Our Eternal Ruin (Auslly)

33. The beginning of forever

I dreamed of Ally in a wedding dress. I was at the end of the aisle and she was walking toward me. Then my brain fast-forwarded to us holding hands and watching our kids play in the yard. And then, even further, I watched our wrinkled hands touch as we were witness to another great-grandchild being brought into the world. My life — my future. It was all her.

~Austin~

The first thing I saw when I woke up was my dad. He was hovering over my bed with a look of pure awe on his face.

The minute I'd seen my mom's wedding ring on Angela's finger, I'd known I was going to be okay. I knew with certainty that I really care.

I wanted to talk. Talking meant I wasn't dreaming everything up. Every damn breath hurt like hell, but I kept breathing too. I told myself it would be a privilege to breathe through pain like that for the rest of my life — just knowing each breath was a gift..

Dad laughed. "Good, you think Coach will let you play in that bowl game?"

"When we get that bowl game," I corrected as I tried to clear my throat and get my voice to sound more normal. "Coach promised me he'd let me play." I winked. "Where is everyone?"

"I wanted a moment..." Dad cleared his throat. "Just to talk to my son. Alone. To make sure it was real. That you were really here and not still in that operating room. Did the doctors tell you what they discovered?"

I nodded. "The tumor shrank."

"Son, the tumor shrank to a quarter of its size, all within four days."

I couldn't trust myself to speak. One nurse called it a miracle while the doctor gave all the credit to the medicine. I guess I'd never know, and maybe it didn't matter how I was spared, just that I was.

"Incredible, right?" I said.

"A miracle." Dad patted my hand, "I love you, Austin."

"Love you too, Dad."

He got up, then paused in the doorway. "You really getting married in a year?"

"Yup." I couldn't hold back my grin, I could have sworn my heart skipped a beat.

He shook his head and laughed. "Alright then, guess I better get to know that girl's family."

Seconds later Ally came rushing into the room.

She was like a hot blur of red as she bounced onto my bed, careful not to touch my chest, I mean, I did just have major surgery. She pressed her lips against my mouth and kissed me for a few minutes before pulling back.

"Way to fight, Austin."

"Some things..." I tucked her hair behind her ear, "...are worth fighting for."

A nurse walked in and checked my clipboard.

"Where's Angela?" I asked.

The nurse gave me a weird look. "Angela?"

"Yeah, the other nurse that was helping me. She had blond hair, pretty face..."

"Hmm." The nurse put down her clipboard and smiled. "We don't have a nurse named Angela who works anywhere in this unit, at least that I know of. By the looks of your chart you were on some pretty heavy medication. Hallucinations are completely normal when you have that amount of drugs in your system, Austin. I'll be sure to notify the doctor of the side effects so he can take note of them." She gave me a kind smile and walked out of the room.

"Angela? Who is that?" Ally asked.

"I don't think I hallucinated anything. I mean, I did tell you I was going to marry you, right?"

She nodded.

"And you promised to wear a wedding dress?"

Another nod.

"And nakedness, I could have sworn there was nakedness."

Ally rolled her eyes. "Yes, lots of nakedness."

"But you don't remember Angela either?" I asked.

"Not at all." She shrugged. "Maybe it was your imagination, or maybe you just had a guardian angel."

We kissed and then heard a knock on the door. A male nurse brought in a tray of food, behind him, I saw a familiar smile, followed by blond hair.

"Is that her?" Ally pointed.

Angela gave us a small wave, walked away from the room, and got right on the elevator. Just as the door began to close, she winked at me.

"Holy shit."

Ally tapped me on the shoulder. "Who was that?"

I sighed and silently thanked God for miracles of all sizes.

"Let me tell you about my mom."

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So it was his mom ! Ha..I would have never guessed ;p xD