The Quest for Skye: Chapter 37

Recap: Well, in the last chapter, Morgan hired two cruise ship gym workers to build a handicap-accessible zip line in the jungle. Then the gym workers got married. And I just kept saying, "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" On the plus side, we have this, then the final chapter two weeks from today. 

We open with a reminder that Skye is dying, which makes me go, "Yay!"

Morgan held Skye, so that the three of them could decorate a Christmas tree in her room.

The next sentence talks about her decorating the tree, so I think this means he's holding her up to put decorations on because he can't walk anymore, but it makes me think that he's holding her back because if he lets go she's just going to run rabidly at the tree and tear it down, and they just all want to decorate the tree in peace.

Skye has another near-death experience. She pulls through, but everyone is reminded yet again that Skye is dying. Presumably this reminds everyone once again to be working on a cure for Batten, because they only seem to remember that they're doing that right after Skye almost doesn't make it.

In the middle of the night, Skye wakes the Hamiltons up to say this:

“No, thank you. I need to tell you something really important. I was just talking to Jesus, and He asked me if there was anything in the world I wanted. I told him there was only one thing. [..] I don’t think I can tell you yet. It’s a secret between Jesus and me. But it’s a big surprise.”

Her big news is that she asked for something from God? But she won't tell them what? I'm going to start doing that all the time now. "Hey! Guess what? I'm going to do something today! But I won't tell you what it is! That's all I wanted to say!" Morgan and Tammy think Skye's not even really talking to Jesus, that her medication is making her hallucinate.

Once in a while, Skye would say something about her mother and father. She mentioned repeatedly that she’d been talking with them.

Does she just keep wandering up into heaven during all these near-death experiences?

Tammy put some color on her face, and a little foundation. She applied some lip gloss to her dried, cracked lips. Her mom brushed her hair, while Morgan read her favorite book to her.

There are entirely too many "her"s in these sentences, made even more confusing by suddenly referring to Tammy as "her mom." For a minute I thought Tammy's mom had shown up to brush Tammy's hair.

They made their way to the dining room. It was busy, but not a chipper place, as it usually was. Everyone walked around like something or someone was missing. The smiles were forced. It was obvious that everyone was worried about their friend, Skye.

See, here's the thing.

EVERY PATIENT HERE IS DYING.

It's not just all about Skye. Skye is maybe even going to die less soon than all these other girls, since she'd been getting the special medication.

There's something really horrific everyone being "chipper" about every single other little girl at the clinic dying, but only getting sad when Skye is about to be gone. Yes, I know Skye is the Messiah and all, but I just can't buy that, for example, all the other girls' parents are sadder about Skye dying than about their own children dying.

In the meantime, we suddenly break away from Morgan and Tammy's POV (for the first time since maybe that first chapter, so it's really jarring) and see Skye asking Dr. Rozak to let her videotape a secret message for the Hamiltons. Dr. Rozak agrees and leaves. She records her message (we don't get to hear what it is), puts the camera and a written message inside an envelope and makes Dr. Rozak promise to open it after she dies. I think. These are the instructions:

“I have a big job for you. You can open this after I die. [...] Don’t open the envelope until you’re supposed to. Then, you can read the letter.” 

“Skye, how will I know when to open it?” His expression showed his confusion. 

“You’ll know. Something extraordinary will happen. Now, don’t forget. We are looking for miracles here... that’s very important.” 

She looked at him, shaking her finger. “Not until the miracle happens, right?”

Wait, so is he supposed to open it after she dies? Or when a miracle happens? If a miracle happens before she dies, can he open it? If she dies, can he go ahead and open it, or does he need to wait for a miracle? If I were Dr. Rozak, I'd have been very confused. Although not at the point when he was confused.

"Open it after I die."

"Wait, what? When can I open it?"

"After a miracle."

"I UNDERSTAND NOW."

The days go by, and Skye scolds Tammy about not praying enough, so eventually Tammy goes to the chapel and prays emotionally.

Christmas Eve morning, Dr. Rozak wakes up Morgan to let him know that Skye's vitals are down. She's conscious and awake and asking for him. Skye sits with the Hamiltons for awhile, tells them not to be sad, to take care of her cat, makes Morgan promise to walk on the beach every morning, makes them both promise not to abandon the clinic. Then:

“Just remember if you ever need me, all you have to do is reach for the sky.”

Um. OK.

(Is that what she was doing in the creepy "everyone reach for the sky with me" scene on the cruise ship? Was she just needing dead people?)

She then starts talking to her real parents and tells Doctor L. L. she's going to go to heaven and fly a kite with him. And then she dies.

SKYE IS FINALLY GONE.

FINALLY.

Now we only have 2 more chapters of Morgan and Tammy being sad and having conversions and stuff. Oh, shoot, I forgot we have a video message they have to watch. So I guess Skye will show up at least once in these last two chapters. Dang it. I thought we were done with her forever. ALMOST.