My Hayley

My head is spinning although my eyes still refuse to open. My sense of time is horribly off. I hear voices, but I can’t tell where they are, or where I am, or if any of this is actually happening.

My heart is beeping. That’s a good sign. Wait, shouldn’t it be beating? Maybe it is, but the beeps are there to tell me I’m alright. Or I could just be making this entire scene up. Where am I? More importantly, who am I? What happened, and why am I stuck here in the dark?

I feel a hand on mine. It feels so cool and so soothing to me. I hear soft sounds of crying and a warm tear soaks into the skin of my arm. A silky strand of hair falls into my face as a pair of candy lips touches mine.

My lungs open up and I gasp, opening my eyes, and the blinding light surrounds the face of this angel. I wonder if I’m in heaven. No, can’t be, I’m not dead. I hope.

“Michelle, open your eyes.” I hear a stern voice and obey. A middle aged angel stands over me, refilling my IV with crimson fluid. It all hits me. I’m not dead; I just fell when I was running from….

Her, there she is, the first angel. Why was I running? Who in their right mind would run from her? Maybe I’m just not in my right mind….

She looks weak, washed out under the pale white lights. There’s a bandage on her arm, and I realize she donated some of her blood for me. My heart beeps faster and I want to wrap my arms around her but I can’t. I try to lock eyes with her but she refuses to look at me. Maybe she had pity on me, and once I’m okay she’ll leave me….

“Hayley?” My voice croaks. She looks up and flinches a little. I wonder what I’m doing wrong.

She walks toward me and sits on the edge of the bed. I want to reach out for her to hold me but my limbs still won’t respond. A thirst hangs in the back of my throat, and I cough. She presses a cup of water to my mouth and I drink, gratefully.

“How do you feel?” she asks sadly.

“Okay,” I lie.

“Listen…. I’m sorry.”

“For what?” I thought I was the one who was supposed to be apologizing.

“Scaring you away… I didn’t mean to. I just brought you to the park to tell you…. I love you.”

She what? She wasn’t leaving?

It all came back to me. The park, running, hearing her behind me until she grabbed onto me and I fell down into the rocky soil where I hit my head.

“I like Zack and everything, but I want you.” Those words are magic to me. He was everything she could ever want but she’s still picking me?

“A-are you serious?”

“Yeah… I mean it.” For once she sounds sure and genuine.

Everything feels lighter. My arms are mobile again, wrapping around her and pulling her down next to me.

“We’ll talk when you’re better okay?” she says wearily.

I nodded and cuddled up to her, taking in this new feeling, hearing her heart beating as my head lay on her chest. Everything feels calm and steady. The throbbing pain in my head settles into a dull static. Before I can even think, I fall asleep.