Chapter Fourteen - Fallen in a Black Hole?

Everything was blacked out for hours. I couldn't open my mouth to speak. I couldn't hear. I couldn't see or think straight.

And then slowly I began to hear again. Quiet, faraway voices... Different people, all talking one after the other. I recognized the voices but my mind was too shady to remember who was saying what.

"The doctor says she'll be awake soon..."

"Oh my God, she's okay, she's okay!"

"Samantha! My little Samantha! Thank goodness!"

Grams? That last person to speak had been Grams! "Grams!" I tried to say but I couldn't open my mouth to speak.

A male voice said, "Okay, don't pounce on her the second she opens her eyes, okay? You might give her a heart attack and then she'll really end up dead."

Dead? Did I die? I DIED? AHHH!

Wait, no, they kept saying I was about to wake up.

"I had no idea comas were this serious. Lords made it seem like such a tiny problem." was that...my mother's voice...?

"Ooh she better wake up. I bet she's going to freak when she sees me. Should I leave for her sake?" Wait. Was that Heather's voice?

Suddenly my eyes started to flutter open.

"She's waking up!" I think it was Marissa's voice who said that.

"Finally." Heather's voice echoes in my ear making my insides wince with pain.

"Shhh..." Casey's voice soothes me. Awww.

I can't believe this is the Real World again. I really can't. It feels like forever since I've heard my friends and family speak like they really should. Except for Heather, she still seems a little different here.

The blinding white lights hit my eyes so suddenly I opened my mouth and screeched.

Suddenly someone was holding my face in his warm hands and making me look into his eyes, despite my own watery ones. "Sammy? Are you okay? Are you awake now?"

It was Casey! I nodded, forcing a smile onto my lips. Every bone in my body ached. Except where Casey was holding me, then I felt okay.

He let go of me and sat back a little, looking relieved. "Jesus...thank God."

"Samantha!" Grams was on the other side of me, hugging me.

I yelped because it hurt when she hugged me. It hurt a lot.

"Mother, she has two broken ribs and a broken arm! Don't attack her!" my mother said to Grams.

Grams took a step back. "Oh, I am very sorry, Samantha. I just missed you so much... I was so worried... Never do anything like that again! Never!"

"What? What did I do? Why am I here? Why do I have broken bones?"

"Wait. You don't have amnesia do you?" Mother asked.

I laughed a little. Of course Lady Lana would ask that. "No, Mom, I remember everything and everyone fine. Except for how I got here."

Marissa was standing by Dot and Heather in the corner but she rushed up to me. "Ohmygod Sammy I was freaking out! You scared us all SO BAD! The doctors said you weren't going to live. But you were in a coma and you're OK now but Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Casey and I came here every day and so did your mother and grandmother, and we kept saying things like 'Please wake up' to you and stuff like that. And Casey told you he loved you and we were just talking to you even though you were half-dead and couldn't hear us and...and..and...Ohmygod, we missed you, Sammy!" she hugged me and I didn't even mind the pain. It was all erased for a split second while she hugged me. Marissa was back. The real Marissa!

And now I understand why in that Alternate World I kept hearing things they didn't really say. Like when Casey told me he loved me and I asked him "What?" and he said he didn't say anything like that. But now I know it was the real life Casey who had been sitting here telling me that... And when Marissa told me to wake up and that everyone was waiting. And when Mom started crying and telling me to wake up. It all made perfect sense now.

"How did I get here?" I repeated. It almost hurt to talk.

Lana told me. "When I told you that you were going to live with your father, you were so angry and upset and said you wished I had never left for L.A, so you stormed out of the apartment and began jaywalking across the street, most likely to go over to your friend Holly at the Pup Parlor. I was about to run out and get you but before I could reach you, a car hit you. And we called the ambulance and 911 and they tried to fix you up but you wouldn't wake up. It's been four days. They said you were in a coma and you might not live. And I couldn't stand the thought of pulling the plug on you. I decided that if there is hope on my soap show, there is hope for you."

I tried to breathe properly. "Four days?" in my dream-like-state it was over a whole month! Wow.

She nodded. "You're back now. Thank goodness. The doctors informed us all today that there is a chance of you waking up. They tried everything they can. And you are back and..." she let a few tears escape. "You never realize how much you have until you've lost it all, Samantha. And I have so much. I would never give you up. For anything."

By now, Casey and Grams and Heather and Marissa and Dot were all inching out of the room. Marissa shut the door behind her. I would need a thorough explanation of Heather's presence later.

"I love you, Mom." I said, thankful for the privacy in the room now.

"I love you too." she said as she daintily hugged me so not to hurt me. "And I've been in here a number of times, crying and asking for you to forgive me. For leaving you all those years ago."

I remembered in my dream-like-state New World, when she had asked me to forgive her and I had no idea what she meant but I said I forgive her anyway. Now I understood.

"I forgave you a long time ago." I said. I found myself crying too.

"We can talk later, Sunshine, but I think your friends are dying to speak with you. So I will see you tomorrow in the morning, alright? That's when they're releasing you from the hospital."

I nodded and smiled. "Bye, Mom."

"Goodbye, Sunshine." she whispered as she left.

Next came in Casey and Marissa after my mother.

I asked, "Where did Heather go?"

"She's waiting." Casey said slowly as he watched my expression. "She wants to talk to you separately."

"Sounds fine," I said cheerfully. "Guys, I need to tell you something. About my coma."

"Yeah?" Marissa said nervously.

Casey sat down on one side of me Marissa on the other. "Tell us," he said as he lightly stroked my hair.

"During my coma I had a really long, really extensive dream. It felt real. Like real real."

"What?" they didn't understand.

And so I explained everything to them. About how I was in a new world, how they had changed, what had happened. Even the Heather parts. I told them EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. Starting from the wish I had made, ending until the point New Casey had kissed me and I had blacked out again.

"Wow," Casey said when I was finished. "Seems like a really elaborate dream."

"It was more than a dream." I said. "It took me to a whole new life. Showing me how my life would have been affected if my mom had never left. It was brutal and... I'm just so glad to be back."

"We're glad to have you back too." Marissa smiled. Casey leaned down and kissed my forehead and then grabbed my hand. He intertwined his fingers in mine as he said, "Maybe the dream was to teach you something."

"And it worked." I marveled. I still couldn't believe Real Marissa and Real Casey believed me! See what true friend and boyfriend they are?

"Now explain to me about Heather. We can talk more about my Dream Thing later."

Casey explained, "Well, when she heard you might die she freaked out. Because she felt guilty."

Real Heather had a conscious? Hmm.

"You saved her life before, and she never even thanked you for it. She felt like if you died she'd never forgive herself. That if you died and you were to ever see her again somehow, you'd never forgive her."

"Tell her I forgive her."

Casey and Marissa looked at each other. Then they both stood up together. "Maybe you should tell her that yourself, Sammy."

Maybe I should.