When I awoke, Allyson was not in the house. I got changed, from clothes in a small drawer that was in my room, and began my search for her.
It did not take long for me to find her. In fact, she called out to me while I was searching the kitchen.
"Ilana!" I heard my name. I opened the front door and smiled.
"Hullo, Miss Allyson."
Allyson was knee deep in mud, planting all the most beautiful flowers.
The colours where so bright, I could not take my eyes off them.
"Aren't they amazing?" breathed Allyson, brushing some hair out of her face, that had fallen out of her ponytail.
I was too stunned for words. I just dropped my jaw and joined Allyson on the ground.
"They don't grow on earth," Allyson pulled out some brilliant violet flowers with petals the size of my hand, from the dirt they originally came in. Then she pushed them into the hole she had made into the ground and patted new damp earth around the plant.
"What to help me?"
I helped her for the rest of the morning and that afternoon we went for a walk around the forest.
That night, I feel asleep soundly.
But I dreamt horribly.
I dreamt of my mum, and my dad.
"Dick." My mother sobbed, sitting next to my father who was sleeping in a hospital bed. My dad had heart monitors on, and he was bandaged up.
My father turned his head and awoke.
"Mary…" he coughed. His voice sounds so old and sore, I wanted to cry out to him.
"Dick…are you alright?"
I did not know why my mother asked this, it was obvious he was beyond alright. But my father smiled gently to her and raised his hand, twitching in pain, and placed it on her hand.
"I'll make a full recovery." He replied. His head shook a little, but my mother didn't notice. Her eyes where filled with tears.
"Dick…" My mother mumbled.
"Is Ilana alright?" My father asked suddenly. I was surprised he asked this. I would have thought he knew already.
"Well…" My mother stumbled, trying to find the words.
"Have you seen her? Is she in the hospital? Oh, dear lord I hope she's not hurt." My father raised his eyes to the ceiling.
"Dick…" My mother tried to calm him. But my father interrupted her and began to shake.
"She's alright, isn't she?" He seemed beyond grief now. "She's isn't hurt? I couldn't live if I hurt her."
"Dick, I'm sorry… It wasn't your fault." Tears covered my mother's face, and shone like diamonds.
"She's….gone?" His voice was light.
"Yes…" My mother held back a long sob she wanted so badly to let go.
"She can't be…she was only seven Mary… only seven…" My dad had tears in his eyes. I had never seen my father cry before.
"It's alright, Dick, she's with God, at a better place…" My mother gasped her voice tight.
"When's the funeral?"
"When you get out…" My mother was gasping.
"Mary, how could I do this? How could I be so foolish with our baby girl?"
"Dick, no-"
"Our only baby girl….Ilana….Oh our baby."
What my dad did after that was unimaginable. He turned to my mother and screamed at her, "Mary!" His eyes glazed over and her face went red. His hand shook as he stared at her.
He grabbed on to my mother neck, a tight hold, as if he wished to choke her. He did not finch from the wounds, and did not sound as if he was in any more pain. My mother sat as still as stone, her face whiter then marble. She did not try and stop him.
"You bring me back my daughter…." He muttered with his voice low and deep.
"Excuse me?" A doctor came in, clipboard in hand, glasses low on the nose.
"He's fine." My mother preyed his finger form her throat, as if it was no big deal, and my father grunted.
The doctor eyed my father, as his face went from red slowly back to pink.
I awoke. My bed was soaked threw with sweat.
Mumbling to myself, I got up, and walked out of my room. I soon found Allyson's room, and, just as I would have done with my own mother when I had a bad dream, I crawled in close to her, and feel asleep.
Allyson smiled as she felt my arms wrap around her, and kept me warm that chilly night.