What She Left Me

Chapter 6

I was in the forest sitting on the soft earth by a tree. The place was familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place it. As I was sitting there, Teresa came bounding up in her usual energetic spirit and collapsed herself onto me. Once we untwisted our heap of giggles. I turned to her and said,

"I missed you" I felt so sad saying that. Why did I feel so sad?

"What do you mean silly, I'm right here?" She says pushing my arm and then laying back and staring up at the sky through the trees.

"I don't know, I just felt the need to say it..." I said looking at her confused. She gave me a confused look right back.

"Well stop missing me. I'm right here. I've always been right here, and I'll always be right here. It's you and me forever baby cakes. You'll never be rid of me" she said seriously.

"Yeah, You're right." I said laying down next to her and looking up. "Have you ever been here before?"

"What the Forest? I come here all the time." She speaks.

"Not the forest. This tree." I say shaking my head.

"Hmmmm, I don't know. Maybe. Why?" She asks.

"Just seems familiar is all." I speak. I reached for her hand, and she smiled at me brightly intertwining her fingers with mine.

I woke up then, both suddenly, and gently. I found myself at home in bed and look around. I felt my neck and the necklace was still laying there. Teresa was still gone, and I was still here. The dream had felt so real. Maybe it was. It almost felt like a memory that I couldn't quite place. But where the dream had sunshine, my window just revealed a dull grey haze. Outside the rain was coming down. It wasn't torrential, but it wasn't going to be letting up any time soon. I pulled myself from bed and got into the shower. I hesitated before choosing to keep the necklace on. Teresa had always worn it no matter what. When I had made my way downstairs, clean and dressed, I found my mom in the kitchen making some breakfast.

"Oh good," she said, "I was worried you would sleep the whole day away. You should probably try to get back into a good sleep schedule." She said stirring the pan of scrambled eggs. I sat on a stool at the counter and watched as she continued cooking.

"That's a pretty necklace." She said eyeing my neck. "It looks familiar, but I don't think I've seen you wear it. Where's it from."

"It's Teresa's" I said. Her easy smile she had been wearing dropped slightly.

"Oh. Where did you come across that?" She said turning her back to put the egg on some plates.

"I found it on the ground where... it happened. It must have fallen off. I gave it to her brother. But then yesterday, I went over to the Wilk's house, and they gave me a box of Teresa's things. And Marek gave the necklace back to me." She placed the eggs in front of me and I started to eat them.

"Well, that is nice. Having something physical to remember her by and keep close." I could tell she was trying to gauge how I was feeling. After the accident and all the therapy sessions she had become overly observant whenever Teresa came up.

I just nodded and continued to eat my eggs.

"Alright, well I'm going to be out until this evening. I've got work, and some coworkers are having a dinner party. Will you be alright tonight?" She said taking my empty plate and hers to the sink.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Have fun." I got up from my seat and went back up to my room. Mom had declined all invitations for the past month because she worried that I wouldn't be alright on my own. The doctors had told her to watch me, that there could be danger of suicide. But I guess the danger had passed and some semblance of normalcy was returning. I was back to being a teenager who could be left home alone without supervision.

Later that night, while I was lying in bed reading from an assigned book, I started feeling strange. It started with sweating. I had checked the thermostat, but the house was still the same temperature it always was. But for some reason I was feeling so... Hot. I decided to take a cool shower. Which helped for a second, but I ended up sweating more and getting warmer.

I went downstairs to grab some ice. The heat was making my head hurt. I grabbed a couple icepacks and layed with them on my head and my neck. My headache seemed to start to spread to the rest of my body. I worried that the doctors had missed something. An injury from the crash. Maybe I was becoming septic, and my body was being put into shock. I could have survived a car crash only to end up dying from sepsis.

Through whatever fever haze was affecting me, I heard a knock on the door. I managed to stand and get to the door to answer it. When I opened the door, I was met with Marek's beautiful hazel eyes that I had crushed on for so long. I thought I had gotten over his cute face, but maybe I hadn't, because he was standing there looking all concerned and cute. I wish I hadn't killed his sister. Maybe he would have fallen in love with me.

"Maura?? Are you ok?" He asked looking me over with concern.

"Hmm, Idk. I feel hot. Am I hot?" Wait...did I just ask him if I was hot. That was funny. I'd laugh if my head didn't hurt too much. Screw my head, if my everything didn't hurt so much. I took a step to move from the doorway, but my balance was not keeping me upright.

"Whoa there, I got ya" he said catching my arm before I fell completely. "Maura, you are burning up. Are you sick?" He said walking me to the couch where my various ice packs were laying.

"I think I'm dying. I think karma is finally coming to take my ass away. It's what I deserve after what I did." At this point I was feeling exhausted, and I think the moisture on my skin was no longer just from sweat, but tears may have started falling as well.

"Shhh, hey don't say that. You are going to be fine." He said placing an icepack to my forehead. "Maura, you have to answer some things, ok?" I nodded my head in response. "How long has this been going on?"

"Maybe an hour or two?" I spoke. I hadn't been paying close attention.

"Ok, how old are you?" How old am I? what does that have to do with anything.

"I'm 17. What does that..." He cut me off and continued to ask questions

"Where is your mom?"

"At a dinner with her coworkers. She won't be back until later." I responded. My body felt like it was on fire. I wanted to throw myself into an ice bath, anything to cool down.

"Ok, I'm taking you with me. We need to get you some help." I felt him put his arms under my knees and my back before he lifted me up. My face was very close to his chest. And below all the stench of my sweat, I could smell his cologne or shampoo or something. It smelled very good.

"You smell nice." I said as he walked us out of the house and out into the rain that was pouring down outside. The rain felt nice on my skin. I was placed into a car, and by then I started fading in and out of consciousness. I wasn't sure where I was going, But I remember being taken out of the car, back into the rain, and then taken inside somewhere. There were some voices. 2 men, a woman. Maybe some more I really couldn't tell.

All I really knew was that I was in deep pain. Even when I felt blacked out that pain was still present. I didn't know what was happening to me. Surly sepsis would have killed me by now. I could sometimes hear my name being said. but it sounded far away and hard to reach.

Eventually nobody was speaking to me anymore. I'm not sure if anything was happening anymore. There was just me, and the pitch black and the pain. Maybe this was death. Is this what Teresa felt that night? Does she still feel this?How long can it last? I hope it doesn't last forever.