Dream A Little Dream of Me

Miracle

Zachary comes around to my side and begins to lift me from the wheelchair. I take the offer but try to stand on my own as much as I can. He knocks on the door of 1313, on the left side of the hall, to which a nurse answers. It seems as if she's prepared for our arrival. The caramel-skinned woman steps out and just barely cracks the door behind her.

"Hello, you must be the family?" We nod. "I'm Estella. I have been overseeing Miss Jauregui. She's awake now; I'm not sure if you're aware of her condition or not," Estella looks mainly at me. I shake my head, hanging on edge to each of her words.

"Miss Jauregui was in a medically-induced coma for about two days. Her brain did have significant swelling; fortunately, it ended up not being as drastic as we had anticipated when we heard about the accident. She did not need surgery on the brain after all," I stare at her, my mouth agape, dumb-founded at the information I'm learning. "And the swelling and pressure on the brain dropped quickly, another factor we did not foresee. However," Estrella continues. "She's in serious condition. She has several shattered bones in addition to the whiplash she endured upon impact. She hasn't spoken too much, and we aren't encouraging her to. We are encouraging her to rest," I nod.

"I'm going to be honest with you, because even seeing you, I can see what damage you also endured alongside her," She explains. "If that vehicle had hit yours at a slightly different angle, or even a bit faster, you both may not have made it," She continues as I stare on. "The fact you are both breathing on your own right now is nothing short of a miracle. There's no medical explanation on why the young woman in that room is still alive after this type of accident. The same goes for you and your injuries,"

I try to swallow my spit down my throat, but I feel nothing but a golf ball sized lump in there. I nod in understanding.

"With that being said," She finishes. "I don't want you to be frightened by what you will see. This is all temporary. She's on a long road to recovery. Now, are you ready?"

I nod once more. Estella opens the door. It's pretty dark inside, but light enough to see which direction to walk.

Zachary helps me begin walking inside, but I stop. "It's okay; I can do it."

"Bella--"

"I want to go alone."

Zach says nothing more. Estella excuses herself down the hall momentarily, and my brother lets me go without a fight. I shut the large, white door behind me before I dare look for Lauren.

I turn around and keep my gaze locked on the floor. The linoleum is white with small, black squares in the larger white squares. The floor reflects a deep sky blue, the same sky blue that is painted across all four walls. I force my eyes to look slightly upward, and toward the righthand side of the room I spot the hospital bed. I hear beeping coming from up ahead, and I know that beeping is Lauren's fragile heartbeat on one of the monitors.

The room smells sterile. I feel too dirty to be in here, like I should have bathed immediately before arriving and then put on scrubs in an effort to not spread germs. I shuffle toward the bed, slowly, pain radiating throughout my right leg. I'm still 5 or so feet away from the bed when I'm unable to look away from her anymore. I stop dead in my tracks and make an involuntary small jump backwards, a gasp escaping my lips.

What I see in front of me is more bizarre than I had imagined. My head swirls as I try to take it all in. Her right leg is elevated from straps hanging from the upper sides of the oddly shaped bed. Similarly, her entire right arm is covered in a cast, unlike mine which does have some skin revealed. As I walk closer to her, I begin to see all the flaws up close. Her body is covered in the same slit-like wounds from the glass shards of the windows of the car. She has dozens more than I have on my body, and hers definitely look deeper than my own. There are wires and tubes placed strategically throughout, with some coming from her nose, and an IV is placed into the top of her left hand. Her fingers still sport the same chipped black nail polish she was wearing a week ago, but that's all that has remained the same.

I'm at her bedside now. Her eyes are delicately shut, and there are scratches and cuts all over her face. The right side of her face has a large piece of gauze running around her head from her ear and upwards toward her eyebrow. Someone has put her long, dark brown hair into a messy bun. She looks entirely beat up.

And it's all my fault.

I accidentally let a small whimper escape my throat as my tears start free-falling. I rush my left hand up to my mouth just before her eyelids start to flutter. I stand shellshocked as they attempt to open. And After a few seconds, they do. I see her emerald eyes attempt to focus their gaze ahead of her, but she notices a shadow to her right, that shadow being me. When our eyes lock, I involuntarily let the whimpers out.

"Lo?" I sob into my hand.

"Be...lla?" She croaks. Her voice is the raspiest it has ever been. It sounds as if the accident has somehow wrecked her vocal cords as well, but I know that can't be the case. I truly hope that nothing has affected her singing voice.

"Lauren--" I exhale in relief. "Lauren..."

"Bella..."

"Ssshh, baby, it's okay. Don't talk. It's okay," I reassure her as I watch her eyes overflow with her own tears.

I pull the chair near me closer because my standing foot is becoming too weak. I stumble getting it, and I can hear Lauren making some groaning noises, so I try to go a little quicker even though it hurts so badly. But I know I'm in better shape than her.

"Don't worry; I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm okay," I sit as close to her face as I can. She tries hard to keep her head turned toward me, but I know she's having a difficult time. "Close your eyes, baby girl. Close your eyes," She groans again. I know this is a refusal.

"Lo," I begin, hoping my words catch up with my brain. "I was so worried about you," I somehow feel as if this couldn't possibly capture just how much emotion I feel and have felt ever since this situation has taken over our lives.

"We're a miracle, Lauren. You're a miracle," She sniffles as the tears keep falling. "I'm sorry for all the things that I said. I'm sorry for everything that lead up to the accident. I'm so, so sorry, sweetheart,"

"Bella..." Her voice is raspy, and shaky, and I know it's hard for her just to get that out.

"Sshh, I know. I know. You're okay. Do you know what happened? Just shake your head 'yes' or 'no' if you can," She does a small half-nod and half-shake, which indicates she must have a slight idea but not the whole story.

"Okay," I begin. I keep my eyes locked on hers, and I speak slowly and carefully so she understands each bit. "It was a drunk driver who caused the accident. He ran a red light going 70. Fate just put us in the wrong place at the wrong time," I say with a half smile. "You got knocked the hell out, Lo. It was the most terrifying thing of my entire life," My voice cracks again. Her eyes blink and more tears escape.

"They had to rip open the car just to get us out. I was so scared that you were dead," I remove my hand from hers and run my fingers so very softly through her hair. "They put you in a coma to calm the swelling. You could have had brain damage!" Her eyebrows furrow together, making two wounds on her face become closer.

"But you don't," I assure. "You're okay. You're healing very well. My God, it was terrifying. Last thing I knew is we were in an overturned car, and you were so fragile and, just, dangling there, I was terrified. I wanted so badly to turn back time just 2 minutes. 2 minutes was all I needed to make it all okay,"

"It's okay," She gets out as best as she can.

"Then I woke up in an ambulance and you were gone. They said they airlifted you here. And I'm okay, I just have a few broken bones, and this broken nose, if you couldn't tell," I gesture to the splint on my nose. "But I'm okay. More than okay. Because you're alive," She stares at me intently. I can imagine there are a thousand things running through her mind.

"I'm going to be here every step of the way with you. We're in this together, just like we've always been. I promise you. Don't forget that,"

"Bella," She slowly croaks. "I... love you,"

"I love you, too, Lo."