Here's the update folks!
Sam felt…different somehow. She felt free.
She looked around the room she was in; it looked like she was in a hospital. An operating room to be exact. The last time she had been in an operating room, was when she had last gotten shot…which was when again?
But what was she doing in a hospital room now?
The body on the operating table caught her eye. The monitor beside the table had flat-lined and they seemed to be rushing around, trying to resurrect her. The doors on the other side of the room banged open as a nurse came in with a crash cart.
She saw Dr. Patrick Drake and Dr. Matt Hunter as well as some nurses crowded around the body. She was dismayed to see that Elizabeth was in the room. She felt a pit of hatred in her stomach and her fists clenched involuntarily at her sides.
Patrick and Matt wore equal frowns as they shocked the body and no effect took place.
They charged and shocked the body again. Sam watched, sickened at how the lifeless body jerked around on the table.
She shook her head and looked closer at the body curiously, wondering who it was. It looked oddly familiar…wavy brown hair, defined face. She searched her mind to see who it was.
Then it hit her. It was her, Sam McCall! Her body was lying on a hospital operating table, as the monitor flat-lined, while she was floating, perfectly fine, above her body. She was like a spirit, or a ghost. Not to mention she was watching herself die. It was kind of unsettling. She noticed a large, bloody gash in her head and shivered.
She turned away, not wanting to witness anymore. Already she felt as if she were going to be sick.
She tried to get her thoughts together. Was she dreaming? That seemed the most reasonable explanation. If so, it was a pretty realistic dream. She pinched herself in the arm. It didn't do any good, except to make her more irritable. She rubbed the skin that was growing red. Could ghost's skin get red?
So it wasn't a dream, apparently. How did she end up like this? What exactly happened? For some reason she just couldn't remember.
One thing was for sure, she couldn't stay in this room while her body lay limp on the limp table in front of her. She needed some answers.
She floated (literally she was like flying!) toward the door. She knew without testing that no one could see or hear her, so she didn't bother being quiet or hiding.
She wasn't sure where she was going, but she needed to find the answers somewhere, and that somewhere wasn't trapped inside this room.
When she reached the door, she reached a hand out to grasp the handle and push it open. Instead, it passed right threw the door.
Sam jumped back as if her hand was on fire. Okay that was creepy.
She looked down at her hand; it didn't look any different. They sure as hell didn't look invisible or transparent.
Sam sighed. This was great. She was a ghost thing and she couldn't open a freaking door! She almost gave up hope before an idea popped into her head.
"If my hand can go threw, then my body must be able to." Sam thought out loud to herself, even though no one could hear her.
Sam started with her hand again; her breath catching as it passed threw the door with ease, as it did before. She might not ever get used to that. She took a deep breath and then pushed the rest of her arm threw. It was like going threw water.
She took one more deep breath and then plunged threw the door. She tumbled head over heels into the bright lights of the hospital's hallway.
She blinked a couple of times. She looked around. Yes, she was definitely in General Hospital.
She heard the doors open behind loudly behind her and she wheeled around in surprise, thinking someone may have managed to hear her.
Elizabeth came out, looking frazzled. The hatred still gnawed at Sam's insides, but she pushed it down. Elizabeth may lead her to the answers she needed. Besides, it wasn't like she could do anything in her present state.
Elizabeth walked right threw Sam, giving Sam a feeling of discomfort. Elizabeth paused and shivered, as if feeling Sam's presence. She ignored it however, and kept walking.
Sam followed her close, but not too close, that way she didn't have to pass threw her again.
Elizabeth navigated her way through the twisted hallways of GH. Sam tried to remember the way back to the hospital room (and her body) but became extremely confused and gave up after a short time.
Elizabeth finally made it to the main lobby. Finally, a place Sam was familiar with!
Sam continued to follow Elizabeth. She went over to the waiting area. Sam froze in shock as she saw all the people who were waiting there. Lucky, Molly, Krissy, Alexis, and even Maxie. All of them were waiting for some good news regarding her condition.
The one person who wasn't there, Sam realized with a sinking feeling, was Jason. She quickly brushed the feeling away and listened intently on what Elizabeth was saying.
"Everything was going fine; Patrick was doing the procedure by the book. Sam flat-lined, just a minute ago, so I rushed out here to tell you. They haven't yet gotten a heartbeat." Elizabeth paused, waiting for reactions.
Sam noticed Lucky burying his tired face into his hands. Krissy held Molly, as they both burst into tears. Alexis tried to keep it together, but couldn't help but make a little whimper. Maxie just stared, her mouth open, frozen in shock.
"We aren't really sure exactly what caused the complications. She began to bleed out from her head wound before Patrick could finish closing her up. Her case of hypothermia was severe, so it could have very easily contributed to the complications." Elizabeth sighed. "I'm really sorry." She said quietly, before swiftly walked away.
Sam didn't stay to listen to the sure to be horrified reactions. She wanted to get back to her body; she wanted to shake herself awake. She realized she wasn't ready to die, at least not yet.
She flew as fast as she could, mentally cursing herself for not remembering the way back to the operating room.
Sam……
Sam stopped suddenly. She kept quiet, listening.
Sam……
Yes! There it was. The sounds of the hospital seemed to fade away.
Sam……
It was a man's voice. One she hadn't heard in a while, but one she would never forget.
She followed her name down many hallways, again not paying attention to where she was going.
When she did look around, she didn't think she was in the hospital anymore. She was surrounded by darkness.
Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. She spun in circles, trying to find a way out.
It was then that a bright light caught her eye. It was directly in front of her. It seemed to be growing bigger and brighter. She headed toward it.
She stopped, only inches from it. She had to squint in order to see. She wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but she didn't see any other option.
Sam……
The voice came from through the tunnel of light.
She held her breath, closed her eyes, and floated through.
When Sam next opened her eyes, it appeared as if she were in a meadow. It was bright green, with the sky a perfect blue above her. The clouds were white, pure and puffy. The meadow seemed to last forever, a never ending sea of rolling green hills. She looked around in wondrous amazement.
The thing was, she had never been there before. Yet she didn't feel any worry or anxiety. Instead, she felt as if she belonged there.
She looked around, not sure what she was doing here. She noticed she wasn't floating anymore. She also noticed she was wearing a long white dress instead of the hospital garb she was in before. She was barefoot and the grass was soft beneath her feet.
The hills beckoned to her. They made her want to run, far away, and never look back. Just to leave her horrible life, even for a little bit…
Yet, she didn't run. Something held her back. Instead she marveled at the simplicity of it all.
Then something caught her eye. Rather someone.
It was a man, taller then her, as most people were. He had shaved brown hair and he was dressed in baggy jeans and the old sweatshirt he always used to wear. He was also barefoot. His back was to her, yet she knew exactly who he was.
Happiness bubbled up inside her. Suddenly, he turned around, a crooked grin on his face.
"Danny!" Sam yelled, running toward her older brother. She thrust herself into his open arms. She began to bawl. "I…I…I...Th...Th…"
"Sam." Danny chuckled. "I can't understand you when you're crying like that."
She stopped trying to talk and took deep, calming breaths. She wiped her tears on the back of her hand. "I'm sorry. I'm okay now."
"Now that's better." he said. Danny pried Sam's grip from around him and held her back to look at her. "Look at you. You haven't changed a bit. Though your face has taken a more serious tone. Are those frown lines?" he teased.
"Oh Danny! You don't know how much I've missed you."
"And I've missed you little Sammy." Danny said, pulling Sam into a hug.
Sam smiled into his chest at his old nickname for her.
"Danny, I've got to talk to you about what happened." Sam said, sighing, and breaking the hug.
Danny opened his mouth to say something, but Sam interrupted. "Please Danny, just let me do this."
Danny nodded and Sam began. "You had been gone a long time. I had no idea where you were and when or if you were planning on coming back. Then the disease began spreading. Jason was just trying to protect me when we moved to Hawaii. I must admit, I went grudgingly, because I still believed you would come back to me eventually. But I did agree to go with him. We came back as soon as the disease cleared. When I heard that you had come back to town, and got infected…" Sam chocked back tears.
She cleared her throat and continued. "And they didn't have enough antidotes, and you passed away. I felt like my world had ended. I felt like the worst little sister. I never even got the chance to tell you I loved you so much or to say goodbye. So Danny, I'm really sorry."
"Sam, sweetie, its okay. There was no way you could have known all of that would happen." He reached out a hand and brushed away the tears on her cheeks.
"I know…but still. Anyway, you're here now, and that's what matters." Sam paused. "So does this mean you're alive?"
Danny shook his head, solemnly.
"Does this mean I'm dead?" Sam asked, trying to mask the note of fear in her voice.
Danny didn't answer right away.
"Danny?"
"Your not dead yet Sammy. It's complicated. You are on the border. Heaven is at the end of the meadow, and if you turn around and look, you will see yourself in the hospital."
Sam gulped and turned around. She indeed saw herself, it looked like a movie, and it was pretty far away.
"What does this mean?" Sam asked, fighting back hysteria.
"Only God can decide your fate now. All we can do is wait." He paused. "There is someone I want you to see." He turned around and beckoned to someone in the distance.
Sam couldn't see anything but then she saw a little girl, skipping, her hair flowing out behind her. She came to a stop right in front of her and Danny.
"Sam, I'd like you to meet Lila."
Sam stared in shock at the little girl in front of her. She had Sam's hair, though it was a lot straighter. She had Jason's eyes, she noted. And she had the cutest dimples around a full mouth. She was beautiful, just as she had known she would.
"Oh Lila." Sam managed to say, and Lila leaped into her mothers arms.
"Hi Mama. I missed you." Lila said, mumbling into the side of Sam's neck.
"Oh, I missed you too baby." Sam sniffled. "I never even dreamt of seeing you. And here you are, as beautiful as I could have imagined. And look how big you've grown!"
Lila pulled back and smiled. "Yup!" she said, proudly. "I'm five years old."
Sam noticed that she had a slight lisp. It made her love her even more.
"I thought you couldn't age after you went to Heaven." Sam asked, puzzled.
Danny answered from Sam's other side. "We can choose when we want to stop aging. Since Lila was only a baby when she arrived, she couldn't decide. And she still hasn't decided to stop aging yet." That was all he said before going back to concentrating on some unseen object.
Lila and Sam talked for what seemed like forever. Sam sat crossed legged and pulled Lila onto her lap. She played with her hair as they told each other stories of each others lives.
"Sam." Danny spoke.
She looked over at him. "Hmm..?"
"It's time to go."
She jumped up in shock, accidentally dumping Lila on the ground. "I don't want to leave yet. Unless I'm going with you guys…Am I going with you guys?" she asked, hesitantly, afraid of the answer.
"No Mommy." Lila replied from the ground.
Sam looked down at her.
"It's not your time yet. You need to go back to Earth. There are still people who need you, more than we do."
Sam clenched her fists and her eyes misted over. "But…"
"You can't argue with the Big Guy." Danny smiled. "Now come here and give your brother a hug, one last time."
Sam rushed into his arms. He kissed her forehead. "Bye Sammy." Sam was reluctant to leave the security of his arms. She had never felt so safe…except in Jason's arms, but that time was over and done with. "I will always miss you. And I love you Sam."
Sam nodded. "I love you too." She turned away from him quickly, not wanting him to see her tears.
She leaned over and knelt in front of her daughter. "Bye Lila. I love you so much baby girl." Sam pulled her into a tight hug, and kissed both her soft cheeks.
"I love you too Mama. Tell Daddy I love him too."
"I will." Sam got up. She looked at the family she wouldn't see again for a while.
She turned her back on them. It was probably the hardest thing she would ever have to do. She headed to the picture of the ER room.
When she reached it, she looked back and managed a small wave.
Then she turned and walked into the picture.
She felt a rushing, cool sensation as she was sucked back to her body. Instantly, she became claustrophobic.
"We got a heartbeat!" someone exclaimed in relief.
That was the last thing she heard before falling into a deep sleep.
