Water of Life

Chapter 2

I was asleep at least I'm pretty sure I was asleep.  I was dreaming about this lake. It was so blue and clear. It looked magical. I stepped in with my nightgown on and slipped beneath the surface of the crystal clear waters. The water didn't feel cold or hot, it felt refreshing, cleansing, like I was brand new and clean.  I let myself sink and when my toes hit the sandy bottom I pushed myself back up so hard that the bottom of my feet skimmed the surface as I was lifted above it.  When I came back down I landed with a soft thump.  I looked down to find that the lake was solid.  At first I thought the water had frozen somehow. I bent over and touched the surface and the lake's surface was now warm to the touch.  I also noticed that the lake was no longer that clear blue but, was now black as night. As I went to step off of the lake my eyes caught a shimmer. As I bent down to see what it was and was over whelmed by the feeling of rightness.  I picked up the pendant and looked at the stone.  It looked like the waters of the lake before I had entered. Without thinking tossed it over my neck and continued off the now solid lake. Thats where my dream ended as I was woken up by screaming. It seems that I had stopped breathing. My mom and dad were surrounding me. Dad was on the phone with what I'm guessing was 911.  When my mom noticed I was sitting up she leaned over and gave me a hug. Saying she thought I was gone. Tears glistened from her eyes. And I hugged her back. Dad just sat down on the edge of the bed and rubbed my legs. Telling the person on the other side that I was awake and breathing.  They wanted me to go to the near by hospital but I refused.  I didn't want to spend anymore time in them. I was done.  If I was going to die on this trip it was going to be on my own terms. Not some ER doctor's who would spend five seconds with me and decide that I just needed to go home. So we made camp in the hotel everyone doing their own thing. 

As I sat in bed eating lunch. I was gazing out the window.  I could see Space Mountain from here.  Something that I was still trying to get my parents to let me ride.  So far I hadn't been successful.  I turned the other way looking over my family.  They both looked so worn out. I glanced to my far right and saw my sister Tabby standing in the jar of the bedroom door. She looked as worried about our parents as they were about me. I think she had finally realized that this would most likely be the year I died, and it would to be up to her to take care of our parents. I told her that she couldn't fall apart. She had to stay strong. Grieve for me now while I'm still here. So when I the time comes. You will be the one to make sure everything is alright. 

All she had done in that conversation was nod her head. She was currently 14. And even though mom and dad were almost always dealing with me. She never seemed to act like it bothered her. Even though I knew it did. Once I was gone I was hoping that she would start getting the attention she should have been getting all this time. But I felt sorry for her. Because once I we gone things were going to get much worse before they got better. 

The dead and the ill have it easy. Things are already set in stone. You either get better or you don't. I'd already come to terms that I was going to die. There's not much choice I have in that matter. But I can make sure that my family doesn't fall apart after I'm gone. 

We stayed in the hotel for the rest of the day. Making sure that I was ok. Or at least as ok as I could be. Mom slept in my bed that night.  Wanting to make sure I was ok.  I told her I would be fine.  My sister offering to stay up and watch me.  But she wanted to do it herself.  The next morning they wanted to stay in the hotel for one more day.  I told them no, got dressed and said it was time to go. We had four parks to go see and I didn't want to miss any of it. So we packed up and went to the Animal Kingdom. Here we got a super special event just for us. Since the safari was really jerky they took us on the behind the scenes tour and I got to see a lot of animals up close. It was awesome. 

Nothing else really happened that day or the next or even the one after that. We went to the beach on the third day.  Cape Canaveral on the fifth, and a few shops that my dad just couldn't pass up. He was a real grease monkey on the weekends.  Rebuilding a car trying to figure out what was wrong with it.  We all knew what was wrong.  It was over 30 years old and needed to be put down.  But he wouldn't hear of it.  So I guess he had ordered some parts from online and decided to just pick them up while we were here instead of having them shipped. 

My dreams over the past few nights were calm. I never did dream about that lake again. Later on I would understand that you only ever have that dream once.  Either the lake accepts you or it doesn't for that there are no second chances.  

The next day we went to Hollywood Studios the best ride there was the Toy Store one. Which I have to say I smoked everyone on. Highest score out of all four of us. Can I get a whoop whoop.  Hey don't look at me like that.  I'm a dying teenager, if I want to say whoop whoop I'm entitled.   

The last day of our trip we went to the Magic Kingdom. I had gotten special permission to check out that room in the castle. Which was awesome. I wish I would have known this was here. I might have added it to the Make a wish list. Not that they would have been able to make that happen, but hey a dying girl has to have dreams.  

The rest of the day was full of fun.  We got to eat in the beasts castle, the Be Our Guest restaurant. That restaurant has to be one of the neatest ones at Disney.  Since it was our last day we stayed until they closed. I must have rode the Carousel a hundred times. I only got to ride the teacups twice since it make my stomach hurt and a few rides were just a plain and firm no. One being that Snow White ride that like four year olds get to ride.  When I begged for mom to let me ride.  She just kinda looked at me light I was nuts.  Same thing went with my battle to ride Space Mountain.  It was just wishful thinking and my imagination that I had to lean on for that one.  My sister got to ride them with dad and she video taped them both for me.  Of course the Space Mountain one was so dark I couldn't see anything at all.  But it was a nice thought.  

The night was the best. We got special seating for the fireworks.  I got to sit in the parade. Like on a float. Who ever thought that was going to happen.  They dressed me up like a fairy since that is what I said I wanted to be.  I got to wave to all the people sitting and standing.  

Everything all day had been perfect, and I decided that after sitting in a wheel chair most of the day that I was going to walk at least part of the way out. This was the end stages of my this disease and walking at all made me tire fast. But I was determined to at least walk and wave to the people above us on the train platform. It felt like my time here was complete. I had had a wonderful day with my family, and I didn't think anything could top this. So when all of a sudden the world tipped and this elderly woman went to grab me before I fell the only thing that registered was the pendant around her neck and how I knew I had seen it before.