A Coma? They weren't dreams I was experiencing. The nurses all moved around me, removing some wires and adjusting others. I didn't move, I was trying to process everything. I was trying to come to terms with that fact that everything I had felt was nothing but a story my subconscious had mad up to keep my mind alive.
Mom and Ashton stood in the corner, I could see them talking but I couldn't make out what they were saying. The nurses finally stopped fussing around me "It's good to have you back, Chloe" One smiled at me, she looked strangely familiar. Her copper hair pulled back into a tight pony tail, it dawned on me
"Jasmine?" I croaked
She smiled "You do remember me telling you my name"
I nodded, not quite how I remember her. She took a note of my vitals and left the room. Ashton didn't even look at her, I needed to remind myself that everything that happened was only in my head, I needed to rehabilitate myself to the real world. Mom and Ashton walked over to me, they smiled and took my hands as they had done for the past. "How you feeling baby?" Mom ran her thumb over the back of my hand.
"Confused" I admitted "Coming to terms with what's real now and what wasn't"
"Must've been a crazy time" Ashton laughed "You said some pretty crazy things every now and then. Whose Oliver?"
I felt my face heat in embarrassment, did I really have to tell them? I decided I probably should, it might help them to understand why I am feeling the way that I am. I launched into an explanation from right at the start until the very last second, I didn't miss a detail, I remembered everything so vividly. I watched Ashton's face fall as I recounted the part where he had cheated on me, I couldn't imagine it was hard hearing that my mind had made up this completely crazy other world. My mom watched with sadness in her face as I spoke of everything that happened, I had finished explaining to them before realising I had no idea why I was here in the first place.
"Why am I even here?" I looked between them both "Where's dad and Henry?"
"Oh" mom suddenly choked up as I asked this, her grip tightened on my hand. I looked at Ashton who sighed "Chloe, there is a lot we need to tell you"
Mom suddenly took a step back; her hands over her face. I could see she was trying to hide her tears from me as I laid there "I'm sorry Chloe" she sniffed "This should've been easier than it is"
"What?" My confusion was irritating me "Where are they? Will you please just tell me?!"
"Chloe" Ashton soothed me, placing a kiss on my forehead. I laid back on the bed that had been positioned so that I was sat. I was tired, despite being asleep for nearly seven months; my body felt exhausted. Every part of me was aching.
Ashton took a deep breath before laughing into an explanation.
"Do you remember going for a drive, to the coast with your dad and brother?" He asked me, I shook my head in answer.
"I think you're about to" He sighed "First of September last year, before we moved across the country to pursue our careers, you went on a drive to the coast with your dad and Henry. Your mom and I were preparing a leaving party for you back home-"
As Ashton spoke it was like my memories started coming back to me, I remembered the morning we had decided to go. Henry jumped down the stairs, excited to have a day out. I remember us waiting at the door, saying goodbye to mom as we piled in the car. I had called shotgun on the way there, much to Henry's annoyance he climbed into the back.
We set off for the coast, I knew this was a way of trying to persuade me to stay, knowing I would miss the Florida sun when I moved to Montana in the next few days.
In my coma world, we were already living in Montana, and I was moving out of there.
We arrived at the coast and began our day, Henry and I were like big kids. We had the best day, on the beach, in the sea, getting ice cream, and finally sitting on the sea wall to watch the sun set. I could see dark clouds looming in the distance, normally this was bad news. I pointed them out to dad who promised we had nothing to worry about, we sat for a few more hours until it was dark, the rain started falling and it was time to go.
Henry called shotgun as we drove home, the rain started getting heavier and lightning started flashing in the sky above. I remember telling dad that we should've left earlier. I could see he was worried; the storm was worsening the further we drove. Henry suggested pulling over for the night, but dad was determined to get home.
The last thing I remember is the lightning illuminating the road in front, there was a car on the other side. It had lost control on the flooded roads, I watched in horror, Henry screaming at dad to try and avoided it. But it was too late, the cars struck. And everything went black.
"Just like in the coma" I sighed, Ashton nodded "They said that it was possible that you would be remembering things whilst out. Your dad and Henry... They...Well they didn't make it"
"What?" I heard the heart monitor begin to start picking up as I heard this "Henry... Henry's dead?"
"Chloe" Mom took my hand "Chloe darling, it's okay"
"No" I shook my head; I could feel panic rising in me "No! No they're not- You're lying!"
I began to try and pull the wires off me, refusing to accept that my dad and brother had in fact died. Mom took my hands, I looked at her. Her eyes were tired and heavy as she pleaded me to calm down "We had their funeral six months ago, when they found the car, I say car but it was completely mangled. Henry was pronounced dead at the scene along with the other driver. Your dad passed away on the way to the hospital. It was very touch and go with you for a long time. Your heart stopped beating four times whilst you were out. You were unconscious when they found you, you had multiple surgeries as you arrived here. It was after your surgery that you went into a coma."
She took a calming breath before continuing "You kept coming round, almost like you were going to come out of it...But you just went straight back in"
"I know" I sighed "I would have dreams, well I thought they were dreams, where I would see this, I would see you. I could hear you voices, both of you every now and then"
I looked at Ashton, I remembered us. I remembered our lives together, we had been together seven years, much the same as my coma-land. Our plan to move away, Ashton was a construction engineer and I was a history teacher in high school. Ashton had asked me to marry him last June, that was almost a year ago, I had missed almost a year of our lives together. He had sat by my bed each day just waiting for me to wake up, another memory came crashing back to me, my hands flew to my stomach. August last year I remember us both sat in the bathroom of our apartment, I sat on the toilet whilst Ashton leant against the wall beside me. Neither of us speaking as we waited those two minutes, the alarm on Ashton's phone made us both jump. I remember picking the test up with shaking hands, Ashton leant over me as I turned it round to face me.
Positive.
I remember the tears we cried, remembering that we had been trying for a baby for the past year. Remembering that I had previously suffered three miscarriages prior to this.
"Ashton?" My voice choked as my fingers gripped the robe around my tummy, he took my hand and squeezed it "I'm sorry"
I knew that meant I had lost another, the sadness filled my heart. Mom ran her hand down my arm "Baby, it's okay"
I nodded, not knowing what to say. There was nothing I could do now. I could only mourn the loss of yet another baby that would've been. I looked at Ashton again, I could see the sadness "I'm sorry"
"You have nothing to be sorry for" He leant over and kissed me, it was like this kiss brought back everything. Kissing him re-ignited my brain and brought back every memory of my life. I remembered everything, this was real. This was my real life.
Memories of Oliver, became less clear as I remembered my life. I looked down at my body. "What happened to me?"
"You were cut up pretty badly, you needed a total of two thousand stitches. You were found with a shard of glass in your thigh, your head was cut open pretty bad. There was glass in your stomach that's why... Well that's why you lost the baby" Mom squeezed my hand as she recounted "You were extremely lucky, the MRI scans showed no sign of lasting brain damage. Your body recovered quickly but your brain had locked you down so you could heal. You were so bruised and broken, large stitches lined your body, dark bruises all over you"
I took a deep breath and pushed the blanket off of me, under my robe I could see the start of a large scar, it started on the inside of my knee. I pulled the robe up and watched as he continued up the inside of my thigh, it stopped halfway. I pulled my gown back down, not ready to see any more of my injuries. Ashton leant into my ear "you're still the sexiest women alive to me"
I smiled and kissed him before the nurses came back in, they explained that they had to run through a few things with me. Mom and Ashton left the room. They sat around my bed, showing me images of x-rays of my body, MRI images of my brain and graphs showing my brain activity during the coma.
They explained the side effects I would experience now after being out for so long, I would need to have physio to help strengthen my muscles, it was likely I would struggle to walk. They were amazed at how I still had complete use of my arms after so long. I took in as much as I could, I felt as though I was being bombarded with more information than my brain could comprehend.
All I really knew; Oliver was nothing but an apparent figment of my imagination. Everything I had experienced was my brain's way of preserving me while I healed. Ifelt relieved that it wasn't happening in my real life, everything I had felt,felt so real. I remember the pain in my chest as he was taken out that cell, Iremember the feel of his lips on mine. The sound of his heartbeat. Remindingmyself that it was nothing but fiction I continued to listen to the nurses. Readyto re-start my life