"There she is. She's awake." Someone says. I look around at the strangers surrounding me. They wear scrubs and masks. How and the fuck did I make it here? "Can you hear me?" They ask. I nod. "Can you tell us what your name is?" They ask. "Aaliyah Miller."
"Good job." They praise me.
"Where am I?" I ask.
"You're safe."
They discuss with me what the next step would be. They take my vitals then leave, telling me they'll return to get me to a different room. I lay there, staring at the ceiling. Where is Corey? Or Lauren? I need to talk to someone. Someone who can give me straight answers. Instead the room is empty and quiet. All I hear is a clock ticking and people walking around outside the door. As I start to think of what happened sadness overwhelms me. I feel like shit. I wish this was all just a bad dream. I wish I'd have never woken up from my dream. I cry until I grow tired again. Being asleep takes me away from this shitty reality for awhile.
When I wake again in the new room I see Corey sitting beside my bed with his head in his hands. "Corey?" My voice is raspy. "Aaliyah." He gets up from the chair and walks over to me. "How you feeling?" He asks. "Like shit." I try to smile. "Jaxon--" I can no longer hold back my cries. I begin to sob uncontrollably. Corey hugs me as I cry for my fallen friend. "He's been shipped back home already. He's going home to be with his family one last time." Corey tells me. "It shouldn't have been one last time. It's not supposed to be one last time. It fucking sucks. I feel like I let him down." I cry. "You didn't let him down. There was nothing more that you could've done. At least you were there for him in his final moment, offering him words of comfort. I'm sure he appreciated it, very much." Corey tries to reassure me. All I can feel is a feeling of disappointment. A feeling I can't seem to shake, along with the sadness.
After a week and a half of being in the hospital I sit at the edge of the hospital bed, in civilian clothes and out of that stupid gown. My hand is still sore and dull with pain where the I.V. used to be. "You ready to go home?" My ride arrives. I nod as I get up and grab my belongings.
Hours later my plane lands. I'm here, back to a place, at one point, I never thought I'd see again. As we step off the plane I take a deep breath and inhale the American air. I reach and touch the ground. Lord, thank you. I'm home.
As I walk down the hallway leading off from the plane, amongst the crowd of people surrounding me, I hear my name. "Aaliyah!!!" I hear a female voice. I look around and spot my mom, her husband, Desi, Nicki, Pop, and my step brothers. I run to my mom first, as her hugs were always the warmest and most comforting. We both sob as we embrace each other in a tight hug. They gather around me and group hug, surrounding me with their love. "Let's go home." My mom says. Pop grabs my bags and we leave.
Nicki and Desi lay with me in my bed after supper. "I still can't believe you're here." Desi says.
"I was watching the channel when everything happened." Nicki tells us.
"We were too. I was here actually. Allison was helping me sew a quilt I put together for son and she had the channel on. All we heard was Aaliyah arguing with the camera guy then everything got quiet. As soon as we seen the looks on Aaliyah and that one cute guy's face we knew something was up. Then we just seen her drop. And the tv screen went black. A message popped up on the tv screen saying 'no signal'. Allison just sat there in silence. I seen her eyes get watery and she just started bawling. I cried too. We honestly were expecting the worst. Allison got up to make a few phone calls to figure out what was going on but nobody could tell her anything. Three long ass days later we heard something. Pop and I stayed with her the whole time. She wouldn't eat or sleep at all. When we found out you were alive we just cried tears of joy."
