Escape From Reality

The Accepting

Bright glaring lights shine against my eyelids. I groan and turn over, a mild headache forming between my forehead, before I get caught by some cord on my arm preventing me from fully turning over. Blearily opening my eyes, I'm met with a blue curtain, the unfamiliar shade throwing me off before I try to push myself up, some strange resistance in my arm straining against it.

"Ow." I groan as I try to fully sit up with it, groggily and half asleep, my bed hair flinging in my face.

"Chloe?" I hear a strained voice say and I turn towards it, blinking in the harsh light before I'm met with my dad, half asleep, the absence of his black spectacles making him look odd, his cheeks tinged with red.

"Dad?" I ask confused before he seems to jolt awake at the sound.

"Oh my god, Chloe?"

He pushes out of his seat and stumbles over, grabbing his spectacles before pushing them on his face. His face lights up almost immediately, his eyes widening, tears dripping off. He chokes back a sob, his hands grabbing mine gently.

"I must be dreaming. You're- you're awake" He sputters out and suddenly I remember everything. Getting trapped in the dream, Jacob coming in to rescue me, us running away on the dragon. My dad stands in front of me, and suddenly I cannot hold the tears back.

"No dad. This is real." I give him a tight lipped smile before he takes in a tear ridded gasp and hugs me, nearly pulling the tubes attached to me in the process.

"Ow." I choke out as the tubes pull against me, and my dad immediately loosens his grip, pushing me back so he can get a good look at me. His face is red, tear marks visible below his eyes, and his hair the messiest I had ever seen, and it makes my heart clench.

So even though I'm scared, I tell him anyway.

"I'm sorry dad. For everything I said. I'm sorry for scaring you." I tell him, fat tears escaping my eyes, and he shakes his head, confusion etched across his face.

"Oh Chloe this isn't your fault. I'm sorry that you felt this way. I'm sorry that you felt like you were losing me to my work." My dad tells me, tearing up himself, and strangely those words felt healing, like some sort of warm feeling spreading over me.

"And I'm sorry I just lashed out on you. I should have just talked to you." I tell him, looking down, and my dad pulls me into a hug again, although slowly in order not to make those tubes pull against me again.

Nurses rushed in, my heart monitor must have been alerting them that I was awake and as the doctor started to check my vitals, my dad held my hand throughout, and I knew for certain I made the right choice. There is probably a lot of stuff I had to deal with down here in reality , and I knew I was going to have a long talk with my dad about how the feelings I was bottling up, but right there at the moment, it seemed like everything was going to be alright.

The doctors decided to release me after a few days of observation. They had called me waking up a miracle, and were concerned something else might happen so they made me stay a few more days. But luckily the dreams didn't call to me anymore whenever I closed my eyes, and I had a feeling that they would no longer do that anymore, considering that I had no more desire to escape anymore.

When the initial shock of waking up and getting to see my dad wore off, did I finally remember about Jacob, and I started to become sick with worry whether he had managed to wake up from the dream in time. I recalled him nearly giving in because of the dragon, and while I did manage to wake up in time, I was so scared that Jacob didn't make it. I had tossed in bed, desperately hoping that my dad would come back from when he went out to get some food so I could call Jacob or something, when suddenly my blue curtain parted, and there stood Jacob.

He was there, and maybe there the allure of the dream magic must have worn off, because he just looked so normal down there, with his messy puffed up hair, and his round face filled with relief , before running over to me and immediately pulling me into a hug.

I blinked a few times, trying to process the fact that he was here, before I hugged him back, face buried in his green hoodie, and all I could think of was the immense relief I was feeling that Jacob was here. Jacob was safe in my embrace, and it was all that mattered to me at that moment.

He stayed in the hospital with me the next couple of days, running after school and I think the both of us just talked. Jacob made me laugh with his corny jokes and I liked to tease him, seeing his reactions, and I never felt happier in my life. Even though we were going to move, I tried hard to not think about it, and just enjoy what I had with Jacob.

"I think I'm going to talk to my parents. Tell them how I really feel about the whole situation." Jacob suddenly says as he munches a sandwich, his knees bunched up as he sits on the hospital chair beside me.

"Would they listen to you?" I asked, as Jacob thinks thoughtfully for an answer.

"I don't know. I'm scared to ruin my relationship with them. But I'm going to do it anyway. Face the reality of it."

"And I'm going to talk to my dad too. Tell him how I feel about everything." I tell Jacob and he nods, a silent promise between the both of us to confront our respective problems we had.

And my dad and I eventually did talk. It was hard opening up to him after so long of keeping of my feelings bottled up inside me, and it was so painful relieving my mother's death, and it was really emotional, but at the end of it all, I think it was so much better, like a heavy load had been taken off my chest.

"I'm really sorry you felt like this, I think when your mum passed it took a lot out of us. I didn't mean to spend so much time away from you. I'm gonna make sure that I spend more time at home." My dad told me and I smiled up at him, my eyes already swollen from all the crying I did.

"Thank you dad." I hugged him again, and my dad seemed to take in a deep sight. I think these few days had taken a lot of him, considering he probably thought he was going to lose me. I felt so bad about the whole ordeal, but some part of me was glad these dreams happened. Because I would have never met Jacob.

My mother's death was still a painful wound, something I still hated with everything I had, something that was so unfair. But just because that happened didn't mean that I would have to despair over it for my entire life. It doesn't mean I have to accept it and move on though. I think my love for her could nestle in my heart, and I could just go and make the most out of my life without wishing she was here every second. I can't change reality, but I can at least make it worth living. Those dreams might have made me artificially happy, but now I realised it was in my hands to try to improve those problems I was facing and try to get into a happier state instead of escaping into those lies.

"I saw you with Jacob." My dad says, an odd glint coming over his eyes.

"Yeah. He's my best friend." I tell my dad and he laughs.

"He seems good for you. He makes you happy."

"He does." I admit, thinking about this black haired boy, something I thought was a figment of my imagination, but was amazingly real, right down to his flesh and bones.

"Let's stay Chloe. I'm sorry I made us move in the first place without talking to you first. I'll call my boss and tell him that I won't take that promotion."

The words stay echo in my mind, my mouth already turning up to grin, my eyes widening as I feel my heart pound in my chest. Stay? I get to stay here? The news hit me like a shockwave, and I jumped up from my seat in the living room where me and my dad sat, barely containing my happiness.

"Oh my god thank you dad!" And as I ran to the telephone to go tell Jacob the good news, my dad chuckling behind, it all seemed like a dream.

Because never in a million years have I thought that life could be this good.