Coffin of Hope

Chapter Two

Greg checked the vitals on the comatose woman. Her skin was turning blue again. He rang for another blanket.

The nurse tsked. "Too frail. She die soon. Poor sickly girl."

Greg was appalled by her words but the look in her tired eyes made him feel better. She actually seemed to care. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Her heavy accent hung in the air after she'd gone.

He sat back down, drinking his Turkish coffee. "Come on, Marcy. Wake up."

OF

Mal unlocked his door and entered his large apartment. He took his shoes off at the door and hung up his jacket. He took the rest of his belongings to the kitchen and played the messages from his home phone.

He never had a lot because most people didn't have the number. But his mother did. Hers was the first message. "Hi, honey. I know we talked on your birthday but I know how hard it is this time of year.

I can come out for a while. Bring Maddie. We can go to that one Italian place you talk about. Your father is sick. I know you didn't see eye to eye when you left but he's your father.

Anyway, I love you. I miss you. Bye." The recording stopped on her sniffles.

He felt bad. He should definitely invite her out to San Francisco but he wasn't going home. He was never going back to Ohio again. It was too painful.

Before he could dwell on his father's mysterious illness, the next message played. "Hello? I'm looking for a Malcolm Chang Sr."

That captured his attention. Not many people knew he was a senior.

"This is Josh Davidson. I'm not sure if you'll call me back but it's urgent." Josh rattled off his phone number before hanging up.

Mal was in awe. He hadn't talked to Josh in two years. Even then it hadn't been a long conversation.

Are the kids alright? He worried. That made him think about everything and he shut down. Shaking his body, he got himself under control.

He turned off the answering machine and went about looking through the fridge for something to eat. He'd call later.

OF

Greg looked over just in time to see her fingers twitch. "Are you waking up?"

Her fingers twitched again.

He took her hand and squeezed. "Come on, Marcy. You can do it."

She went still.

"Come on. Come on, girl. Just open those eyes."

He could tell her eyes were moving from behind her bruised eyelids but they stubbornly remained closed.

"It's okay. You'll get up soon."

OF

Mal placed his house phone between his face and shoulder as he puttered around his darkroom.

The phone rang four times before someone picked up. "Hello?"

"Hello. This is Mal Chang returning your call-"

"Oh my goodness! It's you!"

"Yes...?"

"Sorry. We weren't sure if it was you because you changed your number- eghk! I'm rambling. I'm just really excited to hear your voice!"

"Really?" That confused Mal.

"Yes. We found her!"

The phone slipped and Mal had to hurry to catch it. He immediately knew who "her" was. "What?!"

"Oh crap! I didn't mean to blurt it out! I was going to lead up to it in a dignified-"

"Where is she?!" Mal didn't care about anything else.

"Before I tell you where in the world she is-"

"What? She's not in the U.S.?" That made a lot of sense. She'd never stayed stateside so why would she when she ran away?

"No." Josh paused.

Mal waited but he didn't go on. "Well...? Where is she?"

"In a hospital."

"What?" Mal didn't expect that. His instincts warred with his anger. His angel of darkness was hurt?

"Yes. There was an accident."

"Is she okay?" Everything in Mal stilled so he could hear the answer.

"We're not sure." Josh hesitated.

"How are you not sure?! Either she is or she isn't!"

"She's in a coma."

"A coma." Mal wiped his face in agitation.

"Greg is with her. The doctors think that she'll make it but she has to pull through soon."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know, Mal." Uncertainty colored Josh's voice.

"Where is she?" Mal was serious.

"Moscow."

"Russia?!" Plans flew through his head.

"Yes."

"Thank you for calling."

"Wait! We wanted to get in touch with you for another reason. The reason we renewed our search for her."

"Yes?"

"Would you like to visit?"

Mal almost dropped the phone again. He hurried to put the receiver back to his ear. "Visit?"

"Yes."

"Of-of course."

"Good. We can set something up for the weekend."

"Yeah. Sure. Any time works for me." That wasn't actually true but Mal wouldn't miss meeting up for anything in the world.

"I'll text you later. I'm really glad I got a hold of you, Mal."

"Me too." Mal's voice thickened with tears.

"Goodbye. See you this weekend."

"See you." Mal hung up. He was quite honestly stunned. He didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to look up flights to Russia while another part wanted to wait for the weekend. He didn't want to miss them.

So in the end, he called his mom.

OF

Greg stared at Marcy's resting face. "You can do it. Squeeze my hand. You can do it. Come on. Squeeze my hand, Marcy. You can do it."

Marcy remained still.

"Move?" The nurse asked as she walked around the curtain.

"No." Greg sighed. "She's not moving."

She clucked. "Move soon or else."

That was what worried Greg. He waited while the nurse changed the comatose girl and washed her light skin. She changed her IV bags and checked her monitors before leaving, clucking again.

Greg went to his phone and played a video. "They want to meet you. You have no idea how much they love you and want you. Listen to them."

He shoved the device up to her ear and played it from the beginning. He was so focused on holding back tears that he didn't see her hand twitch.

Tears were slipping down his face so he didn't see her arm move until her hand grappled for his. He started with a jolt and his eyes streaked to her face. "Marcy?! Are you waking up?!"

It took a minute but she eventually peeled her jade eyes open.

He was struck (like the first time he'd looked in her eyes) and it took him a minute to catch his breath. "Hi, sweetheart. Welcome back to Earth."