In the Twinkle of an Eye

The Dreamer

The doctor sadly ambled over to the metronome of the life support machine. Mrs B turned away, slumping helplessly into a heap in the corner of the room. Everybody stood deadly still, holding onto to one another with tear strewn eyes.

The sound of the doctor shuffling broke Mrs B's stupor as she looked up to catch a glimpse of a red eyed Katrina pirouetting a hundred and eighty degrees. Mrs B closed her eyes as tight as she could and prayed for something, anything, a miracle.

A warm breeze caressed the side of her face removing a tear-soaked strip of blonde hair from over her eye. She looked up sharply catching a glimpse of a ghostly face winking and nodding to Blossom on the bed.

'WAIT!' Yelled Belle from the top of her lungs. The sound of the yell shook the very foundations of the hospital, the wide eyes of the bystanders struck by the newfound virility in Belle.

Bolting out of her slouched position and leaped with invigoration towards the bed.

'Move that greasy paw away from that machine, NOW!' The doctor pulled away his hand as If he had just had his fingers in a 100,000-watt mouse trap; his disbelief in dragons was now a silly superstition. 'Look! Her eyes are flickering, they're moving! She's waking up. Katrina, open that window more, we need some fresh air in here!' Katrina flung herself at the window and then to the other side of Blossom's bed with the speed of a leopard.

'She's right, she's right!' cried Katrina. 'Her eyes are opening and look, her mouth is moving too, she's trying to talk. Everybody move back; stop crowding around.'

Belle stepped up and took the situation by the scruff of the neck. 'Ok. Everybody except me, Katrina and any necessary doctors get out of the room now!' The room quickly cleared as everybody obeyed like scolded children.

'W, why are my eyes so heavy?' Blossom thought to herself, closely followed by the question of why she was so hungry.

With a great effort, she managed to force her eye open just a peep but quickly closed back on themselves as she was reintroduced to the light of life. She tried to talk; but severely struggled. Even moving her lips was to move a house with her mind. She attempted to open her eyes again, this time the light was more bearable. The distorting blur of brightly lit room slowly began to come into focus.

The face of a bright and ghostly figure leaned over her smiling. He was looking deeply into her eyes with a vibrant spark in his own. She felt a gentle whisper of a familiar man's voice in her ear, 'wakey, wakey sleepy head. Don't forget, I love you.'

Blossom shot up in her seat, much to the shock of those in the room, 'DAD!' she screamed with excitement and reaching out to grab the air in embrace, only to catch the air and fall face down first into the bed. Belle and Katrina stood frozen in place, not sure whether they whether they were in a dream.

After a brief moment of staggered shock, Belle snapped herself from her disbelief and tears welled up in her eyes. 'Blossom is that really you?' she whimpered, before throwing her arms around the bundle of Blossom on the bed.

'Mum!' forced an exhausted Blossom. 'W, where's dad? I don't understand, he was just here a second ago. He was stood right next to you. When I woke up, I could hear him speaking to me.'

Belle's eyes began to well up with tears once again, upon realising that the presence she felt in the room was in fact Kaiser's. With her bottom lip trembling and tears streaming, a mournful smile found its way to her face.

'I seen him too,' she said meekly. 'So, what did he say to you?' Blossom looked stern for a moment as if trying to remember a dream. Then her lips began to tremble, and her eyes started to tear up.

'He told me that he loves me. He told me that he never left me and that he will always be here.' She stopped and stuttered as if something was trying to force itself from her mind.

'What is it Blossom? Is everything ok?' asked Belle.

'There's something else, something else I can remember' Blossom lifted her head and looked lovingly into her mother's eyes. 'There was another you. No, it was a piece of you, something you had lost from yourself when dad passed away. I was lying in this bed, you and dad entered through the door!' Blossom rubbed her head. 'Oh, it's so blurry yet so vivid in my mind! Yes, you were both there and dad was talking to you, but he was hurt. He was telling you how much he loved you, then he told you that it's time for you to go back, to go back and live your life again, to move on. Then there was something he whispered to me, something I'm supposed to tell you.' Belle, leaned over with glistening eyes. 'He said "the most beautiful eyes were the prize, and I am a winner every day."'

Belle slumped backwards and gasped, her face melting away the years of toil and pain.

'How could you possibly remember this? He said this to me the day we decided to build a relationship together I have never told you that! I never told anybody about that.'

All of a sudden, Belle stopped dead in her tracks as a sudden and brilliant flash of emotions, memories and understanding overwhelmed her. Blossom could have sworn that the dull and meagre complexion changed forever in that very moment.

The tenseness from her face had diluted into a tender softness. She felt the underlying sensation of exhilaration circulate through her body. The whole world now seemed to be at piece. Turning and looking around the room, as if it was the first time, she had ever opened her eyes.

'I've cried all the tears I have to cry. I'm back my girls. I'm back.'

She turned to Katrina who was crying and smiling gleefully and gave her a loving hug. She looked into Blossom's sparkling eyes and noticed a twinkle, the same twinkle she had seen in Kaiser's eyes looking straight back at her.

'This is the beginning.' This is where the world is going to change.