Tears by Francine Pascal Read Free Book Online Page B

music. He grinned through the agony as he began his journey back across the bars—moaning with every aching maneuver and loving every minute of it. He focused on the goals, the final results of all this torture: walking down the street without anyone staring at him for a change, getting on the bus via the
front
door, a dance with Heather, a walk with Gaia, anything else with Gaia...just standing next to Gaia....
    And then he felt something.
    Something big. Something he definitely hadn’t felt before.
    There was a huge tingling sensation running down his
entire
left leg.
    He shook the leg ever so slightly—
which is to say, his brain told the leg to shake, and the leg
shook.
    â€œHoly shit!” Ed screamed.
    â€œWhat’s up, dude?” Brian yelled back with a massive grin. “Did you feel something? Tell me you freakin’ felt something,
baby!
”
    But Ed was too jubilant for words. The pain was forgotten. It was happening. It was actually happening! It wasn’t a dream; it wasn’t an illusion. He’d moved his legs! A wave of sheer ecstasy washed over him as he realized the truth—that the surgery
had
been a success, that his work
was
paying off, that he would and could
walk again
... that Brian was truly a genius.
    â€œI...!”
    And then Ed stopped himself. He stopped himself cold, before he let himself utter another word. At that moment all the ecstasy spilled out of his body—as swiftly as if a plug had been pulled. He was left with a numb void. A black hole in the center of his chest. Because he couldn’t tell Brian what had just happened. He couldn’t tell anyone. The only person he could tell probably didn’t even want to hear it. And for one splitsecond Ed truly hated Heather—for the lies, for the deception, for the promises she’d forced on him.
    She’d just robbed him of one of the most amazing moments of his life.
    â€œEddie?” Brian growled over the music. “Did you feel something?”
    In spite of everything inside him, against all his better judgment, Ed managed to shake his head. “No,” he said almost inaudibly. “I thought I did....”
    â€œWhat?” Brian squawked. “Well, if you thought you did, you
did
.”
    â€œNo,” Ed insisted.
The pain returned a hundredfold.
His entire body weakened. His arms began to shake from holding up all his body weight. So Ed let himself collapse to the ground. He didn’t know what else to do. He was barely conscious of tumbling to the floor. Brian flipped off the music and helped Ed back to his feet, helping him get a grip on the parallel bars.
    â€œWell, let’s keep moving, dude,” Brian shouted. “We’ll get there, bro—”
    â€œNo,” Ed interrupted. “I’m tired, Brian. I think I’ve got to stop for today.”
    There was a long silence. Brian stared at him. Ed could feel Brian’s disappointment; the guy wasn’t one to conceal his emotions. It made Ed sick with humiliation. This was the first sign of negativity Ed had ever shown, and Brian knew it was nothing like him.
Ofall the goddamn irony in the world. . . the greatest thing yet had just happened — and he felt worse than he’d ever felt.
All thanks to Heather.
    â€œOkay,” Brian said simply. He didn’t scream. He almost sounded like a normal human being, which was somehow deeply upsetting. “Hey. We all get tired, Eddie. Maybe you’ll feel better tomorrow.”
    â€œMaybe,” Ed mumbled, unable to look him in the eye.
    Brian grabbed his coat and headed for the door. He wasn’t one for long good-byes, but this one was particularly short.
    â€œLater,” Brian said. His footsteps faded down the hall.
    Ed gripped the parallel bars, shaking with frustration, staring at his wheelchair in the hall. His feelings for Heather usually ran so deep.
    But not at this moment.
    No, right now Ed was just seething with