Copyright © 2022 Roselaine Joseph

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I decided to leave the office early to head home to relax. I have been busy for the past few days working my butt out to get a couple of contracts signed which I did. On my way home, while I was driving, this big ass spider came out of nowhere crawling on my car dashboard. I’m terrified of spiders, and that mother blue wasn’t an ordinary spider, it was big. I freaked out and lost control of the car and plunged down the ditch. The few things that I remember when I woke up in the hospital were a loud bang and something hitting my face and chest. The other thing I recalled was this woman’s voice talking to me. I felt something on my lips and her scent that I can forget. Oh, and that stupid spider. I hope it dies for trying to kill me. I don’t remember how I got to the hospital. I was banged up pretty badly. When I opened my eyes, there was a nurse there by my side. I think she was checking on me, and I asked her how I got there, and she told me a young lady who witnessed the accident saved my life. She said if I was alone for fifteen minutes, I would have died. I asked her did she ever come by to see me, and she said, “No, I don’t know if she did or not.”

“Why didn’t she come to check on me,” I asked.

“Sweetheart, If she did, I wasn’t aware of it. I don’t know,” she replied. I don’t know why I was upset with her and said to the nurse, “I don’t understand why she never comes by. How are you going to save someone and never come by?”

“I don’t know, maybe she did when you were unconscious,” she replied.

“I could still hear her voice, and her scent I can still smell,” I said disappointingly. The nurse looked at me as she rests her hand on my shoulder and said to me, “Sweetheart, here is what you can do. When you get out of here, put a plea out for her to come forward. I will ask around and see what I can find for you, okay?”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Don’t worry too much about it. If it’s meant to be, you will find each other,” she said with a smile. Unfortunately, she did look into it, but she couldn’t find any information about the mystery woman. After I got out of the hospital two months later, I took an additional month to recover. I sat with my assistant to help me find a way to find the mystery woman. She told me, to go on national television. It sounded good, but I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself. I had her request an interview on my behalf, putting a picture of the site where the accident took place and the date pleading for her to come forward. I also offered a reward of fifty thousand dollars to be given to her with the following stipulations: The person who comes forward will have to explain how the accident took place, what she whispered in my ears, and what color shit and pants I was wearing. Also, the mystery woman should know what I look like. If she gets it right, I will give her the money. I think that way, it will reduce unwanted people who are trying to make quick cash. The plan was she will interview anyone who comes forward while I watch them on the camera as I tell her what to ask on her earpiece. I honestly was nervous because I didn’t know how it was going to turn out. So, we did the broadcast on television and also on youtube. We had about twenty women who came forward that sounded somewhat credible. I invited them to come for the interview. I use one of my male staff to pretend to be me to walk through the door after the interview to see if they are crooks or not. Eighteen out of the twenty women didn’t last halfway through the interview. When the nineteen girls walked in, she answered all the questions, but when I sent my employee inside to greet her, she thought that was me, and she became emotional and hugged him. The twentieth girl was a mess and crazy, and the security personnel had to escort her out. I gave up hope and accept the fact that she will not come forward. I was standing in the lobby talking with my assistant one afternoon, and I noticed a beautiful young woman that walked inside. I have never met her before, and she seemed a little nervous as she walked in our direction. Once she reached us, she said, “Hi, can I have a word with you, Jacob?” I was perplexed standing there and thought, could this be her? I had a sudden excitement rose within, and I said, “Of course, please, follow me to my office.” I made sure my assistant, Mandy came along with me. After we walked into the office, I pointed at the chair and ask her to sit before we sat down. I wanted to hear what she had to say as I sat there and said, “What can I do for you, miss?” She cleared her throat still nervous and said, “Ummm, I don’t even know where to start.” She chuckled and then continued, “I want you to know that I didn’t come here for the money. I, I just came because you might have questions as to why I took so long to come forward.” At this point, she had my undivided attention pulling my body upward listening to her. Before another word came out of her mouth, I ask, “Why did you never visit me at the hospital?”

She looked down, playing with her hands nervously momentarily before looking at me and said, “When they brought you to the ER, I waited in the waiting room for two hours to hear from the doctors about your prognosis. I was praying that you came out okay. I was scared and anxious at the same time. So, while I was there, your parents came to the waiting room. When the doctors came out asking for your family member, they went forward and spoke with the doctor. The doctor said that you were stable, but you are a long way to recovery. It was a relief for me to hear that, and I didn’t want to interfere so I left. I came back to visit three days later, but there was always someone in the room with you. You were never alone, and I stopped coming. I didn’t think you would remember anything.”

“Thank you for saving my life. It means the world to me, and I want you to know that if you need anything. Please, allow me to help you. Money is not enough to repay you for what you’ve done for me. If you didn’t come to my rescue, I would have been dead today. I owe you my life. Can I hug you,” I asked. She became emotional and said, “Sure.” I got up, walked around the desk, and hugged her for a minute. I was taller than her, it was hard to smell her scent, and I didn’t want to look like the creepy guy trying to sniff her to match the scent. As she was talking to me, I tried to match the voice in my head with hers, and she sounded a little different, and I thought it was probably because she was in distress at the time she was trying to save my life. I was so happy to hear from her, so, we exchanged phone numbers to keep in contact, and she told me that her name was Ella. I asked her if I could take her out to dinner because I wanted to learn more about her. Although I was excited to see her, for some reason, I didn’t feel connected with her. Don’t get me wrong, she was beautiful. So, the following day, I contacted her to see if she was available to go to dinner because I wanted to give her the check as well. I had my assistant book us a reservation at one of the fancy restaurants, and I also had a personal driver for the night. I wanted to give her my undivided attention. I didn’t want to rush anything so I kept our friendship casual. Sometimes I would spend time with her at her apartment to watch a movie and talk about silly things. I had a chance to meet some of her friends and they were down to earth. Three months into our friendship, one Saturday, she called me because her kitchen sink was clogged up, and needed my help. The managing office for the apartment couldn’t get someone to come right away, and I offered to help. While I was under the kitchen sink, someone knocked on the door. I heard the door open, and it appeared as if she was whispering to the person. I thought it was odd for her to whisper. I came out from under the sink, I heard a woman that sounded just like the voice in my head. My heart started racing faster than normal as she kept talking, and I suddenly became nervous. I felt as if I was having a panic attack. I stood up, to walk closer to see whom Ella was talking to, and I heard Ella say, “Let’s go to the room.” I notice both of them walking toward the room and heard the door close. I walked to the room door and heard the other woman talking and she sounded like the same voice that I had been hearing in my head. My heart was palpitating, as I slowly opened the door to see who she was. When she saw me, she looked shocked as if she has seen a ghost. She seem speechless, and I said, “It was you.”

Finally, she turned to Ella and asked, “What is he doing here?”

“I’m sorry, I can explain everything,” Ella replied uncomfortably. I don’t know why I became angry with her and said, “Why? Why you never came forward?” She stood there as if she was trying to find words as she glance at Ella before turning her attention to me and said, “Because I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what,” I said waiting for an answer angrily.

“Wait, why are you upset with me? I saved your life, what does it matter if I didn’t come to see you?”

“It matters to me. All you had to do is just show up, and tell me your name.”

She stood there silently, and I said, “What, you were afraid that I would say thank you for saving my life?”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Do you have any idea what you put me through for the past few months? Every day I was living in fear that I would lose the sound of your voice in my head and your scent not knowing who you are. It tormented me day and night,” I said angrily.

Ella looked puzzled and said, “So, you knew that I wasn’t the one?”

I looked at her and said, “Of course, I knew you weren’t the one. You knew more than the other twenty women who came forward. I let it play because I knew you would lead me to her eventually.”

Still puzzled, Ella said, “Do I have to pay you back the fifty thousand dollars?”

“Just get out of the room, Ella,” I said, and she said, “Okay.” After she walked out and closed the door, we both stood there looking at each other momentarily. I walked closer to her and said, “You still haven’t told me why you were afraid to come forward?”

She took a depressing breath and said, “I was afraid to lose you.”

“Oh.”

She stood there silently, and I just hugged her in tears and said, “Thank you.”

We held on to each other for a minute before I pulled away from her and kissed her. While we were kissing, she quickly pulled away and said, “Jacob, stop, stop, please, stop. This is why I stayed away from you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m getting married in two weeks,” she said in frustration.

“Well, I hope he leaves you at the altar.”

“Really, Jacob? That was a noble thing to say.”

“I want you.”

“Stay the hell away from me,” she said angrily and walked out of the room. I followed her and held her hand and said, “Wait, please, wait. I’m sorry.”

“Let go of me!” she angrily pulled her hand away from me and walked out the door. Ella was standing there looking at me and said, “Do I have to pay you back?”

“No!” I said before grabbing my keys and leaving angrily. I didn’t know what to do. I screwed up big, I thought to myself. I still don’t know her name. How can I be so stupid? I said to myself angrily. I thought of our kiss, she did kiss me back, and it was nice. I don’t know if I can let her go. I know it sounds selfish, but I prayed her fiancé broke up with her so I can have her. I had a horrible weekend thinking of what happened. The only person that can help me find her was Ella, and I didn’t want to talk to her. There has to be another way to find her before she marries that man, I thought. I went to work late on Monday feeling depressed about the situation. I guess it showed because my assistant kept asking me if I was okay, but I didn’t want to talk about it. I tried my best to keep it cool, but it was eating me up. I went back to the gym to work out to try to forget about her, and I couldn’t. There were a few women at the gym who kept asking me out, and I stopped going to the gym. I started jogging in my neighborhood every day, morning and evening to forget about it. I bought a punching bag for my home to help me with my stress, and it didn’t help. I figure that I had to talk to someone to let it out. The following Monday, I couldn’t hold it anymore, and I told my assistant what happened. She told me that I have to find her. She offered to help me. So, the first place that we went was Ella’s apartment, and I find out that she moved out. I was shocked to hear the news. Maybe she thought that I was going to ask her to return the money. I tried calling her, but she wouldn’t pick up her phone. I didn’t know what I was going to do as we stood in the parking lot looking for a solution. Then my assistant said, “If she was a witness in the accident, she should be on the accident report.” I never thought of that, and we immediately went to the police station to get the report. Luckily for me, her address, name, and number were on the report. I was nervous as hell because I didn’t know how I was going to approach her. We decided to go grab a bite because I was hungry. While we were sitting at the restaurant, there was this couple who seem so in love and couldn’t keep their hands off each other. I watched them kissing, and it reminded me of our kiss and said within, I hope she gives me a chance. I asked Mandy to call Grace for me and try to find out where she is so I could meet with her. The person who answered the phone was Grace’s sister. So, Mandy told her that she lost her invitation and that if she could text her the church direction and the time of the wedding for her. We didn’t know that it would work and surprisingly she sent a picture of the invitation to her phone as soon as they hung up. My assistant joked and said, “I think it’s better if we show up at the wedding. You never know, you might be the one marrying her.”

“What are the odds, right? The chance of me replacing the grooming is very unlikely,” I said but was contemplating the idea. By all means, I don’t want them to get married, and if it happened, it’s a win for me. I love the idea of going to raise hell at her wedding as I laughed aloud. Of course, my partner in crime, Mandy, would come as my date. After we ate, we drove to the store, and I got myself a three-piece tuxedo and bought Mandy a nice evening gown to go raise hell at the wedding. The wedding was at four o’clock Saturday and we arrived at three o’clock. There were many guests there as we made our way inside. We weren’t sure where the bride was, so we asked someone, and they directed us because we told them that we were a friend of the bride. As we made our way toward the room, I met the guy we saw at the restaurant making out with the girl. I thought, what a coincidence. Then I heard someone greet him and said, “Are you ready to become a husband?” I suddenly stopped and turned my attention to him and heard him say, “I don’t know if I can do this, man.”

It was about four of them standing there, so, I walked up to them and said, “Hi, I’m Jacob.”

They were looking at me surprisingly because they had no idea who I was, and one of the guys said, “Who are you?”

I pointed at him and said, “You’re Lawrence?”

He said, “Yeah, do I know you?”

“No, I don’t think we know each other,” I replied.

“Okay, so, what do you want,” Lawrence added.

“So, you are the groom,” I said and Mandy touch my arm and said, “Jacob, what are you doing?”

“Yeah, I’m the groom. Did I invite you,” Lawrence said.

“No, I invited myself. Anyway, I saw you making out with a girl Monday afternoon at the La Point restaurant, and she didn’t look anything like your wife-to-be. Are you going to marry both of them,” I asked?  I noticed he looked left and right as he walked up to my face and said, “You need to leave.”

“Why the sudden hostility,” I replied.

One of the guys said, “What’s he talking about Lawrence?”

You see, Lawrence underestimated me because I look slimmer than he was. He had no idea that I have been doing kickboxing for seven years as self-defense. He walked up closer to my face and pushed me and hell broke loose. They tried to jump me, and I whoop their asses with no mercy. Both the bride and groom’s parents came running to us separating us from each other and called the police. The parents were very angry as they were trying to find out what happened after they separated us. It didn’t take long before the police arrived trying to sort things out. I saw Grace coming, she looked so beautiful. I gazed at her mesmerized by her beauty, but when she saw me, she was livid and said, “What are you doing here Jacob?”

“I want to talk to you, Grace,” I replied.

Lawrence angrily said, “You know him? Are you cheating on me with him, Grace?”

“No, no, I’m not. He is the guy that I saved from the crash four months ago. I met him at Ella last week, and he kissed me. I told him to stay away from me. He didn’t, he didn’t know that I was engaged to be married to you,” she replied in frustration. Lawrence said, “You son of a bitch!” the next thing I knew,  he launched at me, and we got into a fight again. The police put both of us in handcuffs. Grace suddenly burst into tears and said angrily to me, “What is wrong with you? Why you had to come here after I asked you to stay the hell away from me? I regret saving you from that crash!”

Seeing how angry she was, and here that coming out of her mouth hurts. I couldn’t help the tears and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I turned to the cops and said, “Please, just take me to jail.” I started walking away. Mandy came up to me, and I said, “Please, don’t. Don’t bail me out. Let me spend a few days in jail.” I walked outside to the police car waiting for them to take me away. Minutes later, one of the officers came to me and said, “Sir, we saw the video and three witnesses said that you didn’t start the fight. We can’t arrest you.”

“Yes, you can. I came here unannounced, and I provoked him. Please, just take me away,” I pleaded with him. He removed the cuffs and said, “Go home, sir.”

I just walked to my car with Mandy and had her drive me home. We didn’t say a word to each other until she pulled in front of my house and said, “I’m sorry, sir.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said before I got down and went inside the house. After I closed the door, I walked a few steps away from the door and collapsed on the floor. I struggled and turn over on my back, and it felt heavy to breathe. Inside my house was all white with white furniture and bright. Suddenly, I saw it started to look dark inside. As I was struggling to breathe on the floor and unable to move my body. I saw the front door valiantly open and illuminate with bright light, and I saw Grace in her wedding dress running to me. I was looking at her unable to speak to her, and I could hear her saying, “No! you can’t leave me. Please, come back to me. I felt her tears dripping on my face, and she kissed me. I felt her body over me, the scent of her body and her body heat warming me up. She kept calling my name to come back to her. I felt my life was fading away, and my eyes were giving in closing slowly. All of the sudden, I felt both her fist pounding on my chest hitting me angrily. She did it again and could hear her sobbing and saying, “You can’t leave me!” She hit me very hard again a third time, I jumped sitting up confused looking. She was sitting on top of me, and I heard her say, “Baby?”

I said, “Yeah.”

“You came back to me.”

“Yeah, where am I,” I asked as she held on to my face kissing me, and I embraced her. She was in tears holding on to me as she continued to kiss me and said, “You came back to me.”

“Yeah,” I said and continued, “Baby, I think you broke my ribcage.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as we still embraced each other. I realized that I was in the hospital room, and I saw a few nurses come rushing in looking shocked. Then four Doctors walked in looking at us and I said, “Baby, I’m hungry. Why are these people here looking at us?”

The doctors and the nurses approached us still looking in disbelief, and one of the Doctors said, “This is impossible, he was brain dead and he died. How,  how can he just wake up when we took him off the machine?” I was still confused about what was going on as Grace was still sitting on me and said, “Baby, I’m hungry and thirsty.” The doctors were so eager to examine me because it was a phenomenon. After Grace got off me, they took my vital signs and kept examining me while they sent for my food. Finally, when they brought the food, I ate as if I’d never seen food before. I noticed Grace was looking at me in tears, I stopped and said, “What’s wrong, baby?” She leaned over and kissed me and said, “I love you. I can’t believe you came back to me.”

“I’m glad I did, I love you,” I replied. After I ate, she told me that we were driving on the road, and this car lost control and was coming head-to-head toward our vehicle. She said that I tried to escape the incoming car, and that’s when our car went down the ditch. Because I wasn’t wearing any seatbelts, the impact after the car hit the tree threw me out of the windshield. She quickly got out to attend to me although she was hurt. She said I was unconscious as she leaned toward my face to see if I was breathing. She kept calling my name as she tried to do CPR before some people came to help and called 911. She was hurt, but not as bad as I was. She couldn’t see me for two weeks, and when she was able to come to visit, she collapse. It took her a month before she started visiting me again, and she was devasted because every now in then, I would go into shock and seizure. Six months later, the doctor said that I was brain dead. They told her to start making arrangements for my funeral and to make a decision to remove me from the machine that’s what was keeping me breathing. She said she refused to accept the fact. She said that she prayed every day hoping that I would wake up. Since I have been in the coma, every day, she would come into my room to interact with me as if I was awake. She sleeps and cuddles with me every night. Sometimes, she would make love to me to see if I would wake up. The doctors told her that she was wasting her time. Families on both sides agreed to remove me from the machine. It hurts her because she says she loves me too much, and couldn’t do it. She never went back to our home after the accident because it was too painful. Today makes it two years since I have been in the coma, and it was hard for her to decide to let me go. After they unplugged me from the machine, she became angry with me cursing at me. So, she got on top of me crying and kissing me and asking me to come back. When she saw that I wouldn’t wake up, she started hitting me on my chest angrily hoping that I would come back to life, and I just jump up from the bed. Even she couldn’t believe it, and she started kissing me. After hearing all of that, I feel lucky to have her in my life as I choked up and said, “Come here,” I kissed her repeatedly and continued and said, “Thank you for not giving up on me. I love you forever. You are my angel.” I paused for a few seconds and said, “Baby, have I ever cheated on you?” I realized that she hesitate for a second and said, “All that matters to me is that you’re alive, baby.” She kissed me, but the way she hesitated, made me wonder if I have been unfaithful to her. Now, I’m wondering what really happened before the accident.