Life Saver

Dream

My nose fills with the smell of some sort of cleaner. I open my eyes to see the bright white lights. I hold my hand against my head trying to soothe the splitting headache. As I look around I realize I'm in a hospital room. I look to my left and see my mother lying in her bed, her heart rate monitor beeping at a steady rate. I look around slowly gathering my bearings as everything becomes less hazy. "Hi, baby how was school today." I am brought out of my gaze as my mother weakly speaks. "It was good mom don't strain yourself, you need to rest." I slowly grabbed her hand in mine and felt her squeeze my hand in return. "You know how proud I am to be the mother of such an amazing young girl." Her eyes crack open a few inches to look into mine. "I know you are going to become an amazing young woman, you're gonna make me proud. I wish I could be there to see it myself." I shook my head "You're gonna pull out of this mom, you're the strongest person I know, you're gonna be there when I graduate when I have my first child you are gonna see it." I said as my eyes filled with tears. "You know how much I love you, you are my everything, my world I am going to be here for you, always even if it's not in person." She said bringing her shaking hand up to my face to wipe my tears. "I love you too momma." I set her hand down on the bed as she fell into a deep sleep. Lately, her condition had been getting worse. The doctor informed us that it was just a matter of time, that she was done with chemo and being put on anything that would help with the pain. A few hours later my mother's heart rate goes flat. I scream for a nurse as I shake her limp body in my arms. "Mom please don't leave me I need you please." I am now sobbing as a pair of arms are pulling me away from my mom's body so the nurse can start chest compressions.

I sit up straight in bed panting, as sweat and tears drip off of my face. I suddenly realize that I am not in my room. I feel two gentle hands holding onto my face. As the ringing in my ears starts to fade I hear a voice. "Avery, what's wrong? You were screaming in your sleep." Sarah asks in a panicked state. I pull her hands from my face and bury my head into her chest. Slowly she wraps her arms around me, holding me tightly. I am sobbing by now, trying to get in control of my breathing so that I don't pass out. Sarah starts to whisper things into my ear that I can't quite understand in the state that I am in. She seems to realize that my breathing is becoming more normal so she continues whispering. After a few minutes I begin to calm down, and I start to feel how exhausted I am. I become completely limp in Sarah's embrace. "You seem exhausted Avery... try to get some sleep and we can talk about it in the morning." She pulls me back down into a laying position with my head still tucked into the crook of her neck. Her hand slowly starts combing through my hair, which is what slowly helps me fall back asleep.

I wake up to a wonderful smell wafting through the room. I look over to Sarah's side of the bed to see it empty. I pull myself out of bed to see a pair of sweatpants and a striped shirt set out for me. "Of course, it's striped what else would I expect from Sarah." I slowly pull my shirt off putting the new one on and sighing as I smell Sarah all over the clothes. I start to wander towards the kitchen as my stomach grumbles. I turn the corner to see Sarah clicking away on her computer. A huge smile grows on my face as I see she is wearing glasses and has a very concentrated look on her face. She seems to realize someone is looking at her, and she turns her head her dark brown pools of honey landing directly on my face. My face turns red realizing that she had caught me staring at her. She didn't comment though as her lips moved into a smile. "How are you feeling today?" She asks sliding her glasses off of her face and closing her computer giving me her full attention. "I'm okay my ribs are feeling really sore, but my face doesn't hurt too bad." Sarah nods. "Take a seat and I'll get you some ice, and ibuprofen. Also, help yourself." She says referring to the food on the table. I pull up a chair and slowly lower myself into a sitting position. I grab one of the plates set out and fill it with pancakes and strawberries. I think it's been over a year since I have had a breakfast like this. My mom was the best cook, she used to make us breakfast every day. Dad tried to make up for it after she died but gave up on it just like he gave up on me and Ava.

As I finish filling my plate Sarah returns with ibuprofen, an ice pack, bandages, and a glass of orange juice. She hands me the ibuprofen before speaking. "I figured I should change the bandages on your head." I slowly nodded and she came closer to me. As her fingers brushes over my skin I couldn't help but close my eyes reveling in her touch. Her fingers carefully pulled the bandage off of my face. "looks like it's healing. You're lucky you don't need stitches it's a pretty deep cut." She puts the new bandage over my brow and looks at me. "Can I look at the bruises on your ribs?" I nod and pull my shirt up. My ribs are covered in dark purple splotches from where my dad's boot met my skin. "Gosh, Avery these are horrible. You must be in so much pain." I shrug "It's not too bad I've had worse." Her face dimmed " Worse than this? Avery, he could have killed you if he had broken your ribs." Her hands slowly ghost over my ribs which makes me shiver. "I am going to put some Arnica on the bruises it should help with the swelling." I nod as she reaches into the first aid pack. I keep my shirt up as her hand meets my bruises softly applying the gel which makes me shiver from its coldness. "Sorry I should have warmed it up first." she softly whispers. I pull my shirt back over my stomach as she finishes. "You should feel a difference in a few minutes." She says closing the top. "Thanks" I say." Hey, where did you learn how to patch people up so well?" I asked genuinely interested in her answer. Sarah pulls out the chair next to me taking a seat."Well, I work on a show where I had to play a nurse, they actually brought in a trained professional to teach us how to do basic first aid and CPR. They wanted us to look like we knew what we were doing." I nodded and before I could say anything else she spoke again "I wanted to talk about what happened last night." I start to feel nervous as I remember the nightmare last night and Sarah having to comfort me. "I'm so sorry that you had to deal with that. It's just sometimes I get really bad nightmares. I have had them my whole life when I was younger it wasn't so bad, but once my mom passed they got worse." I said pulling on the skin on my wrist till it hurt which had become a habit of mine. "I just keep reliving the day my mom died. That's what I was dreaming about last night." Sarah gently pulled my hand away from my wrist and held them. "Listen to me Avery there is no reason to be ashamed of last night. I was just glad I was there to help you settle down." She said setting my hands down on the table after she had gotten me to stop pulling at my wrist. "Thank you for last night I know I would not have been able to calm down as fast if you weren't there to help me." I said staring into her honey brown eyes "You know I would do anything to make you feel safe." I nodded as she brought me into a tight hug. I pulled away only to realize how close we were. I could feel her warm breath on my cheeks just like yesterday. I was brought back to the kiss we had yesterday remembering how nice it was. I snapped out of my trance to realize I was staring at Sarah just like she was to me. We both leaned in and our lips met. I felt my stomach explode into a frenzy as her soft lips caressed mine. I brought my hand up to her neck pulling her closer to me. I stood up from my sitting position to get more leverage. I pushed her up against the table and grabbed her legs to help her sit on it. I took my place between her legs. My hands traveled down from her neck to her hips to hold her steady. Her hands slowly traveled down my back to my torso pulling me impossibly closer to her. Our lips still interlocked in one of the best kisses I have ever had. Reluctantly I pulled away so I could fill my needy lungs with air. "Wow" I said breathlessly finally opening my eyes to be met with the sight of two shimmering chocolate pools staring back at me. I brought my hand slowly up to caress the side of her face. As I brought her lips to mine once more.

We broke apart just in time for Ava to run into the room. "I smell bacon." She says as she giggles.
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AN

Hey guys I know it has been a long time since I last uploaded (So Sorry). I have just started my new job which keeps me busy. I hope you guys are still enjoying the book. Thank you for reading. Stay safe, and as always thanks for visiting my little corner of the internet.

-S