Our Dark Collision (English edition)

I

Beep ... beep ... beep
I have not heard anything else, for hours I have not heard anything beyond the slow sound of Annie's beats, continuous, incessant. Her chest rises slowly, as if taking an unimaginable effort. Every hint of noise from the machinery next to her bed reminds me that I have to keep praying, that I have to keep shaking her hand, that I must not give up all hope. I have to stand up for her.
"And for me"
Her tears continue to fall copiously down my cheeks, streaking them, while I still don't understand how quickly a life can be upset, it takes less than a second. We are beings so fragile, so precarious, we live life according to everything that revolves around us believing we are at the center of that universe and instead, in the blink of an eye, we realize that we are a tiny piece that fits perfectly with all the others. The air in the room seems to weigh like lead.
Beep ... beep ... beep
-Please help her, I beg you, please help her- I don't know who I'm praying, I've never believed in God, but I repeat the same phrase over and over, shaken by sobs. I lift my eyes from Annie's hand for a moment to look at her face, she doesn't seem to show any signs of conscience. Her eyes are closed and her dark brown hair falls to the sides of the pillow on which she rests her head. I'm not used to seeing it so dull and this thought throws me into a deep and frozen abyss. I put my head back on our joined hands, I never let him go. I keep making slow circles with my thumb on her palm.
-Please Annie, please don't leave me- I whisper. I can't imagine a future without my sister, without the blue-eyed girl always ready to defend me, without her laugh. I cannot conceive of a world that she is not a part of. It's like seeing a non-colored drawing, there are edges, there is the pencil line, but the color is missing, what gives life to the drawing is missing. I am the edges, Annie is my colors. For a moment my lips curl into a sad smile at that thought, then a constant sound brings me back to reality.
Beep ... beep ... beeeep
I jerk my head up turning to observe the machinery, the next moment my gaze darted towards Annie, not breathing, there is no heartbeat.
"No"
-Help! Please help her! - I cry. My parents rush into the room with the doctors in tow. I feel my body heavy, I am pervaded by an anguish that paralyzes my body.
-Check the pulse! - exclaims a nurse.
-Beat absent! - replies another.
-Proceed with resuscitation! - someone orders. My parents cling to each other, it seems absurd to be able to think, but there is so much love in that moment. I squeeze myself against the wall, as if I could become one with it. I stay still, I can't move a muscle. I keep my eyes on the barrier of doctors and nurses around Annie's bed.
-Please save her, please do, I'll do anything- I whisper, squinting my eyes flooded with tears.
The world stops, the screams disappear, reality distorts. I slowly open my eyes. The only thing that can move is me. I feel an unnatural calm, the terror of a few seconds before has vanished into thin air. A dense darkness winds its way around me, surrounding me. Small silver reflections shine in it, ironically it reminds me of the glitter that Annie and I used for Christmas crafts. Everything takes on an underbrush smell after a heavy rain.
-Ava- I hear myself called. I turn instinctively but see nothing beyond the black blanket.
-Ava- someone calls me again.
-Ava ... I can save her- he whispers.
-What? - I exclaim incredulously looking for the person from whom the voice comes.
-I can save your sister, Ava- the voice repeats with a persuasive tone.
-Who are you? - I cry.
The fog in front of me begins to change, joining and separating, to create the silhouette of a man, or maybe a boy, it's like a blurry photo, I can't focus on the figure in front of me. Then two blue eyes appear, or maybe green, I can't understand it, they are inhuman.
-Who are you? - I repeat agitated, the calm of a little while before seems to have dissolved into nothingness.
-I am Asuras and I have the power to grant your wish, you just have to make an agreement with me- says the voice coming from the shadow, it sounds sweet as honey, but I feel something bitter in it.
I don't know if I'm passed out or if I'm hallucinating, I just know that I'm not thinking when I say "Okay save her, do what you want but save her."
The figure moves towards me and holds out his hand, a hand with long, tapered fingers, made of shadows.
-Ava Lander, tie your life to mine and save your sister- the shadow whispers.
I have no idea what's going on or what I'm doing, but I take her hand. The shadow begins to rise up my arm, up to the chest. Panic assails me, I feel like I'm suffocating. Whispered words gravitate around me pounding my head.
"Ashukt'an velaktutas misaah"
The darkness blurs my vision, the silhouette disappears together with the two eyes. I want to scream but I can't.
I'm going to die, I think.
Then the pain disappears and with it the black blanket. Everything returns to his place, as if nothing had ever happened. There is the hospital room, my parents, the bed and the doctors around it. I begin to think that I have really had hallucinations, perhaps related to the shock, but then a moan rises from the bed.
"Was it all real?"
-Annie- I whisper with caught breath as my heart explodes with joy.
- Honey! - exclaim my parents rushing towards her and hugging her. I do the same but as soon as I am a few steps away from Annie my father looks up at me.
-Who are you? -He asks frowning.
I am stunned for a few seconds.
-Daddy it's me, Ava- I answer.
Annie looks at me with a blank expression, as if I were a stranger, my heart is hit with a stab of pain.
- Gentlemen, is everything okay? - asks a nurse behind me, turning to my parents.
-We don't know who this girl is, can you please take her away from our daughter? She needs rest - my mother says annoyed.
-What? - I mumble.
-Madam come with me please- the nurse invites me. She has two blue eyes that remind me of Annie's.
"No, her are clearer, more joyful"
-I don't move from here, they are my parents and she is my sister- I say firmly pointing to her. For a moment I could swear I could see a flash of consciousness in Annie's eyes, but if so, it went out after a moment. The nurse exchanges a puzzled look with my parents. My mother stares at me with an air of reproach, if she could she would incinerate me immediately. I see the nurse pressing the button of a small remote control that until a few seconds before her was in the pocket of her gown. I take a few moments to understand what it is. Two nurses burst into the room and grab me by the arms trying to carry me out.
-No! - I exclaim.
-Mom dad it's me! I'm Ava! - I keep screaming. But they look at me the way you look at a murderer, eyes accusing and horrified. I keep writhing, trying to free myself from the nurses' grip. Tears begin to sting in my eyes as a louder screech makes its way into my head. My ears begin to ring, everything becomes muffled, the world swings. The last thing I perceive before closing my eyes is the cold of the floor on my face, then nothingness.