Hello dear Reader!
If it's the first story you read from me, you should also take a look at my other stories because they are all from the same universe: "The Believers".
Here is a OS with Sandy and Jamie's mother, Rachel (she's a nurse in my universe). You may read it after the chapter 13 of "The Believers" but it could also be read as a stand alone.
You should have hankerchiefs with you, it's a little bit sad...
Reviews are always appreciated!
Disclaimer: I don't own RotG nor GoC. Thanks Mr William Joyce for these awesome stories!
The hospital of golden dreams
"Chut Ambrose, don't talk so loudly! You will wake Denis. Open your mouth and say AH! So that I could check if you still have that red plaque on your tongue. Don't squirm, for a fifteen years old you should be braver!"
« But, it hurts ! »
Rachel lighted the interior of the teenager's mouth and noted that the inflammation of his tongue was now highly reduced.
« Good, two more days of medication and you should go back home. Next time you will be near a buffet, ask the content of the dishes before you taste them. It would save you from an allergic reaction as the one you had yesterday. You knew though that avocado and crab are strictly forbidden for you!"
« I know, I know… But I was talking with my cousins and when my girlfriend asked me to sample her 'so tasty' appetizer, I didn't even try to see what was in it. If I had already explained her that I was allergic to some food, it would have never happened! Emma blames herself so much for it…" Ambrose hid his head under his bed sheet.
« Ey, at least you're sure she loves you. There are not so many young women who would have search in the throat of their beloved for a piece of 'canape' which was shocking and inflating you. She has some nerves as well as she is sweet and caring with the sick people. Did you see how she cheered Denis? This girl is a pearl, so don't mess up your relationship. Understood?" Rachel pated his knee and smiled motherly to him.
The boy rose up his eyes and smiled back : « Yes, Ma'am ! Anyway, I love her too much to let bad stuff happen to her. I learned my lesson. For now on, no more secrets with the major things… like my allergies."
« Perfect ! Time to sleep ! You need to rest if you wish to go out of here on Thursday morning. » Whereupon, Rachel laid a light kiss on his forehead, turn off the nightlight above his bed and silently went out of the room #103.
"Well, well, well, let see what do I still have? Just Kirstie and Aubrey to look upon. Ey! Olivia! Did you finish your round ? » Hearing her boss call, the brunette turned around.
« Yes, I just close. The night team would have to take greater care of the Ramon kid. His fever isn't yet stabilized. I gave him some paracetamol but I fear it won't be enough." She was frowning as she reread her notes.
« Blimey, Victoria and Tom won't be happy. Well… that's how it goes. Okay, I'm going into the #104 and #105 and I meet up with you in the office. Tell Bradley he has to prepare a chamomile tea and to bring it to Ambrose. His edema has diminished but it still hurts when he swallows. See you."
A wink later, the chief nurse Rachel Bennett had turned on her heels and her colleague Olivia walked back to the medical staff office.
« Kirstie ? Are you still awake ? Oh ! She sleeps already. » In front of her, a seven years old girl, freckles on her nose and her cheeks, short cut blond hair and a serene smile gracing her lips, was sleeping soundly and hugging a stuffed rabbit.
Without a sound, she wrote down the measurements and indications the engines connected to the electrodes placed on the girl's body were giving to her. No sad news, the little girl would spend a good night. She had in the morrow many medical exams to better acknowledge the progression of her blood illness. Rachel was not deluded. Kirstie's days were scored. Doctor Kreuzstein estimated her life expectancy was at most of three months.
With a resigned smile, Rachel was going to leave the room when a unknown glow light up Kirstie's bed. Eyes round as a plate, mouth wide open, she could only gape at the magical spectacle made by the dream sand spinning above the blond haired girl. Breathless, she observed the sand shaping itself as a cat and a dog who were playing with a small ball. A young girl came to play with the two pets.
« Oh, my ! It's Mustache and Lil'Paw! Oh, Kirstie… You miss them so much!" Rachel mumbled.
Walking to the window, she understood the extent of the magic working that evening. Hundreds of golden tendrils were dancing, twirling and painting dreams for all the children in the area. And mostly for the ones who were sleeping at hospital that night. Piqued by her natural curiosity, Rachel hurriedly walk to the next room, the last on her list, to see what was happening.
Everything was quite in the room #105. Aubrey Wintress was still sleeping from her deep slumber. Twelve days since she went into coma. Although her multiple fractures were all operated, her mind was still refusing to join back her body.
Rachel was relieved to witness a tendril forming a family playing together. She had chances to wake up one day… Because if she was dreaming, she was not 'lost', wasn't she? However, she didn't like the way the dream was going. Aubrey's family was there, and all of the members. Except that the accident which was the cause for the seventeen year old young woman's stay in this hospital bedroom, had killed her father and her eight years old brother. Aubrey knew it because she lost consciousness in the ambulance. She witnessed the death of her father and her brother one hour before her mind slipped away.
That's what was holding back the teenager in her coma. She was surely refusing to acknowledge the truth! If she wakes up, she would be alone with her fourteen years old sister and her eleven years old brother. She had suffered from the heated divorce of her parents and the brutal departure of her mother for the Chili with another man, she maybe didn't want to face a new situation in which her family would be again torn apart.
Lost in her thoughts, Rachel didn't realize at first that a small golden man was looking at her, a benevolent smile on his round face. When she lifted her eyes to look a last time at the dream sand outside, she then saw him.
« Ahhh ! » she shouted.
The Sandman came back from his shock too (well, it could only be him, as a short man as tall as Jamie and wearing golden sand from the tip of his hair to the end of his feet) and gestured for her to keep quiet and to open the window.
Rachel did it with good grace and Sandy set his feet on the room floor. Rachel knelt in front of him, to be at the same level.
« Good evening, you must be Sandy, don't you? I'm Rachel, Sophie and Jamie's mother. My children and their friends talked to me about the battle against the Boogeyman. And, you see, as I have believed in their tale, I suppose it's why I can now see you." She held her right hand to Sandy who handshake her with rather much enthusiasm.
He started to 'talk' so fast that Rachel had some difficulties to understand. "Ohla! Slowly please, I know only the basics of the ASL and with your shapes in sand and your hands, it's too much for me!"
A little bit calmer, Sandy explain eagerly to the adult some things about him and her children. A few minutes later, Rachel had understood more or less what he told her. He gave her explanations about the Guardians duties, and she told him about her day in the Warren. He also showed her how to contact him with the dream sand.
Before he went back to work, Rachel called him. "I'm sorry to delay you once more but I have a question concerning Aubrey". She joined the gesture to her words when she sat on the edge of the teenager's bed.
Sandy followed her, his eyes full of sadness.
"Could you do something to wake her? So that she could accept what happened? She clings to the past and refuses to come back in fear of brave a new separation. Her father and her youngest brother had died in the crash. She had some fractures and her coma… But she still has her sister and her brother. They are hopeless and wish for one thing, that their big sister wakes up. Is it in your power?"
Rachel knew perfectly well that what she was asking for was out of the Sandman's jurisdiction. But it was not in her habits to give up. Rachel Bennett was an optimist and spirited woman. If no one asks, nothing could be obtained!
Sandy contemplated the issue at hand, and then he sighted and flew to the bed. Taking Aubrey's hand, he did the same with one of Rachel's. He asked her to close her eyes. Suddenly, like one of North's snow globe had opened directly in her head, Rachel felt herself been sucked forward. She found herself in a room, a child bedroom specifically.
« Where am I ? » she asked to Sandy who still holding her hand.
In Aubrey's dream, He answered. I'm going to try to contact her. Stay close to me!
« Oh ! » was her sole answer.
They approched Aubrey who was sprawled on the bed, a book in her hands and her youngest brother sat near her.
"The Bear shouted: Someone had eaten in my plate! And they also drank in this cup!" she read.
« But, Bears don't talk ! » interrupted the boy.
"Ronald, if you keep on cutting me, I stop to read the story! You're old enough to read it yourself." Aubrey scolded.
« No ! I want to know the ending of Goldilocks!" moaned Ronald.
"So, where were we? Ah, yes… But, who are you?" Aubrey just caught sight of two people standing a few feet in front of the bed. Two people she didn't know.
The Sandman curtsied and begun to talk with his dream sand. Rachel chose to translate to clarify his remarks.
«Hello, I'm the Sandman, and here is Rachel the nurse who watches over you. You are dreaming Aubrey, and you will have to wake up. You must get out of your comatose state because your brother and your sister need you."
« No, it's false ! I have to saty here beside my family. All of my family!" The teenager had jumped and she stood now between her brother and Sandy. She was clenching her fists and her eyes were frowing daggers.
« Look Aubrey, be sensible. You know that everything here is a dream and that sleeping is not the solution. If you don't want to get out, I won't bring you anymore dream sand. You will stay locked in your mind, ruminating your thoughts, without any magical dreams as the one you're experiencing right now. While if you wake up, I promise you that as long you will believe in me, I will come to deliver you sweet dreams every night. For a seventeen years old girl, it's a rare occurancy to tap in the sand flow. You have an ability to believe in tha wonders of the world above the average. You won't lose your brother and your father if you wake up. They will always stay there, in your heart."
Aubrey had broken up and she was loudly sobbing on the floor. Rachel, having finished her translation, had kneeled and was hugging her the way she would do it for Jamie.
« Ronald, I think I have to go. But I really don't want to leave you." She stammered after awhile.
Ronald leaned to his sister. And in front of three gaping Aubrey, Rachel and Sandy, he started to shine with a white light. "Why would you forget me? I'm your brother! I'm very well with Daddy. The Man in the Moon told me I could visit you as long as you were disturbed. But as you will be better, I will stay with Dad. And you with Agnès and Raymond. We will see each other soon enough! I love you big sis, and nobody will be able to erase that."
He laid a kiss on his sister temple and disappeared in a white flash. Aubrey looked to Sandy: "Man in the Moon? Who is he?" Too long for tonight, another time maybe… was Sandy's answer.
"What do I have to do to wake up?" inquired Aubrey.
Close your eyes and decide to wake up, as simple as that.
«Ok then… Will you be there when I will open my eyes ? »
« yes Aubrey, I will be there. Sandy has still much work to do this night, he can't stay. But I will stay a little more. My shift will end in less than an hour."
Aubrey closed her eyelids and Rachel did the same like her accomplice recommended her.
As soon as the headache which was pointing the tip of its nose had made Rachel shiver, she realized she was once again in the room 105. Well, technically, she never left it…
Sandy said his goodbyes and scooted to his sand cloud, flying to cities away and other children. He seemed to Rachel that he was exhausted. That's why he hesitated to help Aubrey. Rachel vowed herself to thank him properly very soon.
« Rachel ? »
Aubrey's voice was hoarse. Twelve days without drinking could easily have this effect.
« Quiet Aubrey, don't overforce your voice. You were comatose for twelve days."
« Twelve days ! I am… Oh, Agnès and Raymond ! I was such an egoist!" She bit her lip from chagrin.
Rachel took the opportunity to press the emergency call button. Her colleagues won't be too long.
« Chut, don't try to move. The staff will come to help you. Mostly, not a word about what happened. I don't want for a psychiatric to put his nose in our stuff. We will talk about it tomorrow, when you will be rested. Because a coma, it's not a real rest…"
« Thank you… » the young woman smiled.
« Rachel, did you call ? What are you doing, blimey ! We are all waiting for the debriefing and… Aw, man ! She's awake!" Bradley was mortified he showed his bad side. "Say beautiful, for a while we thought you were waiting for Prince Charming to wake you up! In fact, it's the terrible witch Rachel you needed! Aïe! I'm kiiding! Don't pinch me ! »
With a laugh like an old witch would do, Rachel answered him : « You should run to the night doctor instead of telling nonsenses. Although, I could also turn you into a goat." She then turn to Aubrey and winked. They laughed together until the doctor arrived. They didn't talked about their secret 'adventure' before the next day, when Rachel came back to work.
On the way back home, Rachel had only one thought. She had met the Sandman and together they had saved a teenager! Hopefully Ian would be awake so that she could explain him everything!