Free A Soul's Kiss by Debra Chapoton Page B

you can go in. The chaplain is just making his rounds.” She smiled. Cute. But not as cute as Jessica. I nodded my head and moved away from the desk. I didn’t want to go in while his mom was there, but maybe if there was a minister in there the former Mrs. Mullins would tolerate me.
    I stopped as she came out with the chaplain. They were talking in low voices, not looking my way, and were huddled together. The chaplain put his hand on her back and guided her toward the waiting room. As soon as the door shut behind them, I popped into Keith’s room. I didn’t know how much time I’d have and I didn’t want to stay long anyway. All I could think about was Jessica in surgery.
    “Hey.”
    “Hey, bro.” Keith was pale. His leg was strapped up a foot or more off the bed. He had an IV line and some other crap with lines and monitors and stuff. We knuckle-punched.
    “How’re you doing?” I asked. I didn’t sit down.
    He groaned. “Man, I feel like I was hit by a bus.” He gave a fake laugh. “I guess Hannah and Michael got out without a scratch, more or less.” Then his face puckered. I saw the guilt. He’d been the one driving after all, and I knew what he was thinking: Jessica. I nodded.
    “How is she, Ty?”
    I shrugged my shoulders. I couldn’t speak for a second. “She’s in surgery. Doesn’t look good.” I really didn’t know her outlook, but something made me want to deepen Keith’s guilt.
    “At least she knows you like her.”
    “What? Huh?” Was he hallucinating? I wondered what drugs they put him on. He must be getting something for the pain. “I never got a chance to tell her.”
    “But I did.” I was so tempted to punch him for real, but then he added, “This morning. I saw her at school and I told her you have a crush on her.”
    Okay. That was just crazy. Neither of them was at school today. He must’ve been trippin’. I took the chair and pulled it closer to the bed. This was gonna be good. “Tell me about it, Keith.”
    “Really? You believe me? Man, it was so awesome.” And then he started talking like a wild person. It was like he had an adventure with computer generated images. Very vivid. I didn’t believe a word of it until he got to the part about seeing Jessica: “And then you came out of room 236 right after second hour started and went to the restroom. You passed us and when you came back out you mumbled Jessica’s name. She answered you, but you couldn’t hear her of course because, well, I don’t know why exactly. Weird, huh? And that’s when I told her about your crush. And I told her I hoped she wouldn’t die.” He groaned again and shook his head, “Man, I should have apologized for the accident. But it wasn’t really my fault.”
    I didn’t know if he said whose fault it was then because I’d already stopped listening. I had to believe him now because I did leave class second hour and I did say Jessica’s name in an empty hallway. And most incredibly, I did think I heard a voice say What, Tyler?
    Too crazy. I wanted to ask him a million questions, but his mom came back into the room.
    I leaped up. “Uh, hi, Mrs. Mullins,” I said. It was weird because that was my mom’s name, too.
    “Hello, Tyler. Could you stay a while? I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” I nodded as she smiled and kissed Keith, and wasn’t unpleasant like I expected. “See you later, honey. Thanks, Tyler.” She left the room and I sat back down.
    I had a long discussion with Keith. I made him tell me everything from the moment he left school with Jessica and those other two jerks up to now. It was all disjointed and he was acting silly, too, and forgetful. The part about talking to Jessica wasn’t as clear in the second telling. Like a fading dream.
    I considered telling him about my surreal encounters with her. It made sense now. Her spirit must be floating around trying to get back into her body. We needed a way to communicate.
    “Can you get in touch with her again, do