Hey, I am so so so sorry that it has taken me oh so long to update but here I am with a brand new chapter which will hopefully live up to the others. I haven't been writing in a while so please forgive me for this. This is for Ally who is sick at the minute. Get better soon hon.
Disclaimer – I don't own any OC character.
A pastel blue skyline.
Green trees that ascended to the heavens.
Perfect blades of grass caressing the feet of people who walked on top of them.
Merry bird song.
Smiling daisies.
Paradise expanding in every direction.
Kirsten looked around herself at the disturbing perfection that surrounded her. The soft pastel colours soothed her eyes and calmed her heart. There was no evidence of any human being around and no tiny creatures scuttled at her feet and the only sign of any presence besides her own was that of the chirping birds.
"Kirsten," a voice came from behind her.
Her blood froze in her body, her limbs locked against her body and her thoughts stopped. She feared that it was either Bill or Gary and that they had caught up with her after two months of being away from them. Was it two months? Had it been two weeks? Kirsten didn't know how much time had passed between her escape and now.
"Kirsten," the voice spoke again yet softer than before.
There was a hint of familiarity to the voice. She searched through her mind to try and find the owner to the voice but no matter how far she buried, she couldn't figure out who it was. It wasn't a man, or a child. It was a woman. And by the tone of her voice, a very loving woman.
"Kiki," it tried finally.
Again her body froze at the use of her nickname.
Slowly Kirsten turned around to face the person behind her. As she turned thoughts swam in her mind about who it could be. Who could know her nickname? Any number of people could as her father practically advertised her nickname. Who would call her it even though she hated it? Anyone just to piss her off. It wasn't Hailey because she called her 'Kiks' and Kirsten thought that the voice was too mature to be Hailey.
Kirsten finally came face to face with the woman connected to the voice.
Who she saw, was someone she had not seen in over ten years.
She looked as she did ten years ago except she was much more relaxed and happier. The pain in her face had been taken away and she was youthful looking and beautiful.
Kirsten froze.
"Mom?" she managed to say in an incoherent garble.
"Hi sweetheart," her mother replied softly as she took a step closer but Kirsten stumbled backwards in return.
The look in Kirsten's eyes was that of fear and confusion. Her mother was dead, she was there when she died, she was there when they buried her and she was there when her own mind fell apart as tears ceased to stop falling.
Amelia Nichol was dead.
Kirsten shook her head in fear.
"Honey, it's alright."
Still, Kirsten backed away.
If her mother was here before her and her mother dead, then that could only mean one thing.
She was dead too.
Kirsten turned to move away but her mother quickly put a soft hand on her shoulder and stopped Kirsten before going any further.
Her daughter's body shivered.
"Am I dead?" Kirsten asked in a small voice.
"What?" Amelia wondered.
"Am I dead?" she repeated as she turned back around.
Seeing the fear and confusion in her daughter's eyes, Amelia could see the little girl that looked up at her when she cut her knee while out playing with her friends. Seeing that little girl again caused her heart to melt and motherly instincts to take over.
"Oh honey," Amelia whispered as tears welled up in Kirsten's eyes.
Kirsten didn't fight against her mother as she hugged her in an embrace that only a mother's arms could provide. Amelia's delicate hands rubbed her daughter's back as sobs racked her body.
"No, no sweetie you're not dead," she whispered over and over again.
She wasn't dead.
"I'm – I'm not dead?" Kirsten stuttered coming out of the embrace.
"No sweetie, you're not," Amelia replied wiping away the tears that had fallen.
"Then-then why can I see you, why are you here, why am I here?" she asked rapidly.
"Kirsten, Kirsten sweetie calm down."
"How can I be calm?"
"Come on, let's take a walk," Amelia suggested holding out her hand to her daughter.
Kirsten slipped her own hand into that of her mother's and fell into line beside her as they walked slowly over the blades of grass beneath them.
"Do you have any idea where you are Kirsten?" she asked.
"No . . . I don't, I thought it might be Heaven when I saw you but there's no gate."
"Gate?"
"Yeh the gate that you are supposed to go through – to get into Heaven," Kirsten said.
"Oh that gate . . . there is that gate but it's not here . . . look at the skyline over there," she pointed, "you see the light coming from it.
"Barely," Kirsten squinted.
"That's the gate you are talking about."
"It's along way from here."
"Yes it is . . . and you are this far away for a reason."
"Why's that?"
Amelia stopped and moved so that she could face her child.
Kirsten searched her mother's eyes so see if there was any indication as to what she was about to say but as always her mother's eyes gave nothing away. Amelia Nichol was a loving and beautiful person but she had learned not to let anything show through her eyes especially when it came to her daughters.
"Kirsten . . . you are not meant to be here . . . the reason you are this far from the Gates is because it's not your time," Amelia began, "you still have a life to live."
"What do you mean? That this is some sort of limbo?"
"Yes sweetie, that's it . . . I didn't come here when I died because it was my time but this isn't yours . . . I'm here now to tell you this and to guide you back."
Kirsten tried to fathom the words that her mother had said to her.
She wasn't dead but in a sort of limbo.
"So what now?" Kirsten asked softly.
"I will guide you back and you will wake up, live the rest of your life, raise Seth, raise Ryan and raise Scarlett like you would have and I will see you one day in the very very very long future because the last thing I want is for you to be here long before your time."
"H-how do you know-"
"About Ryan and Scarlett?"
Kirsten nodded.
"I've been watching over you . . . and I've been with you all the time, I haven't left you or your sister since I died and I'm not about to stop watching over you now."
"Are they ok?"
"They . . . they miss you – a lot and Scarlett is beautiful, just like her mother and Ryan and Seth miss you like crazy."
"And Sandy?"
"I think you can answer that one for yourself sweetheart."
Kirsten lowered her head before looking back up at her mother and embracing her in a hug.
"I love you sweetie."
"I love you too mom."
"Now, time for you to go home."
"How do I do that?"
Amelia placed her hands out in right of her with her palms facing upwards.
"Take my hands," she instructed.
Kirsten placed her hands on top of Amelia's and held them.
"Now squeeze my right hand."
Kirsten did as instructed.
"And now the left."
Again she did as she was told; Kirsten squeezed her mother's hand.
"And I'll see you again," Amelia finished before everything around Kirsten coalesced and disappeared.
Sandy felt a faint squeeze of his hand and thought that he was dreaming at the tiny twitch.
"Kirsten?" he asked softly.
There was no evidence to suggest that she was waking up.
The bruises on her face caused one eye to swell shut and the purples shades and blue smudges decorated her face in a less than attractive way as the pain they must inflict ought to unbearable.
Seth was sitting on the other side of his mother's bed holding her small frail hand as intra-venous lines delivered much needed nutrients to her painfully thin body. Bruises and cuts lined her arm and he couldn't believe that those arms once held him as a baby and again as a child.
"What, what is it, dad?"
"She – she just squeezed my hand," Sandy said.
"What?" Seth asked elated.
"She just squeezed my hand . . . it was very faint but I could've sworn she did it . . . come on Kirsten squeeze my hand again – come on honey," he begged.
Seth felt his hand being squeezed. However faint it was he felt it.
"Dad! Mom just squeezed my hand!"
"Did she?"
"Yeh it was faint but it was a squeeze."
"Come on Kirsten baby," Sandy prayed out loud.
"Come on mom."
They could see that beneath her eyelids that her eyes were moving erratically almost as if she was searching for something.
"That's it Kirsten, open your eyes."
Seth and Sandy both held onto her hands and tried to coax her out of her slumber into the waking world. Anxiously they bit their lips and spoke to her softly and pleadingly.
"That's it, that's it."
"Come on mom, you can do it."
Her eyes continued to flutter underneath her eyelids.
Then suddenly.
Her eyes flew open.
Ta-da there is the new chapter and I'm hoping to be updating regularly now but don't get your hopes up but I'm sure Ally will give me a reminder when I haven't updated in a while. Sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes but I just wanted to get this up asap. Rock on.