Connection: An Esteban Granero story

Part II: In Your World by Muse

Lorelei shuddered, clenching her fists. Instead of feeling the soft skin of her palm however, there appeared to be something taped to her hands. This realization shocked her out of the bleak landscape of her nightmare, and as she began to open her eyes, her hearing seemed to have returned as well. There was a steady beeping sound in the room. Curious, she pushed herself all the way up, the blood rushing to her head as she did so. There was a little shriek.

“Hurry, go get the doctor!” Someone cried.

She waited impatiently for the spots in her vision to clear and looked at the person in front of her.

“Mom, why am I here?” She asked. “What happened?”

Shannon looked at her apprehensively. “Honey, you’ve been unconscious for almost a week, don’t you remember what happened?”

Lorelei hesitated, remembering the vivid dream she had of Stephen. “No, I don’t.” She replied firmly. She glanced around the room, bare of flowers or any sign to show that she had been visited.

“Wow, I must be popular.” She joked, but she was crestfallen. Why hadn’t Stephen come to visit her?

“Your friends are all away on vacation, sweetie. No one knows you’ve been involved in a car accident yet.”

“Is that what happened?” She sounded sceptical. “Did I get run over when I was crossing the street or something? And where’s Stephen, has he been here?” She felt herself trail off, exhausted.

Shannon’s eyes were swimming with tears. “Stephen’s out of town, Lorelei. He got accepted into the Ivy League, remember? You guys broke up when he decided to accept the offer.”

Lorelei sucked in a harsh breath.

“I don’t believe it.” She said flatly. “Stephen would never leave me for something like that.”

“I’m sorry.” Shannon cast her eyes down. “But look, Camille got you a teddy bear, isn’t it a cutie-patootie?”

Camille is Stephen’s older sister. Up until Lorelei was in grade six, Camille used to babysit both her and Stephen.

“I don’t want to look at it.” Lorelei said as her mother fairly shoved the teddy bear in her face.“I don’t want to talk to you either, go away.”

“Lorelei, it’s not my fault Stephen broke up with you.” Shannon’s tone was admonishing, which further enraged her daughter.

“Yes, it is. You never liked him.” She buried herself into her blankets and closed her eyes, refusing to look at her mother, to hear the accusations spouting indiscriminately from her own mouth.

Shannon closed the door behind her. She didn’t expect Lorelei to accept how she had broken the lie to her, but rather hoped her daughter wouldn’t hate her guts at least. Their relationship was never close; Lorelei is such a wilful and independent spirit. But there is a fine line between being independent and downright rebellious, and half the time, it wasn’t so clear if Lorelei had crossed it.

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“Mrs. Cristo I hope you haven’t been exciting your daughter over much just now.” The doctor raised an eyebrow as Shannon exited the room rather huffily.

There was a deadly, leonine look in Shannon’s eyes as she considered the good doctor.

“Doctor Graham, can I trust you not to tell her of the circumstances of her accident? She appears to have forgotten everything to do with the event, and I think we all agree that she should be spared from further trauma.”