Second Chances for Tyler Landry

It's Not Your Time

"......and I know you'll live through it. You're too much of a hard-ass not to." Tyler heard softly in his ear.

He was coming back to life. He wasn't going to live in the dream world he had been in. The one were there was no Mackenzie. There was no Mandy Maria. There was no mom or dad.

Only himself. Alone with his pipe, and a baggie full of green mossy looking stuff. He had just turned thirteen. He was halfway gone and had no chance of coming back.

Because every time it ended, it was like someone rewinded and hit play.

"Tyler, goddammit, if you leave me. I swear I'll be the one to haunt your ass. I'll pay a freaking physic to bother you. So don't even think about dying now." Mackenzie said.

Tyler had enough feeling in his face to give a small smile.

"Tyler?!" Mackenzie whispered in surprise.

Tyler mustered all ofthe strength he could to his face.

Open your eyes. a voice said to him in his head. It drowned away in the air and his lids pulled open like blinds.

And right there and then, he saw the only face he ever wanted to see.

Mackenzie's eyes were bloodshot and puffy, her makeup was smeared, and her hair was a mess. He was pretty sure that she hadn't changed from the clothes he had saw her in when he passed out.

He'd never seen anyone look so beautiful.

"Mack, have you been crying." he croaked unsteadily.

Mackenzie's bottom lip quivered and she smiled brightly. Not a fake smile, not one she sometimes paints on.

But, a Mackenzie smile. The same smile that he had only seen when they were 13. And then it never appeared.

Until now.

"Tyler, I thought you were never comin' back." she said and bent over to give him a gentle hug.

He cradled her and stroked her hair as he felt wetness through the thin hospital robe.

"Well, I forgot my cell phone. How was I suppose to talk to you if I didn't have my cell phone?" he said in good humor.

She chuckled. It wasn't really a chuckle at the joke he had just made. More like a chuckle of relief. One you could almost see the black worry and pain escape from.

"How long have I been out for?" he questioned as Mackenzie sat back down in her blue, hard plastic chair.

"3 days. They thought you were in some kind of pre-comatose state," she got quiet and whispered with her head down "They said 3 days could turn into 30 years."

He just saw the newly formed tears roll down her cheeks and fall into her lap. He could feel the sadness and the relief flourish around her small frame. She trembled slightly. He felt his heart crush and cursed himself in his head.

"C'mere Macky." he murmured and pulled her in the hospital bed with him.

She came willingly and curled up like a cat next to him. She wept slightly next to him. Her whole body shaking with grief that she needed to get rid of.

Tyler just layed their next to her, with his face in her hair and his arms wrapped like a Christmas present around her.

He took in her scent, he breathed in her heart.

And as this all happened, he knew he would never understand how she felt. He knew that not only did she play mother, sister, and best friend to him, but in a way, she played the lover to.

Because it wasn't Chasity laying there next to him, now fast asleep.

It was Mackenzie.

It was always Mackenzie.