Finna Tarellie always knew love grew from the heart, but what happens when it's all in your mind?
Coma Coast is the story about two people meeting and falling in love while both are comatose, only to lose each other when one awakens
Jules’s end-of-July, gala summer’s bash and pool party kept Finna busy. She helped with the planning, handwriting in calligraphy over a hundred invitations. The day of the Hawaiian- themed party, she helped Georgette and Trudi with the cleaning, and set the table up for the caterers. As she removed the family photos from the buffet table, she fingered the ornate design on the frames, searching the faces in each picture. Jules’s grandmother, with her snow-white hair and large green eyes was so beautiful; and the parents, embracing each other lovingly on the Austrian Alps, gave her a surge of envy.
She had only a handful of family photos, most of them lost or damaged in the many moves her folks made throughout the years. What kept a family together, and what destroyed them? Jules’s father made his fortune in oil, and he was able to buy his family anything they dreamed. Was it money that made the family unit thrive, kept them happy? Somehow she doubted it, although Jules lacked for nothing and seemed quite content. It was the interaction between Jules and her parents that made the difference. Mr. Helmond called several times a week, just to talk, taking time from his busy schedule to make his daughter feel loved and missed. And Mrs. Helmond was always making trips to visit, interested in Jules’s accomplishments and enjoying her daughter’s company. It was no wonder Jules was such a caring young woman. What would Finna have done all these months without her friend by her side?
After Finna finished helping with the party preparations, there was just enough time before the guests arrived to get back to her own quarters, shower and dress. She pulled her wet curls up into a high ponytail and applied a coat of Carmel Kiss lipstick. Surveying herself in the large, lighted mirror above the jade, marble sink, she traced the thin, white line on her forehead with the tip of her finger. The scar was the only reminder of the accident left on her body. “With immense precision, I might add,” she whispered his exact words.
The thought of him made her gasp, coming to her rescue, and sewing her back together. His memory, so strong, so clear, made her heart pound as she slipped on the yellow sundress she chose to wear. The cool silk hugged each curve, the pale color a stunning contrast against her dark hair.
She was introduced to a lawyer, a few accountants, and several financial advisers, Jules being the perfect hostess.
“This is a great way to network your paintings, Finna,” Jules commented while filling her dish with shrimp salad. She tasted a spoonful and rolled her eyes. “Mmm, this is heavenly.” Jules looked up at her friend and sighed. “I’d love to be tall and graceful, like you Finna. You have such a wild beauty, and right now you look sexier than hell in that bright yellow sundress. God, it just clings to your slender form. I envy the willowy women.” Self-consciously she patted the slight bulge around her middle. “Tomorrow I’ll start my diet,” she promised.
Finna just nodded, she had heard that decision before. “You’re fine the way you are, Jules.”
Ignoring Finna’s comment, Jules waved to a man across the room. “I promised I’d help you in your search for your dream man,” she said, motioning for the man to join them. “I believe Professor Adam Kendall is exactly the person to help you, Finna.”
The Professor’s smile was easy, his eyes searching her face. He held out his hand when Jules introduced him. “Nice to meet you, Miss Tarellie.”
“Please, call me Finna,” she said, blushing slightly under his scrutiny.
Jules smiled, and looked from side to side at each of her friends. “Why don’t you two go out onto the veranda, where it’s quieter,” she promoted, pushing Finna toward the glass doors.
Once away from the commotion of the party, Finna walked to the edge of the deck. She leaned against the rail and inhaled the night air.
He walked over to her, and took a deep breath as well. “I needed a bit of air myself.”
She looked up at the stars filling the night sky. “Beautiful, aren’t they?”
He followed her gaze, and nodded in agreement. “One of your star pieces hangs in my office. I’ve become quite fond of it, actually.”
“That’s something an artist loves to hear.” She admired his profile, clean-shaven and strong, just the right amount of graying around the temple. “What are you a professor of?”
“Physic phenomena. Are you a believer?”
“Never was before, but recently . . .”
He arched an inquiring brow. “Something has happened to change your mind?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Confused me more than anything, and troubled me for sure.”
He cocked his head sideways. “There is a reason Jules introduced us, other than wanting us to become acquainted, isn’t there?”
She nodded slowly.
He motioned to a patio chair. “Care to sit and tell me? Perhaps I can shed some light on whatever matter troubles you.”
She took the chair he offered. “It’s such a strange situation; I don’t even know where to begin.”
“At the beginning would be best,” he said patiently.
She cast her gaze to the hands she held clutched in her lap. “Quite frankly, Professor, I’m afraid you’ll think I’m nuts.”
He placed his finger under her chin and raised it. “Then I should have been committed long ago, Finna, for what I believe.”
She giggled softly, relaxed, and began to tell him about the accident and Brice.
He listened carefully, nodding his head now and then while she spoke, staying silent with an opinion until she was finished.
“But when Jules and the nurses told me I was in a coma all that time, I didn’t understand how what I thought happened, could have,” she concluded. “It was all so real, though. I just know deep inside all that I experienced with Brice did happen.”
“I have no doubt that it did.”
Her face brightened. “Really?”
He chuckled lightly. “Really.”
She frowned. “But how?”
“What you have described to me is something called ESD, or Energy Sensory Disbursement,” he explained. “Sort of a heightened out of body experience.”
Her frown deepened. “I don’t understand.”
“Humans posses a range of dormant powers of which they aren’t even aware. Experiences of these latent powers occur accidentally, as in your case, or to those who learn the necessary procedures as to how to use them.”
She relaxed back in her seat, and listened intently to his every word; the explanation consumed her interest. “What are these powers?”
He took a pipe from his jacket pocket and lit it, taking a few puffs before he spoke again. “Clairvoyance, precognition, and telepathy, to name a few.
“You mean I could just start knowing what’s going to happen?”
He chuckled again. “Well, no... it’s not that easy, Finna. Our psychic powers have atrophied from neglect because past generations were conditioned to believe non-ordinary states were psychotic, evil, and abnormal; those who even spoke of such things were classed as insane or Satanic. What was your first reaction?”
“That I’d sound nuts.”
“There, you see?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Point taken.”
He took another long draw on his pipe, the smoke circling above his head. “And so we’ve gradually lost these powers for fear of retribution, or perhaps believing they’re no longer needed. But we do need them, and will continue to do so for the achievement of our human potential and evolution.”
A thousand thoughts flew around in her head. “What exactly do you think happened to me?”
“Well, let’s see.” He narrowed his eyes and slowly stroked his chin. “What I perceive happened here are that the neurons, even though they had nothing to command, remained active in the brain but separate from the body. Most times just a dreamlike state would occur with the brain waves remaining within the body. But sometimes in a very creative brain, the energy may disburse into the atmosphere and adhere itself to the energy of another brain, equally as creative, experiencing the same phenomenon. Together they thrive off each other, and actually live as though their bodies were along as well.”
Finna instantly thought of the night her and Brice made love, their bodies coming together in fulfillment... bodies that weren’t really along for the ride.
Chills went down her spine. “So what you’re saying is that Dr. Lang could be real?”
“Yes, there is that chance.” He searched her face. “And you’ve fallen in love with him, haven’t you?”
She could feel her cheeks turning a vivid crimson. She stood and walked to the far side of the veranda, gazing again up at the stars. “Yes,” she admitted. “But I have no idea how to find him.”
He came to stand beside her. “Have you tried?”
She shook her head. “Where would I even begin?”
“Put his name in the computer search engine. If he’s a doctor, he’s got to be somewhere in a medical database. And if he connected with you while you were in a coma, than there’s a good chance he was in one too, or still is. Do a search on coma victims - - his name and whereabouts might pop up.”
She took a deep breath, trying to still the butterflies in her stomach. “You really believe this could have happened... that it’s all true?”
He smiled warmly. “Yes, I do, but there is something more important here than what I believe.”
“And what would that be?” she asked eagerly.
He placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. “What you believe, Finna.”
