Mutual Friends | Lando Norris

Chapter 44 - Lando's Prayer

Liv's POV

"I don't know if I believe in a higher power or if I've ever been a praying man but Dear God, if you're really out there... please let her live. Olivia..." he calls in a longing cold whisper.

The young man's voice triggered  a surge of distant memories to me.

My heart pounded heavily in it's designated place, each beat echoing a stroke of dead silence as my body lay surrounded by the stiff unmoving air. Unbeknownst to me, I was stuck in two places at once, not sure which a dream and which my true reality but certainly sure of the growing fear of the unknown.

I held my breath and tried once more to listen for the voice that called out to me. I desperately hoped for it to be my lifeline in this surreal world I found myself trapped in but as the faint seconds went by and there was nothing, just radio silence, I realised I was alone.

Nobody else was here with me or for me.

The unnerving loneliness tightened its crippling hold on me, squeezing the happiness from my burning lungs as warm tears filled my eyes while I fought desperately to gasp for air.

"Olivia, come back to me..." He pleaded once more. "If not for me, then at least for our..."

My hands trembled as I wiped the wetness from my eyes when he called out to me again. That same voice, I could recognise it in a forest filled with singing mockingbirds. It came from somewhere far off and that place wasn't here... No, it wasn't just his voice. My heart recognised the comfort and home his love once gave me. It beat in sync with the rhythm of his just from the count of his breath. To hear him, to be near him, was to be aligned with my own soul.

This place of endless wander wasn't where I belonged but still I couldn't escape it.

Where was I?

Lost and disoriented, my eyes opened again in a sluggish flutter and instinctively took in the surroundings around me. No longer in my hospital bed, it felt like I'd been sleeping for centuries when I finally gathered the strength to pull myself up in a sitting position. But even so, my body was more tired than it had ever been.

Looking all around again with clearer eyes, I was met by a visual that had long remained untouched for years. The memories contained within these walls were etched into the very spine and foundation of some of my worst and most feared nightmares.

My heart ached as I stood there, in the midst of a haunting flashback. A childhood home shared with my mother and father. The laughter, the love, lessons and life changing experiences that would help mould the person I would one day become. I never did stop yearning for my mother's embrace after that, for the sound of her voice, but all that remained after her death was an empty void.

Desperation knotted in my stomach as I faced the large white doors of our old Victorian style kitchen while my schoolbag dangled at the grip of my sweaty palm on a hot California summer's day. I know now that I am dreaming, that on the other side lays the body of my unconscious mother on the floor and still the tears stain my heart again. Teenage Olivia's heart never really did stop crying from that day onwards... From this day.

Reality swallowed me like a tidal wave, a little at the feet and then all at once through my body. I'd worked so hard to forget the details but still it was no use when it all came together. Tears continued to stream down my face as I stumbled towards the doors. Memories from that day flooded my thoughts as the weight of my grief betrayed me.

In it's final flight or fight response, my brain somehow returned me to the place that held the key to my past. It was when I reached for the cold bronze knobs that it happened again. It seemed to find me in moments where I drifted further away from reality.