Transformed

Nine

     I woke up to the harsh, steady beeping of a heart monitor. Currently I am unable to make a sound. There is a pounding in my head that soon makes its way down my body, consuming every inch of me until I'm squeezing my eyes shut. That's when I hear his voice.

    I open my eyes to see Carter sitting beside the bed, holding onto my hand gently. An IV is feeding morphine into my aching body, soothing the pounding in my head and threatening to pull me back under the dark waves of unconsciousness. He doesn't realize I'm awake, but I can't move or speak to get his attention.

    After a couple minutes of trying to do literally anything, I gave up and just listened. Carter was talking softly. At first I couldn't tell what  he was saying, but then I noticed the familiar tale of two people who fell madly in love. Carter was reading  Romeo and Juliet to me. His melodic voice cracked while he read Juliet's death scene, he was crying, and all I wanted to do was reach out and hold him. His tears made me wish I could pull him into this tiny hospital bed with me so I could just hug him.

    I decided to try and move again. I closed my eyes and focused all of my energy into my fingertips. After about a minute, my hand squeezed Carter's weakly. He stopped reading and turned his head quickly to look at my pale face. His face carried a mixed expression of joy and sadness. My now open eyes scanned his charming face. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair looked like the hair of a cabbage patch kid, sticking up in all different directions.

    He looked at me, and after what felt like hours of contemplation, Carter leaned down and kissed me softly. The kiss was short and simple, but also one of the most romantic actions anyone has ever done for me. Once he pulled away, he gently ran his hands through my tangled hair. Carter let his eyes scan my face a little longer before finally breaking the silence. "I thought I was going to lose you." Still unable to speak, I shake my head weakly. 

    "America, I swear to you that this will never happen again." Very slowly I lift my hand up to touch his face, gently pulling him down so his forehead is against mine. I carefully scoot over in the little bed, making room for him to lay down beside me. Carter cautiously gets in the bed with me, and I move close to him. He was warm and smelled like aged vanilla and ginger. Carter wrapped his arms around me carefully as I placed my head on his chest. He rubs soothing circles on my back, and soon I am grasped by sleep and I close my eyes and rest.

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     The dreams come quickly. Filling my head with a darkness that had never been there before. An odd staleness shivered through the air, and my body felt like stone. It was pitch black, walls surround me, and dark green vines grow up them. At first there was no way out of the box I was trapped in, then one side surged and began to open. The small room was soon filled with the terrible echo of the screeching of metal against metal. 

     I quickly run towards the new opening, my feet pounding against the cool metal ground. As soon as I reached the door, I was greeted by a creature with no eyes, long fangs, and jet black skin. It grinned at me, exposing a forked tongue. I screamed and turned to run in the opposite direction, but the creature already had me in its grasp. I couldn't wake up. It didn't matter what I did to try, and then it all just stopped. Then I saw a bright flash of white light. I found myself being drawn to it. The light was warm and soft, but I stopped walking and soon woke up back in my body.