Thank you's go out to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I'm sorry it
took longer than I planned to post this but I had trouble tweaking the
ending. It was hard to get the ending right but I think I've got it down
now. Sorry if it's a bit cheesy but I think the situation called for it. If
anyone is interested in being a beta tester for me, please e-mail me at
Aurora7948@yahoo.com
Author's Note: I'm so sorry that I didn't capitalize the pronouns for God. It didn't even register in my mind to do it until now. I thought about leaving them that way as a sign of respect, you know, to show that there is no way for me to know what He is thinking but then I decided that it might be considered rude to do that so I have now fixed that problem.
Disclaimer: I do not own Joan Girardi or Adam Rove. Iris I wouldn't take if you gave her to me (sorry, I agree with Adam and Joan, her voice bugs me.)
Chapter 2: Miracle
Joan's voice caught in her throat as she desperately tried to think of something to say. But what could she say to make Iris want to live again? "Iris...please..." She waited, silently, as the wind howled across the nearly empty rooftop, praying that Iris would say something in response. Iris didn't even look back at her. She just continued crying, staring up into the overcast sky.
"Please stay." Joan feebly tried again to get some sort of reaction out of Iris, begging that the reaction wouldn't be Iris' final event in life.
"What do you care?" Iris spat at Joan. "You never did like the fact that Adam liked me. Well, you finally got what you wanted. He's all yours. So why don't you just go find him and the two of you can enjoy the rest of your fucking fairy tale lives?"
'Just keep her talking. If she's talking, she isn't jumping.' Joan's heart pounded against her ribcage. Her palms were almost dripping with sweat even though the air surrounding her was icy. "Please Iris. I don't want you to do this. And Adam wouldn't either."
"Right...Adam really cares. He cares about as much as you do." Iris sneered, her facial features contorted with pain. "If he cares so much, then why did he break up with me? Oh wait, never mind... I do know why. He broke up with me for you. " Fresh tears glistened on Iris' cheeks.
"He didn't break up with you because of me. He's not even talking to me right now." Joan's brain was still scrambling for things to say, for some way to comfort this obviously lost child. That's all she really was too, just a child. "Just because he broke up with you doesn't mean that he doesn't care about you."
"Yeah, right!" The sarcastic laugh echoed off the brick building. "I'll believe that when I see it."
"I'll call him! Right now! I will! I'll ask him to come here and then you can ask him for yourself." Joan pleaded with the still immobile Iris. "You know him as well as I do. He wouldn't want to see you do this. You know that he still cares."
Joan could almost see the wheels turning in Iris' head. "If I call him and ask him to come here, will you promise not to jump?"
"I'm not making any promises to you. But sure. What the hell. Call him." Iris lowered her arms but didn't move from her perch.
Joan threw her crutches down and leaned up against the doorframe to the stairs. She rummaged through her backpack for a second and then whipped out her cell phone, immediately dialing Adam's home number. She could only wait and hope that he would be there and would pick up.
Ring...
'Come on Adam, please pick up the phone.' Joan mentally implored.
Ring...
'Somebody answer. Please!' Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes.
Ring...
Ring...
"Hello." Came an exasperated voice from the other end.
"Oh, thank God! Adam, it's me Joan." An audible sigh came through the phone. Obviously, she had interrupted something. "Please don't hang up!"
"What do you want, Joan?" The contempt in his voice made Joan cringe but she pressed on anyway. Saving Iris's life was worth every stab of pain that he could throw at her.
"You need to come back to school. Now!" She nearly screamed at him.
"And why should I do that?" Joan grimaced as another stab of pain tore at her heart.
"Adam, just please trust me and come to the roof of the school. I'm begging you. Please!" She waited silently, fervently wishing that she hadn't fought with him this morning. The vise grip of panic had constricted her chest, making it nearly impossible for her to breathe. Throughout the entire conversation, Joan's eyes never left Iris, who was just standing there, motionless, seemingly unaffected by the chilling wind.
Finally, Adam replied. "Whatever. If it's really that important, I'll be there in about five minutes"
"Adam, you have no idea how important this is. I'll owe you forever." Joan hung up, mentally thanking every personage of God that she had ever seen that Adam was on his way, regardless of their fight.
Joan turned her attention back to Iris who had remained still throughout the exchange. As time trudged on, Joan began thinking about how she had just roped Adam into this. Guilt immediately overwhelmed her. What if he couldn't handle this after what had happened to his mother? What if Iris jumped and he snapped and followed her? 'I don't think I could handle that.' Joan mentally remarked.
Silently sending yet another prayer that Iris wouldn't jump, Joan slowly limped her way closer to Iris. She stopped when she was within about five feet of her and slowly began to speak. "Iris...please just don't jump. I don't know if Adam can handle it."
"You don't think he could handle it?" Iris, snorted in disgust. "I'm the one standing on the edge of a building and you don't think he could handle it!"
"That's not what I meant! Let me explain!" Joan beseeched, her heart having jumped up into her severely constricted throat. "Adam never told you about his mother, did he?"
"What's she got to do with this?" Iris swept her arms out in front of her, indicating the undeniable situation that she had put them both in, and looked disparagingly at the ground.
"Adam's mother...she..." Joan stammered, not wanting to say the word "killed" at the moment. Unable to come up with any better way of expressing it, Joan just blurted the whole thing out. "She killed herself. She overdosed on some pills." Joan could sense Iris' subtle shift in perception and continued on, not wanting to lose any momentum. "After that, Adam closed himself to the world. He was depressed and nothing could quite get through to him. It wasn't until about two weeks ago that he..." A single tear escaped one of Joan's pleading eyes and streaked down her face as she remembered that morning in her kitchen when her mother had read the note that Adam's Mom had left for him. That moment was too sacred for her to tell anyone, even Iris.
"He began to come alive again... almost like he had woken up from a deep sleep. I don't think he would ever be able to wake up again if you...left him too." Joan let her little speech hang in the air for a minute before she continued. "He wouldn't want you to leave him for good. And I...I don't want you to leave for good either."
Tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks and dripping onto the cold stone beneath her feet. "I know we aren't friends," Joan began again, "but I do care about what happens to you. And Adam still cares about you. He doesn't open his heart to many people...so please don't give him a reason to close up again." Her voice drifted off, carried on the wind, as she stood there crying.
Iris' face mirrored Joan's as silent tears fell off her chin as well. Before Iris really had time to reflect on all that she had just heard, the door to the stairs banged open. She turned around to see what had interrupted the deathly silence.
Adam stood, bent over, in the doorframe, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His eyes swept over the scene in front of him, quickly taking in Iris' position on the ledge and Joan's distraught, tear stained face.
"Iris...don't...jump. It...won't...solve...anything." He implored, a terrified expression etched on his features.
"What else should I do?" She shot back, angrily. "When I was young I was beaten and abused. I've had to relive those scenes every day of my life. Until I met you. When I was with you, I never thought about how bad my life had been, I just thought about how happy you made me feel." Finally, Iris broke down in body wrenching sobs of grief and misery. "Why did you stop caring about me?"
"I didn't." Adam replied without a moment's hesitation. "I never have stopped caring about you and I never will."
Again, silence hung heavy in the air, only occasionally breeched by Iris' sobs. Eventually Adam spoke again. "The world can be an ugly place, Iris, but it can also be beautiful. You can't depend on only one person to make it beautiful. People will let you down."
At that statement Iris scoffed, "Yeah, no kidding." Adam ignored the interruption and kept going.
"Don't give up now, Iris. You've barely had a chance to live. Give the world another chance to show you its beauty. Give the world another chance to see your beauty, the way I have."
"What beauty? I'm just a stupid, ugly bitch." came Iris' strained reply.
Joan cut in at that moment. "The beauty of your spirit. You give so much to those around you. You give those children that we watch hope and love. And because that is what they need, they in turn, love, respect and admire you. You are beautiful to them and to Adam and me. You give your time to comfort and support those who have suffered the way you have, and that is beautiful."
"So please, Iris, please stay with us." Adam added. He had worked his way across the roof and was now standing in front of Iris. He slowly reached up and offered her his hand.
With baited breath, Joan watched as Iris reached out a trembling hand and grasped Adam's and stepped down off the ledge. Adam embraced her and supported her as she collapsed into his open arms as all her emotional restraints came crashing to the ground. Iris shed a tear for every bruise, every insult, every stab of pain that she had ever felt. Her body shook with the force of her sobs as Adam just held her, stroking her hair and rubbing her back. Tears of joy fell from his eyes as he realized that Iris really wasn't going to kill herself.
One more wet face watched as Adam soothed his torn friend. Joan sat down and leaned against the small brick building that encased the stairwell. Placing her face in her hands, she wept tears of relief and gratitude that Iris had decided not to give up on her life.
When Iris was able to support herself again, Adam placed one arm around her shoulders, his other hand gently clasping onto her arm, and guided her to the stairs.
Still hiccupping as she passed Joan, Iris managed to get two small words out of her mouth. "Thank you." Joan looked up and their eyes briefly met and then Iris and Adam descended the dark staircase.
Joan stayed where she was for another few minutes, thinking. 'What if I hadn't listened to God this time?' She had actually been complaining about getting grounded for skipping class and all the while Iris had been ready to end her life. Joan bowed her head as tears came again, realizing how selfish she had been.
"It's ironic how many people go through their lives without a fraction of the love that you and Adam just showed Iris."
Joan did not even attempt to reply as a teenage God, in His tan coat and blue jeans, sat down next to her and wrapped His arm around her shoulders.
"And fewer people recognize that love even when they do receive it. Both of those things happened here today and that, in short, is a miracle." God finished.
Joan met His eyes, letting the full meaning of the miracle that had just occurred really sink in. With all the energy she had left, she reached over and hugged God, whispering a heartfelt "thank you", so quiet that only He could have heard it.
"You're welcome, Joan. But now I'd better leave. Adam's coming back to get you and I don't think he'd appreciate this scene." Joan and God both gave half-hearted chuckles and then God stood up, breaking Joan's hug, and turned to walk down the stairs. Before He was completely hidden in the shadows of the stairwell, God turned back around and, offering a smile, left Joan with one last thought.
"Remember Joan, miracles really do happen," and then He was gone.
Joan sat just looking at the sky. A thin ray of sunlight had pierced the dismal gray clouds and seemed to be straining to give as much warmth to the earth as it could before it was forced back up into the atmosphere.
For the second time that day, Joan failed to notice Adam as he came towards her. His pulse quickened as he reached the top of the stairs and unwelcome images of Iris standing on that narrow ledge came flooding back into his mind. In a vain attempt to distract himself, he went to sit next to Joan. The sound of his shuffling clothes attracted Joan's attention. She turned and studied his profile as he gazed at the spot on the ledge where a catastrophe had just been averted.
Turning away, Joan asked the question foremost in her mind. "Where's Iris?"
Closing his eyes, Adam replied "I took her down to the counselor's office. I told them what just happened." He sneered then. "Basically, they told me that I had done enough and to go away so that the counselor could call her parents and they could all "talk" to Iris about what she had just thought about doing." Adam paused and ran a shaky hand through his wind-swept hair. "What would have happened if I hadn't come when you told me to? If you hadn't found her to begin with? She would have jumped. And it would have been all my fault." Adam's defenses collapsed and he just cried.
Joan turned and wrapped him in her arms, one hand holding his head against her chest, while the other stroked his back. She let him cry his heart out to her as she gently rocked back and forth, softly hushing him. After a few minutes, she slowly brought his head up so that she was looking into his watery eyes. She rested one hand on his cheek as her other hand came up and pushed some strands of hair off his knitted brow. Bringing both hands to his cheeks, she told him "No one but God knows how many things could have gone wrong today. I'm just grateful that they didn't. It's a miracle and I'll always be grateful for it."
As Joan finished, Adam embraced her, tears still slowly trickling down his cheeks. Silence reigned as they sat there clinging to each other, feeling the wordlessly offered support. "I'm sorry for yelling at you the way I did this morning," he whispered into her ear. "I over-reacted."
"No, it was my fault," Joan responded, pulling back so that she could look him in the face. "I never should have tried to blame you. I'm the one who has to say I'm sorry."
"Let's just say that we're both sorry and be done with it." Adam said, a half smile crossing his tired face. Feeling the pressure of the unseen weight of the day slowly lifting from his shoulders, Adam realized just how tired he was. Wiping away the last of his tears with the sleeve of his hoody, Adam turned to Joan. "Well, we'd better get out of here. I'm completely worn out. I definitely need to go home and relax."
"Yeah, but I can't go home. If my Mom comes home for lunch and finds me there without the usual trip to the office, she'll ground me on the spot, no questions asked." Joan sighed. Her brain was so exhausted that she didn't realize how simple it would be to explain her actions to her parents. Her thoughts were focused basically in the present, conversing with Adam was burning enough neurons already.
"I'm gonna be the only one home for a while. My dad is working evenings this week and won't be home for at least another six hours, so I guess you can come hang out at my place until after school lets out. At least then you might be able to get a word of explanation out as you walk through the door before they ground you."
"Sounds like a plan."
Adam stood up and seeing Joan's crutches thrown down close by, picked them up. He then offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet. "I'll carry that," he said and before she could even protest, Adam picked up her backpack and started down the stairs.
With one last glance back at the ledge, Joan turned and followed Adam down the stairs and out of the building, thanking God every step of the way for every miracle that he had ever given her.
Author's Note: I'm so sorry that I didn't capitalize the pronouns for God. It didn't even register in my mind to do it until now. I thought about leaving them that way as a sign of respect, you know, to show that there is no way for me to know what He is thinking but then I decided that it might be considered rude to do that so I have now fixed that problem.
Disclaimer: I do not own Joan Girardi or Adam Rove. Iris I wouldn't take if you gave her to me (sorry, I agree with Adam and Joan, her voice bugs me.)
Chapter 2: Miracle
Joan's voice caught in her throat as she desperately tried to think of something to say. But what could she say to make Iris want to live again? "Iris...please..." She waited, silently, as the wind howled across the nearly empty rooftop, praying that Iris would say something in response. Iris didn't even look back at her. She just continued crying, staring up into the overcast sky.
"Please stay." Joan feebly tried again to get some sort of reaction out of Iris, begging that the reaction wouldn't be Iris' final event in life.
"What do you care?" Iris spat at Joan. "You never did like the fact that Adam liked me. Well, you finally got what you wanted. He's all yours. So why don't you just go find him and the two of you can enjoy the rest of your fucking fairy tale lives?"
'Just keep her talking. If she's talking, she isn't jumping.' Joan's heart pounded against her ribcage. Her palms were almost dripping with sweat even though the air surrounding her was icy. "Please Iris. I don't want you to do this. And Adam wouldn't either."
"Right...Adam really cares. He cares about as much as you do." Iris sneered, her facial features contorted with pain. "If he cares so much, then why did he break up with me? Oh wait, never mind... I do know why. He broke up with me for you. " Fresh tears glistened on Iris' cheeks.
"He didn't break up with you because of me. He's not even talking to me right now." Joan's brain was still scrambling for things to say, for some way to comfort this obviously lost child. That's all she really was too, just a child. "Just because he broke up with you doesn't mean that he doesn't care about you."
"Yeah, right!" The sarcastic laugh echoed off the brick building. "I'll believe that when I see it."
"I'll call him! Right now! I will! I'll ask him to come here and then you can ask him for yourself." Joan pleaded with the still immobile Iris. "You know him as well as I do. He wouldn't want to see you do this. You know that he still cares."
Joan could almost see the wheels turning in Iris' head. "If I call him and ask him to come here, will you promise not to jump?"
"I'm not making any promises to you. But sure. What the hell. Call him." Iris lowered her arms but didn't move from her perch.
Joan threw her crutches down and leaned up against the doorframe to the stairs. She rummaged through her backpack for a second and then whipped out her cell phone, immediately dialing Adam's home number. She could only wait and hope that he would be there and would pick up.
Ring...
'Come on Adam, please pick up the phone.' Joan mentally implored.
Ring...
'Somebody answer. Please!' Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes.
Ring...
Ring...
"Hello." Came an exasperated voice from the other end.
"Oh, thank God! Adam, it's me Joan." An audible sigh came through the phone. Obviously, she had interrupted something. "Please don't hang up!"
"What do you want, Joan?" The contempt in his voice made Joan cringe but she pressed on anyway. Saving Iris's life was worth every stab of pain that he could throw at her.
"You need to come back to school. Now!" She nearly screamed at him.
"And why should I do that?" Joan grimaced as another stab of pain tore at her heart.
"Adam, just please trust me and come to the roof of the school. I'm begging you. Please!" She waited silently, fervently wishing that she hadn't fought with him this morning. The vise grip of panic had constricted her chest, making it nearly impossible for her to breathe. Throughout the entire conversation, Joan's eyes never left Iris, who was just standing there, motionless, seemingly unaffected by the chilling wind.
Finally, Adam replied. "Whatever. If it's really that important, I'll be there in about five minutes"
"Adam, you have no idea how important this is. I'll owe you forever." Joan hung up, mentally thanking every personage of God that she had ever seen that Adam was on his way, regardless of their fight.
Joan turned her attention back to Iris who had remained still throughout the exchange. As time trudged on, Joan began thinking about how she had just roped Adam into this. Guilt immediately overwhelmed her. What if he couldn't handle this after what had happened to his mother? What if Iris jumped and he snapped and followed her? 'I don't think I could handle that.' Joan mentally remarked.
Silently sending yet another prayer that Iris wouldn't jump, Joan slowly limped her way closer to Iris. She stopped when she was within about five feet of her and slowly began to speak. "Iris...please just don't jump. I don't know if Adam can handle it."
"You don't think he could handle it?" Iris, snorted in disgust. "I'm the one standing on the edge of a building and you don't think he could handle it!"
"That's not what I meant! Let me explain!" Joan beseeched, her heart having jumped up into her severely constricted throat. "Adam never told you about his mother, did he?"
"What's she got to do with this?" Iris swept her arms out in front of her, indicating the undeniable situation that she had put them both in, and looked disparagingly at the ground.
"Adam's mother...she..." Joan stammered, not wanting to say the word "killed" at the moment. Unable to come up with any better way of expressing it, Joan just blurted the whole thing out. "She killed herself. She overdosed on some pills." Joan could sense Iris' subtle shift in perception and continued on, not wanting to lose any momentum. "After that, Adam closed himself to the world. He was depressed and nothing could quite get through to him. It wasn't until about two weeks ago that he..." A single tear escaped one of Joan's pleading eyes and streaked down her face as she remembered that morning in her kitchen when her mother had read the note that Adam's Mom had left for him. That moment was too sacred for her to tell anyone, even Iris.
"He began to come alive again... almost like he had woken up from a deep sleep. I don't think he would ever be able to wake up again if you...left him too." Joan let her little speech hang in the air for a minute before she continued. "He wouldn't want you to leave him for good. And I...I don't want you to leave for good either."
Tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks and dripping onto the cold stone beneath her feet. "I know we aren't friends," Joan began again, "but I do care about what happens to you. And Adam still cares about you. He doesn't open his heart to many people...so please don't give him a reason to close up again." Her voice drifted off, carried on the wind, as she stood there crying.
Iris' face mirrored Joan's as silent tears fell off her chin as well. Before Iris really had time to reflect on all that she had just heard, the door to the stairs banged open. She turned around to see what had interrupted the deathly silence.
Adam stood, bent over, in the doorframe, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His eyes swept over the scene in front of him, quickly taking in Iris' position on the ledge and Joan's distraught, tear stained face.
"Iris...don't...jump. It...won't...solve...anything." He implored, a terrified expression etched on his features.
"What else should I do?" She shot back, angrily. "When I was young I was beaten and abused. I've had to relive those scenes every day of my life. Until I met you. When I was with you, I never thought about how bad my life had been, I just thought about how happy you made me feel." Finally, Iris broke down in body wrenching sobs of grief and misery. "Why did you stop caring about me?"
"I didn't." Adam replied without a moment's hesitation. "I never have stopped caring about you and I never will."
Again, silence hung heavy in the air, only occasionally breeched by Iris' sobs. Eventually Adam spoke again. "The world can be an ugly place, Iris, but it can also be beautiful. You can't depend on only one person to make it beautiful. People will let you down."
At that statement Iris scoffed, "Yeah, no kidding." Adam ignored the interruption and kept going.
"Don't give up now, Iris. You've barely had a chance to live. Give the world another chance to show you its beauty. Give the world another chance to see your beauty, the way I have."
"What beauty? I'm just a stupid, ugly bitch." came Iris' strained reply.
Joan cut in at that moment. "The beauty of your spirit. You give so much to those around you. You give those children that we watch hope and love. And because that is what they need, they in turn, love, respect and admire you. You are beautiful to them and to Adam and me. You give your time to comfort and support those who have suffered the way you have, and that is beautiful."
"So please, Iris, please stay with us." Adam added. He had worked his way across the roof and was now standing in front of Iris. He slowly reached up and offered her his hand.
With baited breath, Joan watched as Iris reached out a trembling hand and grasped Adam's and stepped down off the ledge. Adam embraced her and supported her as she collapsed into his open arms as all her emotional restraints came crashing to the ground. Iris shed a tear for every bruise, every insult, every stab of pain that she had ever felt. Her body shook with the force of her sobs as Adam just held her, stroking her hair and rubbing her back. Tears of joy fell from his eyes as he realized that Iris really wasn't going to kill herself.
One more wet face watched as Adam soothed his torn friend. Joan sat down and leaned against the small brick building that encased the stairwell. Placing her face in her hands, she wept tears of relief and gratitude that Iris had decided not to give up on her life.
When Iris was able to support herself again, Adam placed one arm around her shoulders, his other hand gently clasping onto her arm, and guided her to the stairs.
Still hiccupping as she passed Joan, Iris managed to get two small words out of her mouth. "Thank you." Joan looked up and their eyes briefly met and then Iris and Adam descended the dark staircase.
Joan stayed where she was for another few minutes, thinking. 'What if I hadn't listened to God this time?' She had actually been complaining about getting grounded for skipping class and all the while Iris had been ready to end her life. Joan bowed her head as tears came again, realizing how selfish she had been.
"It's ironic how many people go through their lives without a fraction of the love that you and Adam just showed Iris."
Joan did not even attempt to reply as a teenage God, in His tan coat and blue jeans, sat down next to her and wrapped His arm around her shoulders.
"And fewer people recognize that love even when they do receive it. Both of those things happened here today and that, in short, is a miracle." God finished.
Joan met His eyes, letting the full meaning of the miracle that had just occurred really sink in. With all the energy she had left, she reached over and hugged God, whispering a heartfelt "thank you", so quiet that only He could have heard it.
"You're welcome, Joan. But now I'd better leave. Adam's coming back to get you and I don't think he'd appreciate this scene." Joan and God both gave half-hearted chuckles and then God stood up, breaking Joan's hug, and turned to walk down the stairs. Before He was completely hidden in the shadows of the stairwell, God turned back around and, offering a smile, left Joan with one last thought.
"Remember Joan, miracles really do happen," and then He was gone.
Joan sat just looking at the sky. A thin ray of sunlight had pierced the dismal gray clouds and seemed to be straining to give as much warmth to the earth as it could before it was forced back up into the atmosphere.
For the second time that day, Joan failed to notice Adam as he came towards her. His pulse quickened as he reached the top of the stairs and unwelcome images of Iris standing on that narrow ledge came flooding back into his mind. In a vain attempt to distract himself, he went to sit next to Joan. The sound of his shuffling clothes attracted Joan's attention. She turned and studied his profile as he gazed at the spot on the ledge where a catastrophe had just been averted.
Turning away, Joan asked the question foremost in her mind. "Where's Iris?"
Closing his eyes, Adam replied "I took her down to the counselor's office. I told them what just happened." He sneered then. "Basically, they told me that I had done enough and to go away so that the counselor could call her parents and they could all "talk" to Iris about what she had just thought about doing." Adam paused and ran a shaky hand through his wind-swept hair. "What would have happened if I hadn't come when you told me to? If you hadn't found her to begin with? She would have jumped. And it would have been all my fault." Adam's defenses collapsed and he just cried.
Joan turned and wrapped him in her arms, one hand holding his head against her chest, while the other stroked his back. She let him cry his heart out to her as she gently rocked back and forth, softly hushing him. After a few minutes, she slowly brought his head up so that she was looking into his watery eyes. She rested one hand on his cheek as her other hand came up and pushed some strands of hair off his knitted brow. Bringing both hands to his cheeks, she told him "No one but God knows how many things could have gone wrong today. I'm just grateful that they didn't. It's a miracle and I'll always be grateful for it."
As Joan finished, Adam embraced her, tears still slowly trickling down his cheeks. Silence reigned as they sat there clinging to each other, feeling the wordlessly offered support. "I'm sorry for yelling at you the way I did this morning," he whispered into her ear. "I over-reacted."
"No, it was my fault," Joan responded, pulling back so that she could look him in the face. "I never should have tried to blame you. I'm the one who has to say I'm sorry."
"Let's just say that we're both sorry and be done with it." Adam said, a half smile crossing his tired face. Feeling the pressure of the unseen weight of the day slowly lifting from his shoulders, Adam realized just how tired he was. Wiping away the last of his tears with the sleeve of his hoody, Adam turned to Joan. "Well, we'd better get out of here. I'm completely worn out. I definitely need to go home and relax."
"Yeah, but I can't go home. If my Mom comes home for lunch and finds me there without the usual trip to the office, she'll ground me on the spot, no questions asked." Joan sighed. Her brain was so exhausted that she didn't realize how simple it would be to explain her actions to her parents. Her thoughts were focused basically in the present, conversing with Adam was burning enough neurons already.
"I'm gonna be the only one home for a while. My dad is working evenings this week and won't be home for at least another six hours, so I guess you can come hang out at my place until after school lets out. At least then you might be able to get a word of explanation out as you walk through the door before they ground you."
"Sounds like a plan."
Adam stood up and seeing Joan's crutches thrown down close by, picked them up. He then offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet. "I'll carry that," he said and before she could even protest, Adam picked up her backpack and started down the stairs.
With one last glance back at the ledge, Joan turned and followed Adam down the stairs and out of the building, thanking God every step of the way for every miracle that he had ever given her.