Kagome
I remember it as if it was just yesterday. My mom and I were driving to Borders, our favorite book store, and we were talking about how our day went. Mom had just finished telling me that today she helped return a pod of dolphins back into the ocean. I always admired how my mom was able to return wild animals to their natural environment, even though that's what veterinarians do. As we were turning around the corner to enter the parking lot, this car crashed into the side of our car. My first reaction was to scream, but all the air was knocked out of my body. A sudden pain erupted out of no were. As I looked out the window, the whole scene was blurry. My only guess was that the car was flipping through the air. I heard another crash, and at the same time another wave of pain hit. Everything had stopped moving as if time was frozen, I tried to look over to see if my mom was ok, but I wasn't able to move. I was in so much pain, that my cries turned into choking sobs. It was as if air was able to get out of my body but wasn't welcomed back in. I shut my eyes telling myself that this was a dream, a horrible, sick, twisted dream. I felt my conscious slipping in and out of me, because even though I had my eyes closed, I could hear sirens in the far off distant and somebody calling my name. Kagome. Kagome. They sounded so close, yet so far away.
Two years. Two whole years I have been trapped in the dark forest within my dreams. No matter which way I turn, no matter how many trees I climb, there is no escape from the tree's massive limbs. One day I heard a voice calling my name. I turned around to see who was calling me but as I looked around, no one was there to be found. I cried out hello and it responded "Kagome. Kagome. Wake up Kagome," all nicely as if it was talking to a five-year old. I was confused, wasn't I already awake? I kept on asking the mysterious voice questions trying to see if I could find the owner of the voice. As I was looking around, I noticed that the trees didn't look so big and clustered together. They looked more wide spread and a richer shade of green. Every moment that passed between me and the mysterious voice, it seemed to me that the forest was growing clearer, animals of all shapes and colors appeared out of no where. There was this one time I was passing this huge sycamore tree, and the most beautiful butterfly came my way. Its wings were as large as my hands. A mixture of bright golds, greens, purples, and pinks were the color of its wings. It looked so graceful when it flew around me, every time it flapped its mighty wings it looked as though sparkles were coming off of its wings, leaving a trail of dust on the rich brown soil. I was so in tranced by the butterfly's marvelous wings that I forgot about the voice and started to follow the butterfly. The butterfly was leading me into a clearing in the forest. It had colorful wild flowers everywhere ranging from the softest white to a midnight black.
There was also this clear blue lake running threw the clearing. As I looked for my beautiful butterfly, I felt the air shimmer behind me. As I looked back, I saw my butterfly slowly transform into a human boy. As he finished transforming, he was the strangest, yet the most beautiful being I ever saw. He was tall, with light colored skin. His hair was the golden color of wheat, and his dark green eyes were intimidating. But at the same time they showed me that he meant no harm. The most unusual feature that he had were his wings. They resembled butterfly wings, colored with dark purple and pink swirls. As he started to advance toward me I tried to run, but his gaze was holding me in place. As he was a foot away from me, he reached and placed a hand on my face, I felt myself flinch and he did as well because he removed his hand from my face. He grabbed a hold of my wrist and led me to the middle of the clearing, with a flick of his free hand, a bench appeared out of no where. When we both sat down, he finally spoke "Kagome, you have been asleep for a long time. Those who know you are starting to get worried beyond belief." I gasped, this strange being, is the owner of the voice who I first started to look for. "Wh-who are you," I asked the boy. The boy who looked no older than 15 smiled and told me that his name was Eric. He told me that he was once a person who died in a coma, and since then, he now has a job of trying to help those who are in the "long sleeping state,"as he called it, try to wake up. He started to explain that if I wanted to wake up, all I had to do was to drink the water from the lake. As we headed towards the lake he told me to be ready for anything once I woke up. As I was about to kneel, I turned and hugged Eric and thanked him for helping me to wake up, because without him, I might have been trapped in the dark forest for the rest of my life not knowing that I was in a coma. We exchanged a smile of goodby, and I knelt down and drank the lake water. Next thing I knew, there was this bright flash of light and a beeping sound and somebody shouting "Doctor! Doctor! She's waking up!"
As I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a bright light shining directly above me. It felt as if I was momentarily blind, and during those few sightless seconds, I smelt something funny. As my sight return I, looked around and I saw funny machines making beeping noises, tubes sticking in me, and a odor that smelt like disinfectant wipes. "Oh. Kagome are you fully awake now?" I looked around to see a man smiling cheerfully in a white coat and a name badge that said Dr. Yamaichi. Now I know where I am, I'm at the hospital. "Um, Dr. Yamaichi. Do you know where my mom is at?" The doctors cheerful smile turned into a depressed frown, he sat on my bed and took my hand gently "Kagome. There is no easy way of saying this, but your mom passed away two years ago in the car accident both of you got in. We managed to get you out first, but as the ambulance tried to rescue your mom, there must have been a leakage in the oil , because the car caught on fire. As the firemen came, it was to late. Those ten minutes were long enough to let the fire consume your unconscious mother." All of a sudden, time froze, all the noises muted, the world froze in place, my world seemed to crumble right before my very eyes. It can't be true. My mom, the world's greatest parent, my role model, the woman with the most self control, who still provided a good living for the both of us even after my dad left us with nothing in our pockets, dead. I started to cry, crying for all the things my mother and I still could have done together. Crying for all the dumb fights I started with her. Crying for the fact that I'm all alone in this cruel, ruthless world with no family or friends. Dr. Yamaichi tried to comfort me saying that I could stay at the hospital for a while. Once he knew that I wasn't going to stop crying any time soon, he left the room. Once he was gone, I felt even more alone so I kept on crying, until I cried myself to sleep. That night, even though I had lost my mother, I had the most wonderful dream. I dreamt that I saw my mother again, she was wearing a white flowing gown, she also had these beautiful graceful wings, so big and white. She reached a hand out towards me and I took her hand. As I looked down, I saw my hospital room shrinking. I saw Dr. Yamaichi and some of the nurses standing around my bed crying. As I looked closer, I saw that my body was still in bed, as I looked at my physical body, I saw that my face was pale and that there was a sad smile on my face. As my mother finally pulled me into an embrace, I saw that I ,too, was wearing a white gown and that I owned my own beautiful pair of big, white wings. Yes, that afternoon was the worst day of my life. But that night was the best, because in the end, I get to be with my mother forever.