My Heart To Keep

Don't Fear The Reaper

Aida screamed. She screamed and kept screaming, and when she raised her head and opened her eyes, she found herself alone. There was no Levi, no Violet, no distraught medical team, no Hopper and Gabe, no Charles and JoAnn. Aida was all alone.

She looked around. Though quite confused, she recognized the surroundings, or at least she thought she did. It was nighttime on a familiar street in New York City, nowhere even close to California. And it was cold outside. The weather was cold, so cold that she was actually wearing a jacket. Aida pulled it closer to her body. She had just been with Levi, and when he unexpectedly passed, she had been wearing shorts, appropriate for the hot summer weather.

Where the fuck am I, and what's going on? Aida thought. She walked and found there was no one else around, an oddity for the city that never slept. Then across the street, she saw it. It was her old apartment building where she used to live in the City. Scurrying across the street, she saw the main door was open. Aida walked inside, her eyes wide with confusion. She walked into the elevator and rode it wordlessly to the eighth floor. It opened, and down the hall, Apartment D was ajar. That was her old apartment, the one she had shared with her brother. Inside, by the window, there was a small crowd and a loud commotion. Instantly it came back to Aida. The apartment, the cold night, the scene before her as someone was obviously on the floor, surrounded by people. It was like the night Eli had died. Walking a little closer, her eyes could barely believe what they were seeing. Aida was looking at an image of herself and her brother from that fateful night.

"Aida."

The voice was familiar. Aida turned to see the woman she had met outside of Hopper's. The older woman who had looked so familiar.

"What's going on?" Aida asked frantically. "What's happening?"

The woman was eerily calm.

"You know where you are," she answered

"I, I don't understand. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know how I got here. My, my boyfriend, he just died out in LA and I...I was with him and his family, and now I'm here and I don't know what's happening."

"Do you know who I am?"

"No," she mouthed as tears welled. "I just, I think I saw you outside the bar where I worked a few months ago, but that was in California and..."

"I was there. I was in your dream."

"My dream? My what? Lady, who are you and what are you doing? Please tell me what is going on! I have to get back to Levi."

"Levi is in California."

"Levi is dead!"

"Not yet."

Aida wiped at her nose.

"What are you talking about? I was there! I saw him! One minute he was fine and the next he just...slumped over, and his daughter started screaming. The doctors came in, and they pumped his chest and tried to work on him, but it was too late. They, they couldn't save him."

"It is 9:31 p.m. In Lake Forest right now it is 6:31. Levi Hudson just picked up his daughter from an after-school program. They will go and get pizza and fall asleep watching a movie."

"Shut up!" Aida screamed. "Levi is dead! Are you not listening to me? I was fucking there. The doctors say it was a blood clot and it went straight to his lungs. I watched them try to save his life."

"Aida..."

"How do you know my name? How do you know his last name? I did not tell you his last name."

"My name doesn't matter. What you need to know is Levi is not dead. Not yet."

Aida was incensed.