Dream with Me ✔️

The End is Only the Beginning

Epilogue...

This was not how my story was supposed to end, or rather begin. They tell me over and over how lucky I am to have stayed alive despite the circumstance. I want to tell them I wasn't alive, I was dead and in hell. I always thought hell to be a fiery red place with physical torturings as being the worst punishment you can receive, I've never been more wrong.

As it turns out, what's worse than physical torture is hope. I had hope that my dream life was coming true just to have it explode right in my face back into reality. I should have seen it coming, anyone else would have.

I think I get it now, I do. This was the universe's way of punishing me, punishing me for taking everything for granted. So in return, they gave me a false reality that I thought to be forever and took it away from me when I became too comfortable. To add the icing on the cake, they left me back at square one...

"Aurora? Aurora can you hear me? Hello? Aurora do you understand us? Do you know who you are?" Multiple voices come at me at once, a couple I recognize, a couple I don't. My vision slowly starts to clear itself up, I can see silhouettes of everyone but they remain slightly blurry. My body feels heavy, like a thousand bricks are piling on top of me stopping me from being able to move. My instinct is to reply to all the questions that are being asked of me but my mouth is glued shut.

All I can do is shift my eyes around and barely make an audible noise with my vocal cords, but it seems like it's more than enough for everyone. A rather tall Asian man and shorter Hispanic woman which I'm able to click as my parents rush over to me. The woman comes down to hug me which makes me panic, unsure of this gesture. Though before she can fully embrace me she gets pulled away by the man. He's whispering things to her which causes her face to fall, her already distressed tear-stained face even worse.

I freak out.

100 days, post coma:

"Theo. I want Theo." I cry out, my throat burning in pain as I utter the few words. My voice comes out as scratchy and hoarse, still not used to talking for however long. They won't tell me how long I was in the coma, they won't tell me anything. All I know is that it was for a long time.

I lay on my side, it was only possible because I had nurses helping me. My body doesn't work anymore. Any movement I make takes all of the little energy I have and all the time in the world. I can barely lift my hand, I can't walk, I need help switching sleep positions. I'm a living corpse.

"She keeps saying that name Austin." I can hear my mother attempt to whisper, she's horrible at it. I'm turned facing away from people, not wanting to see any of them. I only want to see one person. "Who even is Theo?"

I cry even harder hearing his name coming out of somebody else's mouth. My heart physically hurts, it hurts so much to not be able to see him. I just want him by my side, I want to apologize to him for the argument. I want to be back at the field watching the stars with him, to hear his laughs when I fail miserably trying to name the constellation. I want to hug him, to kiss him, for him to tell me I'll be okay.

"Maya." I can hear the warning tone in my father's voice. "Not here." I can hear shuffling and footsteps walking further from me until the sound of the door closes.

"Theo is..." The walls are paper-thin, I can hear them. "...a figment of her imagination. Her brain must have made him up in the coma."

My blood runs cold after hearing him say that. How could he even say such a thing? Theo is real, he's real, there's no possible way I could have made him up all by myself. I know him, inside and out. I know what he likes and dislikes, where he was from, his family, I know everything.

"He's real... He's real." I start chanting to myself, my voice cracking at every word. The door opens again in the middle of me muttering to myself and both of them come into view. My mother looks like a complete wreck. Her face is sunken in with dark eye bags underneath her eyes. Her skin looks dull and the long black hair tied up is all frizzy and messy.

Right beside her is my father who looks significantly much better than her. He has a white coat on with his last name on it, wearing a perfectly ironed dress shirt and pants. They told me I'm in Los Angeles, the hospital where my father works. They told me I've been here for three months. That's all I know.

"Aurora honey, this Theo person isn't here. But your father and I are, so please just, just talk to us, call our name." There's worry lines etched on her face, her eyes begging me in desperation to listen to her. "Is it that hard to say our names?"

My heart tugs at the sight of her feeling so distressed, but my desperation for Theo overpowers it. I say nothing to her.

There's a beep that echoes the room, my father pulls out a small device from his pocket, looking at it with a frown. "I have to see a patient, I will come back up when I can." He puts a reassuring hand on my mother's shoulder but gives her a look in which she lets out a sigh and nods at him. He offers me a smile to which I don't return before rushing out of the room.

My mother sits down on the cushioned seat next to my bed, putting a hand on my own. I have to fight the instinct to shake it off, knowing it must be bringing her some kind of comfort... I want comfort too.

"I want Theo," I whisper to her, knowing she doesn't like it but I have to say it. Her face completely falls before hardening, a look of determination in her eyes.

"Aurora," she says calmly, putting on a fake smile. "Aurora, Theo is not real, you made him up darling."

I narrow my eyes at her, feeling the anger course through my veins. My hand moves around stiffly, trying to get her own off of mines. I no longer care for her feelings. She doesn't know what she's talking about.

"No." I grit my teeth, wanting to explode on her but not having the voice to do so. "He's real, I know him. He's real-"

"Stop it!" She abruptly gets out of her chair, letting the legs screech against the flooring. I'm taken aback by her loudness and sudden actions, feeling scared. "Aurora, he is not real!" She cries out, tears welling in her eyes. "You made him up, you made everything up! You've been in a coma for over a year, your brain got so messed up it created a false reality for you! You need to be back in the real world, now!"

I start crying again. No matter how hard I try, I can't process what she just told me, any of it. This can't be true. I couldn't have made everything up, I couldn't have lost a year of my life, I couldn't. This isn't true.

As if she realized what she'd done she falls to the ground, immediately uttering out apologies to me. "I'm sorry Aurora, oh god, I'm so sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

I can't register her apologies, my head hurts, it's pounding in the back of my head. I hear an annoying beep start going off louder and faster, making my headache worse. I sob even louder at the thought of Theo might not be real.

"I want him!" I cry out, unsure if the words coming out of my mouth are audible from my hyperventilation. "He's real. I need him." The heavy sobs coming from me drowns out all the other voices in the room, I can't register anything going on.

I don't realize a nurse had come rushing in until I see her right in front of me injecting something in my iv bag. Almost instantly my sobs start to die down and I feel a sudden urge to close my eyes. The nurse and my mother start to get blurry, I can see their mouths moving but hear nothing.

My last thoughts before passing out consists of Theo.

He's real, I know so. I know everything about him as he knows everything about me. He saved me, he got me to live a life I would never regret. He's out there, I know he is.

A memory of him pops up in my mind. "Find me when you wake up," he said, his honey eyes staring straight into my soul.

We are not forever, we are eternity.