Since Then

~1~ The Awakening

Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
That's when I woke up, thinking it was my alarm clock. Instead, I woke up in a plain white room, on a plain white bed. I've just realized something...
I'm in a hospital.

And I'm not alone, there's a guy, that I don't know, sitting on a chair to my left of the bed. We stared at each other, with the beeping in the background. He has olive skin, short curly brown hair, and his eyes has a mixture of green on the outside and brown on the inside.

He cupped his hand onto my right cheek with watery eyes, "Amber Hollen, everything is gonna be alright, don't worry." And with that, he left.

What a jerk, he should've said goodbye or at least tell me his name.
How does he know my name? Who is he? Why is he here? What does he seem so famili-
The doctor interrupts my thoughts by walking into the room, "Hello..." He pauses to look at his clipboard, "Amber Hollen, how are you feeling?"
I reply, "I'm feelin' good...I guess."

The doctor nods as he writes on his clipboard, "I'm Dr. Bolland." He pauses to show his name tag, "I am going to make a few calls for you in a minute, but I need you to tell me the last thing you can remember."
I take a breath and the doctors prepares his pen on paper.
Gosh. I need some time to collect memories here.
Dr. Bolland must've read my mind because he says, "Take your time, Amber. I'm not expecting you to remember everything."

It took me at least 6 minutes to remember something. I suck in my breath, somewhat alerting Dr. Bolland, "Ready?"
Yep.
"Ready or not?" Dr. Bolland asks again.
I didn't realize that my voice didn't come out so, I mouth the word "water" and the doctor goes out the door and comes back with a small paper cup of water. I took a big gulp as a handed me the cup.

Boy, am I that thirsty?

"Good grief!" I exclaimed, trying to sound like Charlie Brown.
"Tell me the last thing you can remember."

I suck in my breath, "I was on my way home on a school bus."

~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°~

"And then, everything blacked out." I finished.

"Thank you ma'am. I'll be back from making some calls so, a nurse will come get you some food. Are you picky on food? Dr. Bolland asked, scratching behind his ear.

Sort of...

"Not really... I don't like nuts." I replied.

"Will be back then." He said just before he left, leaving me alone.

Finally, fooood!

My eyes search around the room and landed on a teal vase of, my favorite flowers, cherry blossoms... Which are looking dead and is sitting in front of the the window. Leaning onto the vase is a note. Unfortunately, it's to far away for me to read it.
Then, I heard a knock.

"Come in!' I hollered.

The door creaked open and a nurse came walking in with a tray of my food.

"Here 'ya go!" She said before handing the tray to me, "I just gave you whole grain pesto curly noodles with tomatoes, apples with fat-free carmel as a dip, and grilled garlic asparagus," she paused to grab a little bed table for me to eat on. "And here's your fat-free chocolate milk."

"Thanks!" I said, remembering my manners.

"No problem dear! Your doctor wants me to tell you that he just called your mother and she'll be here in a hour and half." She pauses to adjust her bracelet, "Is there anything you want before I leave?"

I look over to the window, at the flowers, pointing towards that direction, "Those flowers including the note." I requested. The nurse just simply brings the vase and the note before leaving the room.

I chowed down my lunch (or is it dinner?) a lot faster then I expected. As soon as I finished, I tear open the envelope with eager. Taking out the letter, I immediately recognized the handwriting.

Mom's handwriting.

The letter says:
"Dear sweetest Amber,
I hope this would be the first thing you read as soon as you wake up. I just want to let you know that I'll always be there no matter what happens to you. And when I'm gone, I know you're gonna miss me by my walk and by my talk. But when I'm gone, I want you to hold chin up and be strong on the outside and the inside too!
I Love you with all my heart, Mom"
I chuckled at Mom's movie reference but I teared up shortly afterwards.

I look at the vase, with tears streaming down my cheeks. I noticed that there's another note attached to the branch of the dried up cherry blossom. I used my freehand to unfold the note without removing it.
The note says:
"Hey Amber, I know how much you love the Japanese culture so, I bought you these cherry blossoms. They won't last long anyways." - Jason 12/25/14

That's so sweet!
Wait...
Who's Jason?
Wait...
This letter was written on the Christmas of 2014!
What day is it today?

Someone knocks on the door, "Come in!" I hollered. The door creaks open and a familiar blue eyes meets my brown eyes.

Mom's blue eyes.