Secondhand Life

Chapter 17

"Ash? Are you okay?" Christopher said poking my arm.

"Y-yeah, how long was I out for?" I asked sitting up slowly.

"Two, well basically three days."

"Three days!" I yelled standing up to see Maria had left another note on my bed side table.

"Ash I see you're asleep at the moment, I'll come by another time."

Great I still have to see her I thought she forgot.

"So did you have any dreams?" Christopher asked nudging me with his elbow.

"Yes, a rather odd, amazing one. I'll tell you about it."

I had him sit down on the hospital bed beside me and told him about Kaitlyn, Nora, Willow, Tyler, that they were apart of a secret killing group and wanted me to join. His eyes widened as the story went on until he was standing stiff.

"Ash, how long did this dream seem to go on for?" He asked getting out his laptop.

"Uh, it felt like a few hours, why?" I asked looking at his laptop.

"Maybe the reason you fall asleep so often is because you're supposed to be having these dreams." Christopher said getting the camera from under my hospital bed and propped it up on my lap. "Come on, we need to make up lost video progress since you were asleep for so long."

I nodded but pushed the camera away. "I need to eat first or I'm going to pass out, I haven't eaten in three days dumb ass." I said getting up and getting money from Christopher's wallet when he wasn't looking.

"Fine, fine. Also Mom and Dad came to visit you yesterday. They said you should come home soon. They're worried about you."

"How the hell am I supposed to visit them when I'm in the hospital and I can't leave." I said laughing down the hallway.

"Yeah I guess you're right." He said nodding.

We got biscuits and juice at the cafe and sat down in the far corner of the sitting area.

"So when do you think you're going to be able to go home Ash? It's been a few weeks that you've been here." Christopher asked eating at his biscuit nervously.

"They say it depends on how much I keep passing out and if it keeps happening they will have to do surgery on me. But from all we have looked up about my condition on the internet, so far they say it's not curable. I don't know what were going to do." I drank my juice and stared at my younger brothers face with worry. He's so young he shouldn't have to watch his sister possibly die. 

"When you get home tell Mom i'll be home as soon as I can. I need time here to rebuild energy and get my normal amount of strength back."

"You don't have much strength anyways." Christopher said snickering.

"I know that's why I need to get it back." I said glaring at him.

"I'm just joking Ash. We should get back to your room and record you saying what just happened in your recent dream so we don't forget."

"Of course." I said finishing my juice and standing up to walk back towards my room. Christopher set up his camera and made sure I was ready to start. I talked about the young man Tyler who seemed to be trying to make me join his assassination team of two girls and himself. I told how I was knocked out and how a dream that seemed a matter of an hour or two turn into two days. Once I was finished Christopher turned off the camera and saved the video. He said goodbye and returned home. I lied on my hospital bed and stared at the ceiling thinking about how all of the people I had met it my dream seemed so innocent but at the same time so unrealistic.

"K-knock knock." Said a voice at my door.

"I opened it up to see Maria standing in my doorway with a bouquet of flowers and a shy nervous smile on her face.

"W-what do you want?" I said not following for her flowers and nice gesture.

"To talk to you. Ash I want to help you. Please let me. I know that you're not doing alright and I want to make you feel better." She said giving me the flowers.

I took the flowers in both of my hands and sighed. She just wasn't going to let this go, was she? 

No, no she was not.

"Maria what do you want from me?" I asked turning around to place the flowers on the table.

"I want to help you. What ever is wrong I want to help you with. I know I was a terrible person of your past. But I want to be a great person of your future."

I thought about it for a minute and decided.

"If you really want to help me Maria, then you have to break me out of this hospital."

#wattys2016