One Day Soon by A. Meredith Walters

evening?” I asked.
    “He’s been in and out of consciousness. Dr. Howell came by just before he left for the day to update us on the blood work that came back. It wasn’t good. But the doc was going to wait and speak to Mr. Frazier when he was more lucid.”
    My stomach flipped over and my head felt fuzzy. “Not good? What did the tests say?”
    “His panels indicate that he has hepatitis B. We need to run more tests to see the extent of the disease and what the treatment options are, but Dr. Howell didn’t appear overly optimistic given the level of viral proteins in his blood and his already jaundiced skin. He needs to determine whether there’s damage to his liver and if so, how bad it is.”
    Michelle’s words seemed to come to me through a fog.
    “Hepatitis B,” I repeated. I had worked in a hospital long enough to know how serious that was.
    How potentially life threatening it could be if left untreated.
    “It’s so sad. But given his lifestyle, it’s not surprising.”
    His lifestyle.
    It seemed everyone in the damn hospital knew the unsavory facts of Yoss’s life. And that seriously pissed me off.
    I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.
    “I’m going to check on him before heading down to my office for a bit,” I told the nurse, who only nodded before turning back to the computer.
    I quietly entered the room and made my way over to the curtain, pulling it back as gently as I was able to. I peeked around the corner and was both relieved and disappointed that he was asleep.
    He had been so hateful earlier, I hadn’t necessarily wanted a repeat, but I was also almost desperate to see his green eyes again. I had missed how he used to look at me.
    Like I was everything.
    He was sick. And badly hurt. And a shadow of the man I used to know.
    What had happened to change him so much?
    I wanted to touch him.
    He had always hated physical contact. Which was understandable given the things he had gone through. But he had let me in.
    Yoss moaned in his sleep, his brow furrowing, his hands grasping for something only he could see.
    “Imi,” he half-sobbed, his eyes still closed.
    I sucked in a breath, my eyes blurring, my heart racing.
    “Imi,” Yoss moaned again. “Imi.”
    Over and over again he whispered my name as he slept.
    I couldn’t tell if my name was his prayer.
    Or his nightmare.

Fifteen Years Ago
    T wo weeks had passed since I had run away and Yoss had found me. And he hadn’t left my side for a moment.
    We woke up beside each other every morning. At first it had been awkward. At sixteen, I had never shared a bed with a boy. But things were different now.
    Milestones came with increasing frequency. Time simultaneously sped up and slowed down. Some things felt like they were happening so fast. Others felt like they were taking entirely too long.
    Feelings were heightened. I lived my life in a constant state of paranoia and hyper vigilance. I swung through manic states of excitement and anguish. There were times I couldn’t tell if I was coming or going.
    But Yoss was always there.
    Fourteen days. That’s how long it took to decide he was what I wanted. The only thing I needed.
    I had dated guys before. I had kissed. I had groped. I had once let a guy put his hands down my pants. I had lusted. I had desired.
    But I had never felt this out of control thing that now resided in the center of my chest.
    Sure, part of it was because Yossarian Frazier was beautiful. When he smiled, my heart galloped at full speed and when he touched me I tingled everywhere.
    The attraction I felt for him was intense. Overwhelming. But it was more than that.
    It was something else. Something deeper. Something I had never known or felt.
    I couldn’t be positive he felt the same way. Sometimes I thought he did. I would catch him looking at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. He would roll onto his side after the sun had set and I felt his eyes on me, heavy and protective.
    But he never pushed for