After waking from a six-month coma, Athena Blackwell world is shattered. Betrayed by her fiancé and half-sister, who are now expecting a child together, Athena is forced to confront the life that was stolen from her while she lay unconscious. As a b...
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My heart starts to slow down.
My eyelids feel heavy, and the hospital room is a blur of white and flashing monitors. My limbs sink into the bed, pinned under the weight of betrayal and fear that are replaced slowly by the low buzzing of voices around me -quick, and urgent-, but I can't focus on the words. It's like they're underwater, and I'm drowning.
Time seems to stretch, pulling at the edges of my awareness. The emotional and physical turmoil of pain that had once ripped through me has dulled to a distant throb, like it's happening to someone else.
"We're losing her" a machine begins to beep.
I thought there would be some type of panic, maybe tears or some desperate want to hold on, but instead there's a strange calmness settling in my chest as I feel my self slowly slip away. Is this what it feels like to die?
I watch as the faces of worried and focused doctors blur even further, and I wonder if this will be the last thing I'll see. For some reason I thought death would be.... louder, but now, there's only the distant hum of the machines, and the faint tug of life slipping away from me.
"She coding, get the crash cart!"
The memories come in flashes-not just my whole life, just fragments, pieces of moments I thought I'd forgotten. The way Anthony's hands brushed mine for the first time, the smell of my mom's perfume when I hugged her goodbye..... the smallest things.
Is this it? Am I leaving all of this behind-pain the betrayal, the anger, but-also the love in my mother's hug, or the sparkle in my papás eyes when he saw me for the first time in my wedding dress?
......The contrast of everything I've fought to hold on to. And what I can't let go.
And then, it happens.
Everything goes dark.
I'm dead.
Beeeeeppp. The machine blares loudly, but I can't hear it anymore.
"Time of death 2:15pm, August 24th, 2022"
TWO HOURS EARLIER
"My beautiful Babygirl, I can't believe you're getting married today" my mom admires me excitedly, wiping away tears from her eyes.
"Mom, you can't make a speech now; I'll cry and ruin my makeup" I wrap my arms around her, feeling her trembling slightly against me, the lace of her dress rough under my fingertips. Her soft, floral perfume clings to my skin, grounding me in the moment.
"You're my daughter, and you're getting married! I deserve to let out a little cry seeing you in this beautiful dress" she smooths out the non-existent wrinkles on my gown, then puffs it out with a proud smile.
