Sonny

I didn't know how long I'd been asleep, but it was apparently long enough for Chad to fall asleep, too. His hands were wrapped around me in a protective way. He looked so peaceful when he slept. I wanted to stay there, but I knew I had to get up. My stomach was growling and my mom had bought me some food from a restaurant earlier.

I tried to move his arm, but it wouldn't budge. He moved slightly and his head rested on the back of the couch. I was scared to get up. I didn't want to wake him. I knew this was really frustrating and the more he slept, the more he could get away and relax. I finally moved his arm and started to get up. He moved again so I stopped moving. I stood there for a second, and when he was still I moved.

I was finally up and happy to be walking to the refrigerator. I was about to open the fridge when I heard a mumbled, "Sonny?"

I grabbed the bag of food out of the fridge and walked back into the living room. "Hey, Chad." My voice hadn't been any better than his. We both sounded like we'd been sleeping for years. "What do you need?"

"I think I'm gonna go back to sleep. I have a headache." he said.

I nodded and pointed at the mattress. "I think I'm gonna go outside for a little while. If you wake up while I'm gone just help yourself to anything you want. I should be back by then." I saw him holding his head in his hand. "Do you need some medicine?"

He didn't say anything. He finally nodded and I grabbed some out of the drawer we kept it in. I grabbed a coke because I knew that caffeine helped headaches. I gave it to him while I warmed my food in the microwave.

It didn't take long for it to get warm. As soon as it was done I took it outside. I hadn't bothered to look at my reflection in a mirror, so I had no idea what I looked like. I went downstairs and out of the door in the front of the apartment complex. My neighbors had designed some beautiful little sitting areas and put them up before I even moved here.

I sat down in one of the lawn chairs. There was a table with an umbrella on it next to me. I didn't grab a drink, but I didn't want to go all the way back up to my room to grab one. There would be a vending machine in the lobby that I could get something from later.

Sitting here was something different from any normal schedule I'd ever had. Even in Wisconsin I had a lot of things going on at once. I was thinking about climbing a tree, but decided that it wouldn't be the best idea so soon after sleep. I looked across the street at everything.

There was a line of stores with alleys in between all of them. When I'd first gotten there it scared me. I'd heard about what goes on in alleys, but I had never even seen one. There were little ones in Wisconsin, but they weren't as scary as these. I used to dream that someone would come out of it and take me away.

As I looked at them I wondered why I even thought that. It was completely ridiculous. Of course, there were things that went on in the alleys. Occasionally, I would see someone doing drugs or selling them in the alleys, but it wasn't likely that there was anyone waiting for a victim.

Hello, I wasn't in a vampire movie.

I didn't want to stare at those alleys anymore. I got up and started walking a little way down the road. It was warm today. I liked it when it was warm. There were other little areas besides the one that I was at all around the apartment complex. There was a little dip in the building that gave it a space to put something in. They decided to put a pool in, and it was open year-round.

They were working on a new area to put around the pool. It was coming along nicely. They'd put wood chunks on the ground and little bushes everywhere. They'd even bought some palm trees to put up for little parties. The pool was crystal blue. It was one of the best pools to go swimming in.

There was a reason my mom wanted this apartment. She was a swimmer. Well, more like a diver. Every apartment complex that we had gone to had a pool, but it only went to five feet. Mom couldn't dive in five feet unless she was ready for a concussion. When we came here we saw that this pool had a side that went twelve feet under and it had a couple of diving boards.

I liked to dive, too. But I only dived on the little diving board. When I jumped off of the high one, it gave me butterflies. I liked it sometimes, but another reason why I wouldn't do it is because I always made a weird face when I got the butterflies. My mom would laugh at me every time I did it. I knew that it was funny because she took a picture of me, but I didn't find it as funny as her.

Right then I really wanted to take a dip in the pool, but there was no way I was going to do it alone. I wanted Chad with me. Not because I wanted him with me, but because I'd almost drowned once and didn't like swimming alone. Okay, so that wasn't all. I did want Chad to be with me because I wanted him. He'd been so…prince-like lately.

As if he could read my thoughts, he magically appeared, looking like a prince.

"Hey, Sonny. That medicine you gave me works so well. Where did you find that stuff? It kind of made m-"

With that, Chad fell in the pool. I went into action immediately. I jumped into the pool after him, not even thinking about the fact that if I started drowning now there would be no one to help me because Chad had just fallen in.

I didn't care right then, though. The water was cold when I hit it. It felt good, but bad at the same time. I think it was because I worried about Chad. There were so many thoughts running through my head.

Is he okay? How did he fall so easily? Did he hit his head? Oh, please don't let him have hit his head! I need him. In more way than just one. Where is he!? I can't find him!

Chad was nowhere to be seen. I was scared to death. I wasn't able to open my eyes under the water because I had an allergy to the chlorine that would cause me to go blind for a while. I was reaching out all around me, but I was running out of air, quick. I swam up and looked around. I finally spotted him on the bottom of the pool. "Crap!" I yelled. I took a deep breath and swam to the bottom. I must've swam off a little because I was feeling around but couldn't find him.

Again, my body was telling me to take a breath. I swam up to the top and got another breath. Although my face was wet, I could feel the tears starting to slip out of my eyes. I went down again and this time when I was feeling around, something slightly touched my hand. I reached for it, but couldn't feel it.

I didn't care anymore, I opened my eyes. I saw Chad's shirt reaching out for me. It wasn't him; it was the current making his shirt go towards me. My lungs were on fire again, and screaming at me. I picked him up (thank goodness water makes everything lighter), and brought him to the top. The only problem was that I couldn't keep him and me up at the same time.

My body was making my mouth open for more air, but I refused to breathe in. If I let Chad go back in the water, I wouldn't have the strength to bring him back up. I already felt weak. At the same time, I had to get out of the water, or we would both die. I was starting to go back down to the bottom, momentarily forgetting to kick. I started again, but my legs felt all tingly.

My chest hurt and I felt like I'd been running for a long time. My arms were getting weak from holding Chad above me, and the tips of my fingers were losing feeling. My eyes were closed, but I could feel the movement of going down. I was losing all the feeling in my body. I'd had enough feeling to know when somehow Chad got pulled out of my arms. I was still going towards the bottom, but I knew that there had to have been someone that pulled him out. There had to have been.

I didn't want to lose him. I was so worried what might've happened to Chad, that I wasn't paying attention to what was happening. I felt nothing now. I couldn't tell if I was floating or sinking. I didn't feel any movement in the water, and my body finally made me breathe in. The water didn't feel like any water I'd had before. It felt like I had tonsillitis and I was trying to eat something. It burned and it scratched.

Please let Chad be okay. I thought.

I didn't know at that time that it may have been Chad losing me.

***

Chad

I woke up with my head spinning. I couldn't remember where I was or what I was doing; I just knew that I wanted to go back to bed. I was still tired, but most of all I was hungry. I slowly opened my eyes and shut them quickly. The room I was in was pure white, which didn't help the headache. I opened my eyes again and let them adjust this time.

I knew where I was as soon as I looked at everything. I was in a hospital. I didn't know why. I couldn't remember anything that had happened. I looked to my right to find a tray next to me. It had some Jell-o that looked wonderful. I was going to eat that. I examined the rest of the tray. There was a box of cooked stuff, but it had a lid so I couldn't see in it. There were plastic silverware and sugar substitutes next to that.

When I looked next to that I felt like I was going to throw up. I didn't know why. It was a water bottle. Water. Why would I throw up because of some water? It didn't make any sense. Water had no taste.

I ignored the water and went for the Jell-o. It was remarkable. I don't think I'd had anything so good in my life. I figured out that there was a hidden meaning to my wanting the Jell-o. My throat felt like someone had burned it from the inside out; I just hadn't comprehended that yet. When I swallowed the Jell-o I felt it, and realized that it had been there all along.

I still had no idea why I was here. Had I swallowed a bee? Because that's what it felt like. Maybe we'd been doing some stunt on Mackenzie Falls and I fell or something. What if I'd just gotten my tonsils removed? That sounded like the right explanation.

"How are you feeling?" a nurse asked me.

"Co-" I broke off with coughing, and it hurt. I'd started to cough because as soon as I started speaking the burning got worse. I calmed down and tried again, slowly. "A little bit confused."

That didn't sound like me. I sounded like a seventy-year-old. I decided that until my throat was better, I wouldn't be talking much.

"You should be fine. The doctor will explain everything. Let me get him." she told me.

She wasn't gone long. The doctor was with her when she came back and he had some papers. "So…Mr. Cooper. How are you?" he asked.

"Not too good. I don't remember anything." I told him.

"Well, I am Dr. Hershing. I am going to be your doctor for a while." he paused. "You seemed to have taken some medicine that made you just a little loopy. No one knows for sure what happened, but somehow you wound up in a pool. We don't know who brought you in. Most likely, someone who saw what happened but didn't want to get in trouble for it."

"So, when am I gonna get out of here?" I asked.

"Tomorrow. Everything seems to be normal, but we want to watch you just in case. You are very lucky, Mr. Cooper."

Why don't I feel lucky? I thought. Something wasn't right. There was a voice talking to me, but I couldn't tell what it was saying. I needed to get out of here and go…where? I didn't know. I just knew I had to go somewhere.

"Thanks, Doc." I replied. He told me that he would be right back with my medicine and it would make me feel better. I told him that was fine, but that was before I knew that my medicine was a shot. I tensed and started to get off my bed, but he told me that he was putting it in my IV. I passed out two minutes after he put the shot in.

***

Sonny

I was in a garden. I hadn't ever seen it before, but it was beautiful. It may have been bigger than Chad's garden, but it wasn't prettier. I noticed that it was very warm, and there were sprinklers going off.

"What is up with all the gardens lately?" I asked myself.

"I thought you liked gardens." a voice from behind me said.

I turned to see Chad standing there. My heart stopped for a second. He looked so amazing in this garden.

I didn't know why my heart wouldn't start beating again. I felt nothing but stillness. He didn't normally do this to me, so why was I acting like this? I couldn't remember. I was trying so hard to remember what I knew was important. Every time I tried, though, I would come up blank. Oh well.

"I do." I said.

"Good. I made this place for you." he replied.

"Really? Wow, this place is amazing." I exclaimed.

"You're amazing, Sonny. Why don't we go for a walk?" he asked. He took my hand and we started walking down a path. It was layered in rocks that were all sorts of different colors. It was pretty, but at the same time I felt like I was going to Wonderland.

"So, where are we going?" I asked.

"It's nowhere special. It's just up ahead." he said. We walked a few more feet and he stopped. He turned me to face him. "Sonny, there is something I have been waiting to do for a long, long time."

There went my heart again. It would start racing and then stop. "Wha-"

Before I could finish he put his fingers to my lips. "Shush. Just hold on." he said. He looked at me for a few more moments, and then he started leaning in. I was watching him so intently that I wasn't even realizing what he was doing.

Chad's going to kiss me… Oh my goodness, Chad is going to kiss me!? I thought.

He put his hand on my cheek. It gently stroked my hair behind my ear. He was leaning down, and my eyes were starting to close. He was now so close that I could feel his breath on my lips. They felt like tiny little kisses I was getting before the big one. I suddenly felt very nervous. I looked away, and noticed that there was something shining behind a shrub.

As I looked closer, I noticed that there was another little garden behind it.

"Wait." I whispered. I still hadn't had my voice, but I wanted to go in that garden for some reason. I also wanted him to chase me. My mom had always taught me that if you want a boy, you have to let him chase you. Let him get just close enough that he thinks he has the kill, and then run away again. That's what I was going to do.

I ran to the other garden and stopped dead in my tracks. There was a pond.

"What's wrong?" Chad asked.

"The pond. I…" My head was starting to hurt. Whatever it was that I couldn't think of earlier came flooding back, but I couldn't see it yet. Then I felt it.

The pool. Chad had fallen in the pool and I tried to save him. But I couldn't remember getting out.

"Oh no." I said.

"What?" Chad asked. He had a true look of concern on his face.

"I'm dead. That's the only logical explanation. But…if I'm dead…then why are you here? Oh my gosh, you died. I couldn't save you. Chad, I am so, so sorry." I started mumbling. I was on the verge of tears.

"Sonny, you aren't dead if you don't want to be." he said.

"What?" I asked. He started running back to where we came from. "Chad! Where are you going!?"

"Follow me!" he called back.

I did as he asked, but when I passed the shrub, I wasn't there anymore. I was in a very white room.

"Time of death, 6:34 p.m." someone said.

I could hear this loud "doooooooooo." It was getting annoying. Then it changed to "doo doo doo doo."

"Wait a minute. She's alive." the same person said.

I wanted to rub my eyes, but I couldn't feel my arms. I opened my eyes. Everything was fuzzy.

"Are you okay?" That came from a doctor.

"I…think so." I replied.

He let out a breath. "Good."

"Why can't I move anything?" I asked.

"We gave you some morphine for when you woke up. Sonny, you drown." he told me. I knew that much. He turned to another doctor and said, "Can you believe two drowning patients in one night?"

"Wait. Chad?" I asked.

"You know about that? How? No one could find who brought him here. Or you for that matter." he said. I saw it click, and then he said, "Do you know what happened, Sonny?"

I slowly nodded and told him the story. "Well, at least…" The doctor's voice drifted off as I fell asleep.