Falling to Flying

Chapter Ten- You Don't Need to be Fixed

"Anabelle," I heard my name being called.

"Mom?"

"Happy Birthday!" I was standing in my old house, everything looked the same. The family pictures on the wall, the ugly wall paper in the kitchen, even the 80s radio playing softly in the background.

"How old are you, baby?" I felt my stomach drop as I recognized her warm voice coming from the back of the house. I cautiously made my way towards the noise, coming closer and closer to the homey dining area.

"Three!" said a small voice.

"That's right. How many fingers is that?"

I rounded the corner and saw a family standing around a little girl with a cake and candles. The little girl held up four fingers and said "These many!"

I heard a chuckle and my gaze flitted to the owner of such a familiar laugh. My heart stopped as I saw her wavy brown hair pulled back into a messy braid. She had on a soft gray cardigan and typical mom jeans but she looked beautiful, she was beautiful.

"Almost," she smiled and tucked the child's pinky finger behind her thumb.

I felt the urge to throw up as I saw that young child was me and that family was mine. I tried to speak, but no sound came out. I wanted to call out to her and tell her how much I loved her.

"Blow out your candles," suddenly I was sitting where the younger me was. My mom was facing me with her warm smile there to encourage me. I opened my mouth to tell her how sorry I was, how much I missed her, how much I needed her, but I still couldn't speak.

"Go on, honey, make a wish," I looked over at my dad whose dark eyes were looking down at me in adoration. I felt my throat close up as I felt panic begin to build in my chest.

"Make a wish, Anabelle," I looked over at my mother's lovely face. "Any wish you want." I breathed in deeply, trying to remember how she smelt, but I couldn't find a scent.

I closed my eyes. This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real.

"Make a wish..."

"Any wish you want."

"ANA!"

I jolted awake and saw green eyes looking down on me.

"You finally awake?"

I sat up and pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes.

"Yes," I croaked.

"Hey," I felt her sit down by my feet, "everything okay?"

"What time is it?" I ignored her question.

"It's almost noon, and I know you have work at two..." she trailed off.

Damn. I forgot about that. I had taken the week off (courtesy of my professors) to "recuperate from traumatic events" as the school counselor put it.

Whatever. A week free of classes is a week off of school, I'm not gonna complain. What's even better is that my week off lined up perfectly with our break from school for Thanksgiving. So, it's really like two weeks off, but today was the first day back to work.

"You don't have to go if you don't feel ready," Mel rushed hurriedly. "Everyone will totally understand if you're not feeli-"

"Mel," I interrupted.

"What?"

"Shut up."

"Kay."

I sighed while rubbing the sleep from my eyes.