Precious Miracles

Chapter 5

"That was so beautiful," I sobbed. "You have the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. I mean, besides Emily. Your voices are equally the sweetest, most angelic voices I've ever heard."

"Awwww, Precious!" Sméagol cried as he squeezed me tightly with such joy, giggling softly. His laugh was so sweet.

"Did you make that song up?"

He shook his head.

"Well, where did you learn it?"

"We don't knows," he said thoughtfully. "It comes to us, we guesses."

"Well, it was really beautiful, and it meant a lot to me."

"We means every word."

I smiled at him. "Thank you. You're really sweet."

"Awwww." Sméagol smiled warmly. "Stay with us, Precious," he said lovingly. "We be your Precious. We knows we can't takes Emily's place, but we wants to be your Precious... if you lets us... if you wants us to."

"I would love that," I sniffled. "I miss Emily so much. Losing her was worse than any pain I've ever felt, even worse than being abused by my dad or losing my mother... and I really need someone." I began to cry again. "I need you."

"We needs you, too, Precious," Sméagol sniffled. "So alone we were. Hundreds and hundreds of years, we lives all alone. Nobody cares about us before. Nobody wants us, and we can't go back home. Never again, Precious."

"You can come home with me," I said. "I know you're sensitive to the sun and light, but I can help you with that. You'll have a warm bed and good food to eat."

Sméagol's eyes widened. "Allison wants us to comes home with her?"

"Yeah, I mean, if you want to."

"Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes! We goes home with Allison! Yes!"

Well, if I can find my way out of the cave, I thought, and if I can even get back home. After all, I had no idea where the Misty Mountains were located. Surely, not in Utah.

"Does it promise it won't leaves us?" Gollum asked.

"Yes," I said. "I promise. Emily always told me she wasn't going anywhere, so I'm telling you the same thing. I'm not going anywhere."

"Ohhhh!" Sméagol squeezed me tightly as he cried happily. "We never goes anywhere, either, Precious!" He kissed my cheeks. "Never, never, never!"

We held each other tightly, crying tears of joy, safe in the knowledge that we would always have each other. We laid back as I closed my eyes, and fell asleep in the comfort and safety of his arms.

When I opened my eyes, however, I was nearly blinded by the bright light above me. I covered my eyes for a moment, and realized that I was no longer lying on a hard ground. I slowly removed my hands, and looked at my surroundings. I was lying in a bed, surrounded by white walls and a large window with white blinds. "Sméagol?" I called out softly. "Sméagol? Where are you?" I looked around, but did not see him anywhere. Then, it dawned on me that it was all a dream, and Gollum and Sméagol never existed. I sunk my face into my pillow, and began sobbing my heart out.

"Hey, Sweetie." A few minutes later, after I'd calmed down a bit, I heard the sound of Sarah's voice, and felt her gently patting my back. "You okay?"

"What happened?" I asked, still very groggy and wet around the eyes from crying.

"You were sedated," Sarah responded.

"Oh," I said glumly. "How long was I out?"

"Just twenty-four hours." Sarah noticed the immense amount of sadness in my eyes, and that I'd been crying heavily. "You okay, Honey?"

"No," I said as I began to cry again.

"I know," Sarah said as she hugged me with tears in her eyes. "Me, neither."

It was so painful to return home again, knowing Emily wouldn't be there. Seeing the tree left as it was before our shopping trip, and smelling the scent of cinnamon and pine, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. Emily was here once, but now, she's gone. I couldn't bear to look at the tree, so I ran upstairs to my room. I crawled into bed, sobbing my heart out.

Why was life so cruel to me? I thought to myself. It was painful enough losing my mother when I was twelve, being abused by my father my whole damn life, and yes, even losing him was painful. It was even more painful losing Emily, and being in this house we shared all alone, knowing I would never see her again. Now, I lost someone I never truly had to begin with. Why did I have to dream about someone so wonderful and special, only to wake up again, and realize they weren't real? Why did I lose two people in such a short amount of time? Why did I lose so many people who meant so much to me? I remembered the promise I made to Gollum and Sméagol, that I wouldn't leave them, and I suddenly felt very guilty. Then, I wondered, why am I feeling guilty when it was all a dream? Because, if it wasn't a dream, I never would've left them, or if I'd known it was a dream while it was happening, I would've done anything to stay asleep. Either way, I wanted Gollum and Sméagol back, and I wanted Emily back. I knew I would never have any of them back, though, and that hurt so badly!