30 days of love

Decision Day -- Day 30

I wake up the next morning to a silent house. I get up and pad toward my bedroom door, which I never close. Upon opening the door, a blue, mystical light overtakes me and shines into my room. Slowly, the light fades away to a normal hallway that I've walked through the past 5 years of my life. That's weird. I wonder if mom did that.

"Mom?" I pause, listening. "Mom, are you there?"

I go farther out into the hall, looking left and right for the source of the strange light. When I can't identify the source just from looking through the hall, I walk down the hallway to the stairs, where I see my mom standing in between two doors framed in a subtle blue light in the middle of the living room.

"Hello, Marie." She says.

"M~ Mom?" I pause. "Mom, why are there two doors in the living room, and where's dad?" I ask.

"Sweetie, Marie. Me and your father assume you already know, you're in a coma, barely holding on to life." She looks at me, lovingly. "We know that this is the last time that we might ever talk to you, but we want you to know what's happened."

I look at her in disbelief. "Mom, I knew about this being the coma world, I mean, I suspected, but... what are you saying?"

"Julie and I died in the crash, Marie. You were the only survivor, if just barely." She stops to let me process. "You survived, but have been in a coma. If we wait any longer to tell you and let you choose, you will die. That is a certainty."

I think for a second before responding. "So, what will happen to you, dad, and Julie?"

"We will stay here, and that is where you make a choice." She opens the door on the right to reveal Tom, looking over me, concerned. "You can either go back to your normal life, live a long life, and be with Tom without me or Julie, or you can come with us." She opens the left door to reveal Julie and my dad standing there, smiling. "I will tell you though, Marie, if you choose us, you WILL die in real life. Make your choice, and remember, no matter what, I love you."

I look back and forth between the two doors before stopping at one. I look back at my mom with certainty.

"I choose the love of my life. My true life."

"Okay then, go on through." She says. "I love you"

"I love you too" I reply. Right before I walk through, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see Julie standing in front of me. Suddenly, she wraps me in a bear hug and kisses me softly one last time.

"Goodbye, Marie." She says before she pushes me through the door.

I open my eyes with a start, confused. What happened? I look to the side and see Tom in the chair beside my bed.

"Tom? Tom is that really you?" I ask.

He comes over and looks at me. I immediately recognize him and force my body up into him,  hugging him as I start crying.

"Oh Tom, I left them there, my mom, my dad, and Julie. They're all still back there!" I sob, before looking up at him, suddenly content, as if an angel had lain down on my shoulders and reminded me that everything is alright. "And you're here."