Resilience [Daryl Dixon ♥]

14| survive

With eyes closed and head resting on the tree, Spencer's mind wandered to thoughts about her mother. She had been very young when her mother had passed away and she vividly remembered the moment her mother died, for it remained in her mind every single day of her life.

"Mommy?" The young girl questioned, her green eyes wide in confused terror. The young girl's grandma gently pushed her towards the hospital room where the beeping of the machines grew louder and louder.

The small girl took hesitant steps into the colorless room, hugging her stuffed elephant tight to her chest. Her eyes wandered about the room, taking in the white walls, white floor, white furnishing. The room was as achromatic as it was cold and gloomy. The lighting was dim, further depressing the mood. The only color in the entire room was the thin and vibrant red line that danced across the computer screen. It created inverted v shapes across the screen, occasionally beeping.

The girl's eyes shifted to the figure lying on the hospital bed, dressed in wires and small tubes. She was almost unrecognizable. Without her thick, dark hair, matching her daughter's equally, and lively complexion, she looked like a totally different person.

However, the young girl would always recognize her mother, no matter what disease was killing her.

The woman's eyes opened and she turned her head slightly to look at her daughter. Their eyes met, the exact same shade of green, and the woman's lips parted. She looked like she wanted to say something but seemed too much in pain at the moment to do so.

The young girl, noticing this, frantically turned to her grandmother. "She's hurting. Help her!" The adolescent child cried, tugging at the older woman's coat.

The young girl's grandma leaned down slightly to look at her. "Sweetie, this is the end," Her grandma told her softly, pushing a strand of fine, dark hair out of the girl's face. "There's nothing more the doctors can do for her. Go to her, Spencer."

The girl hesitated, her lips trembling. The woman before her was a ghost. It wasn't her mother—it couldn't be. She was too pale, face too sunken in, skin too white, body too frail. It wasn't the same woman that had raised her. The disease in which she suffered from, had ravished her body, slowly killing her. It was a long, drawn-out, and painful battle that was close to ending.

Spencer may have not understood this at the time, but she did sense it.

She took small, careful steps towards the hospital bed. As she got closer, she noticed the drops of sweat lining her mother's body. With eyes closed, Her mother slowly drug her arm across the bedding before outstretching her hand to the young girl. Spencer tentatively grabbed her mother's shaky hand in her own small one and cautiously held it. Her mother's hand was cold and clammy but as she always had, Spencer felt a sense of comfort in holding her mother's hand.

Her mother's eyelid rose and she looked upon her small daughter again. She slowly licked her dry lips and attempted a smile. "Hey monkey," She whispered, softly squeezing Spencer's hand.

"Hi, mommy," Spencer said in reply, her small voice quivering.

Before her mother could speak another word, her body was racked with a cough that shook her so violently, it caused tears to spring in her daughter's eyes. Crimson liquid sputtered from her lips, dripping down her chin and onto her pale, white hospital gown. The cough passed shortly after that, leaving her weaker and in even more pain.

Spencer's grandma rushed forwards and used an old paisley-printed handkerchief to clean the blood from her daughter's face. She smoothed her daughter's hair down and smiled at her lovingly before moving away. She had already said her goodbye's.

Though, Spencer's grandma had cleaned the blood away, a faint pink stain remained, tainting her mother's now porcelain skin. Spencer squeezed her mother's hand, tears spilling from her wide, innocent eyes. "Mommy," she cried.

"I want you to do something for me..." Her mother's faint voice came out weak and wheezy-like.

"O-okay, mommy," Spencer said with a hiccup.

"Survive," Her mother whispered. "I want you to survive." There was a pause as her mother struggled to fill her lungs with oxygen. "Can you do that for me?"

Spencer nodded vigorously, using the arm that held onto her stuffed elephant, to wipe her eyes.

Her mother nodded slightly in return, her head lolling back over so she could stare up at the ceiling. Her mother said nothing more, silence enveloping the room, with the exception of the machine's beeping and the sound of her mother's struggle to breathe. The sound of wheezing continued as her mother drew her last few breaths.

Spencer sniffled, wiping at her eyes again. "I love you, mommy," The young girl said in a mournful voice.

Her mother lightly squeezed her hand, fingers trembling. She closed her eyes and smiled faintly up at the ceiling. For a moment she was quiet, drawing in her last breath. A single tear slipped from her closed eyes and trailed down the sides of her face. "I love you too, monkey."

Her mother's hand loosened around Spencer's and fell limp. Spencer looked from their hands to her mother's face. She didn't know what happened.

"Mommy?"

The computer beeps stopped suddenly, replaced by an alarming sound that caused Spencer to cry out. "Mommy!" She shouted, tugging on her mother's limp arm. Her mother made no response. She didn't open her eyes, she didn't move. She just laid there, eyes closed and a faint smile playing on her lips.

Seconds passed as Spencer screamed for her mother. Her grandma came over and took Spencer in her arms, trying to pry her away from her mother. "Spencer, let go. It's okay, baby. You have to let go," Her grandma told her. "She's gone."

Spencer sobbed, still crying for her mother to wake up. She didn't understand what 'she's gone' meant. Her mother wasn't gone, she was still lying there. Spencer wasn't old enough to understand the concept of living and dying. She just knew that her mother was lying there, and she wanted her to wake up.

Men and women dressed in white entered the room upon hearing the alarm-like sound. They moved about the room, checking the computer, checking Spencer's mother. Spencer watched, clinging onto her mother's lifeless hand, as they began shutting down the machines.

Her grandma picked Spencer up, causing Spencer to release her mother's hand. She sobbed, "NO!! Mommy!" She was carried from the room as the doctors worked, her eyes still trained on her mother's form lying on the hospital bed. Just before her grandma turned the corner, Spencer saw one of the doctors covering her mother's face with a white sheet.

"There you are," Came a voice, causing Spencer to jump.

The sounds of her younger self faded, as did the memory of her mother, and Spencer slowly opened her eyes to reveal Shane walking towards her.