the
bedside, and the noise outside was momentarily forgotten.
    “I don’t see
anything.”
    “Wait,”
Marianna said.
    Together they
stood silently. For the third time Joseph’s eyebrow jumped, causing the smooth
skin of his forehead to crease.
    “Did you see
it?”
    “Yes,” the
nurse replied. “But it may not mean anything, just a reaction, possibly from a
dream or something else.”
    “Something
else?” Marianna parroted.
    “Okay, I’ll
inform the doctor,” she said on her retreat to the door.
      
    ***
     
    The light was so close now that
Joseph could actually feel heat radiating from it. The sign he held onto had
disintegrated to little more than a fist-sized rock. With only feet remaining,
he watched as the three central lines pulled together, contracting sharply to
fit through the tiny gap. He threw away the white rock and gripped the two
outer lines. Laying his head tightly against the line in the middle, he closed
his eyes and then held his breath. His clenched hands were pulled together,
until barely inches apart. One final look upwards revealed that the light had
dwindled to the size of a mailbox. Joseph had one terrifying moment to think
he’d never fit through, especially his ample gut, before fire burnt at his
knuckles.
    “OOOhhhh
shit..!” he cried, as the rest of his body caught fire.
    In the next
instant he was through.
      
    ***
     
    And once again, silence.
    Pain stabbed
at his eyes. He squinted, surprised by the sensation, the light source harsher
than the one he’d just witnessed. Something shifted above him, a dark
silhouette, and unexpectedly, he was confronted by his wife’s beautiful face.
She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes. Two clear rivers of tears sprang
from them, which ran down the fine contours of her face, before coming together
at the tip of her elegant chin.
    She watched as
his mouth opened slightly, just the left side under his control, and a thick
stream of saliva pooled out onto his shoulder. He grinned sheepishly. With his
swollen left side