2014

"I tell you, she responded!" Janine said to Sydney. "It wasn't much, but she mimicked what I said to her. I'm gonna start her on the shots again."

"Now, Mom, you already tried that a few years ago. Remember, Adrian?" Sydney asked her husband, who nodded. "Nothing happened that time. You don't want to get your hopes up for nothing again."

"Hopes are all I've had for twenty years," Janine replied. "Do you want to take that away from me?"

"Mom, she's made noises before, or smiled," Sydney reminded her mother. "Do you really want to go through that all over again? The seizures, the irregular heartbeat?"

"They've made improvements in the drugs," Janine argued.

Several weeks passed. Rose was given the drugs but at first seemed to have made no improvement. Then one night she opened her eyes at the sound of the wind chimes just outside her window. Mesmerized, she got out of her bed and took her first steps in twenty years. "Mama?"

Janine heard her daughter call to her and dashed upstairs, only to find Rose collapsed on her bedroom floor.

Several days later, Janine heard talking coming from Rose's room and went to investigate. She found Rose busily talking to herself while rummaging through drawers. "Where are my things, Mom?" she cried. "Sydney's been in here again, hasn't she? It isn't fair! I don't mess with her stuff!"

"Rose, honey, you've been sick," Janine said patiently. "There's a lot you don't remember. Some things have been changed around, but it's all right. You'll get used to things being the way they are now."

Rose just stared back at her mother with wide, frightened eyes.

At the advice of Rose's neurologist, Janine kept her away from the rest of the family, as the doctor had warned her that the shock of finding out that she'd really been asleep for twenty years right away might send her daughter right back into the coma. Rose began physical therapy, learning to walk and to take care of her basic needs all over again.

One day Rose was looking through her high school yearbook and came across a photograph of Adrian. The following morning, she saw a couple of teenage girls walking to school and automatically fell into step behind them. Entering the building, she was totally bewildered as she looked around at a sea of unfamiliar faces. She didn't recognize a soul, then suddenly realized that everything else looked different as well: the hallway, the doors, everything. Fighting a mounting surge of panic, she continued to walk down the hallway, completely unnoticed by anyone else, until she finally saw a familiar face. "Adrian?"

The teenage boy looked at her nervously. "I'm getting out of here," he muttered.

"Adrian!" cried Rose, frantically taking off after him, until she felt a gentle hand grasp her upper arm and turned to look into a pair of familiar brown eyes.

"Rose?"

"Coach Belikov?"

Dimitri helped her back home. He'd heard from Mason, Adrian and Sydney's son who was currently one of his students, that Janine had planned to start Rose back on the shots again, but in his heart of hearts he'd truly believed that they'd once again prove to be a waste of time, so he'd been genuinely shocked to find the former cheerleader not only up and walking, but actually visiting her former school.

Seeing her standing in the hallway lost and confused, gazing at Mason and believing him to be his father Adrian, Dimitri's heart had gone out to Rose. He'd realized that she thought it was still 1994, that she was still seventeen years old. He'd known that he shouldn't be the one to tell her the truth, yet he'd desperately wished that there was something he could do to help her.

"Come on," he'd said at last. "Let me take you home. I'm sure your mother's really worried about you."

Overwhelmed, Rose felt that she had no choice but to do as Dimitri had said. In his presence she suddenly felt calm, as if he were a lifeboat on a turbulent sea. She clung to him, knowing that he would keep her safe.

"Here we are." They'd arrived back at her house. He gave her a friendly smile and then turned to walk back to the school.

She entered the house to find her mother sitting beside the telephone. "There you are!" Janine exclaimed. "I've been worried sick about you!"

"How long was I asleep, Mom?" asked Rose. "A month? A year?"

"It doesn't matter now," Janine said quickly. "All that matters now is that you're better, and getting even better all the time. Come on, let's have some hot chocolate."

"Mom?" Rose was practically shouting. "Where are my school books? My clothes? Why doesn't Sydney live here anymore?"

"Sydney's married now."

"How could you let her get married?"

"She was nineteen, old enough to make her own decisions."

"But I'm not even nineteen yet!" Rose could feel the icy grip of fear squeezing her heart.

"There's something you've got to know," Janine began. "You'll find out anyway. Do you remember Adrian?"

"Of course I remember Adrian! Where is he?"

"Adrian and Sydney are married now, Rose."

"But Adrian loves me!" Rose was so upset that she could barely get the words out. "How could you let her do that? She knows that I love Adrian, and that he loves me!"

"Darling, Adrian waited for you for so long."

"How long has it been, Mom? How long was I asleep for?"

"Twenty years."