Falling Through The Surface *Completed*

Layla- Crystal

Gertrude to the side....

I heard Mom, her high sweet voice pushed through the darkness that engulfed me. The words were unintelligible, but they gave me strength. I felt light pressure against my hand and tried with all my willpower to grab her fingers. My ring finger twitched, and then I was overwhelmed with exhaustion, her voice was swallowed along with the rest of my awareness.

Everything was numb, dark, heavy. I struggled against the blackness, but I knew I didn't move a muscle in real life although I was thrashing in my mind.

I tried to pull up faces, reasons to keep on fighting. There was a pit in this blackness, it was darker than everywhere else. I was slowly being pushed towards it. I didn't know how I knew, but I did. If I fell I would die. I slammed against the wall of blackness, and in return it pushed me another inch towards the pit.

All reality was leaving me. I struggled to find an incentive, something that would ignite my will to fight harder. I couldn't pull up anything. My grip on the real world was slipping, along with my feet as I pushed back against the wall.

I was so tired. In curiosity I walked to the very edge of the pit, peering down into it. I saw shadows and solid darkness. I turned around in horror, and gasped. The wall was directly behind me.

It moved. I opened my mouth to scream and braced myself against it. It pushed me forwards, my shoes scraping against the ground. I closed my eyes.

I couldn't die. Mom, Dad, Julie, Danny, Karsen, Bradley......

My toes were over the edge. I felt a shadow wrap around one of my shoes teasingly.

Tony, I thought. Fire flew through my veins. My whole body lit up, the shadow around my foot cringed away as I began to glow. The pit was still inky black but I turned my back to it. I put both my gold hands to the wall and shoved. It flew back, I ran to it, laughing. This time I placed my foot against it and pushed it. It dissapeared to reveal a white light. I darted to it. The light kissed me, and pulled me right back into my body.

I wiggled my fingers and flexed my ankles. I smiled, and opened my eyes. White light streamed in from the hospital windows onto my white sheets warming me up, and the windows were open letting a delicious warm breeze in.

Nobody was here, and that surprised me. Only moments ago my Mom was here, urging me to wake up. I was stiff all over and groaned slightly. The door opened and I froze. Karsen walked in. He looked nice. He had his hair brushed to the side, it was longer, almost shaggy. He had on a crisp white shirt and vest over it. He held a boquet of flowers in his hand, and I watched as the door opened and a girl walked in beside him. She was small, smaller than me. Her face was like a dew drop. She had stark black hair framing her heart shaped face and big wide blue eyes framed with the longest lashes. She moved with grace, her walk was fluid each step rolling into the other like a dance. A small dress hugged her before flaring out at the waist.

They were holding hands, their fingers linked. He finally turned to me and his eyes widened. He dropped her hand and rushed to the bed.

"Layla! You're awake. How long havw you been up? Why didn't you call me? Did the nurses bring you anything? Do you need anything?" He got in close, his brown eyes wide and earnest.

I laughed ad shoved his face away gently," I just woke up, Karsen. Calm your nipples." He laughed under my hand at that statement ad pulled up to his feet and opened his arms leaning towards me. I opened mine and he hugged me gently, being careful of all the cords attatched to me. I frowned and began to jerk all the stuff out of my arm.

Karsen groaned,"You're not supposed to be doing thay, Layla." He protested.

I pulled out the last one and ripped the cone from around my neck,"I'm fine." I said and slid off the bed. My legs objected and wobbled under me. Karsen caught my waist. And sat me back down.

I didn't try to stand again, and instead finally felt the glare of the girl. She was no longer small and innocent as she glowered at me. Karsen went to her.

"Layla, this is Gertrude. Gertrude, Layla." She didn't soften her expression towards me and I smirked at her,"Hey Gert." I greeted and she sneered.

"Don't call me that." She spat, my eyes narrowed and we entered an enternal stare off. Karsen looked like he had no idea what to do as we fought with out eyes. Finally she smiled and came over," I'm glad we have an understanding." She said, her voice was like tinkling glass.

I grinned back and we hugged. Karsen was baffled," What did I miss?" He exclaimed and we giggled.

I stood again. This time my legs were steady. I looked out the window, the trees were green.

I tried to stay calm,"How long have I been out?" I asked. Karsen came next to me,"A little over 4 months." He informed,"It's the end of April."

I panickes, Tony. If Karsen had found enough time to get a girl than Tony could have too.

"How has everyone been?" I asked, praying he would talk about Tony.

He aighed."Well, we all used to come daily. I still do. We would stay all day. Everyone was very hopeful because you moved when your mom came, but more and more time passed and we had to move on. I was going to be expelled if I missed any more school, so I went back. Bradley refused to leave though. He started taking online classes and came all visiting hours. Actually, I'm surprised he's not here. The only reason he wouldn't be here is because he's with Julie. Oh, by the way, they're together now. Your Mom and Dad got back together just after you passed out and about two months after you were out they renewed their vows. We basically all got on with life, waiting for you to wake up."

My heart pained. Did Tony forget about me? I had to know.

"What about Tony?" I queried, trying to keep my voice light. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his face grow troubled.

"Ok; I lied. We didn't all get on with life. Layla, Tony is a wreck. He refused to visit you ever since heard you were in a coma. I think he started drinking. The last time I saw him he was crying by the woods."

Oh, no.

"I have to see him." I said desperately.

3 days later:

I rushed our of the house, calling goodbye to my mom. The time had ticked by dreadfully slow, I waited to be discharged. They had to check everything. I was fine. My legs were finally up to shape after a couple days of physica therapy. I would have to continue some excersises here.

I took my car and drove around before going to the forest. Karsen told me he goes to the crash sight everyday. I pulles over to the side, the road was scarred from the car crash. I waited.

Just like Karsen said, Tony appeared,he was dirty and instead of drving like I thought, he came out of the forest looking as if he had been in there quite a while. His hair was longer. He had a beer bottle. He was weeping silently. My mouth dried up and my heart took off as my eyes drank him in.

I got out of the car, he didn't notice. I walked until I was about 5 yards away from him before stopping. A light rain began to drizzle, it wasn't cold though. It wasn't heavy enough to soak me, but my hair was damp.

I stared at him, my mouth opening,"Tony." I whispered, so quietly I thought he wouldn't hear me, but his head snapped up and I stared into his chocolate eyes. His mouth opened and he said my name. I ran towards him and his arms opened just as I jumped into them. He grabbed my legs and held me up and we kissed right there on the road in the mist. He couldn't stop saying my name as we broke apart and just hugged. He whispered how much he missed me.

And then after a moment he slipped a cool ring on my finger. My engagement ring. It was beautiful. I smiled at his hopeful face and said yes.

We kissed again.