An Apple A Day

Prologue

     I put the final touches of my make-up on and take a step back from the mirror. I smooth out my dress. It's red with lacy shoulders and a slight sparkle. The lace continues down past the flared waist line to the hem of the skirt. An early Christmas present from Mom and Dad. 

     "Fiona! Dave! Hurry up, we're going to be late!" my mother yells from the bottom of the stairs. I call back a response and take one last look in the mirror before leaving my room to join her.

     As I descend the steps she smiles, "You look beautiful sweetheart." 

    "Thanks Mom, you look gorgeous yourself." And she did.  Mary Winters was wearing an elegant black dress, it had lace on the shoulders and back and she had simple black heels on. To top it off she donned a beautiful ruby necklace with matching earrings and an embellished red shawl. 

    Mom calls back up the stairs, "David Winters! We need to leave now!" My father answers and we hear him clomp out of the bedroom. I look up the stairs to where he is finally coming down. He's attempting to tie his bowtie but is failing miserably. I watch as my mother goes to him and ties it deftly, as she has every year. My father chuckles, "Thanks." There we stand for a minute just admiring each other. He then sighs, "Look at my two beautiful girls. You both are stunning." He winks at mom which makes her blush and turns to me, "Why don't you give us a spin there my sweet Apple Blossom?" I laugh at the old nickname but do as asked. Twirling causes my skirt to flare out around me, making me laugh some more. As I stop I almost fall back but both of my parents reach out to catch me and we all laugh once more. Mom finally repeats, "C'mon we need to leave now, or we really will be late." Dad mutters some comment about how the banquet will still be there when we get there which earns him a look from my mother. He only smiles and kisses her cheek as we head out to the car amidst the light snow flurries.

      Every year the hospital holds a Christmas Eve fundraising banquet and every year there is a different theme. This year's theme  is Winter Wonderland and it's exactly how I pictured it would be. The walls are draped with sparkling white curtains and there are glittered snowflakes and twinkle lights everywhere. In the back corner is a huge, heavily decorated tree. Next to the tree is a table with awards. The attendees at the banquet are able to vote for which doctor or nurse receives which award. 

    Shortly after arriving I find Amy, my next door neighbor and best friend. When she sees me she squeals and gushes over my dress, "Fiona! Hi, oh my God! You look fantastic! The red is so elegant and bold. And your hair!" She reaches up and gently touches my shoulder length hair that I curled a little. The front strands held back with a couple of jeweled clips.

     I look at her and blush, but then it's my turn to gush, "Me? Amy, look at you! Your dress is so pretty, and your heels are so tall I don't even know how you haven't fallen yet! Then your hair, I'm jealous!" And I was. Amy was dazzling. The blue dress that hung just past her knees was beautiful. The bodice was covered in sparkles and embellished with sequin and jewels. Her heels sparkled silver and matched her diamond necklace, bracelet, and earrings. Amy's shiny blonde hair was done in an elaborate braided up-do interspersed with more diamond pins. Amy was now pink herself, but she laughed it away, "C'mon Fi, let's go dance."

   We danced for a few songs just twirling and spinning, giggling when one of us almost trip in our heels. Amy and I make idle chit-chat. "Do you know what these decorations remind me of?" Amy asks. I shake my head. "They remind me of the fourth movie of the Harry Potter series, The Goblet of Fire. When all of the characters are at the dance in the Great Hall and it's all silvery and pretty."

 I give a small laugh, "Of course you think that. You're a Harry Potter geek!"

    Amy grins. "A proud Potterhead at your service my dear muggle friend." After that we laugh some more and go back to our version of dancing, still managing to almost fall several more times in our heels while doing virtually nothing. This precarious situation lasts all of five more minutes when Amy finally spins and looses her balance. I reach out to catch her but someone else beats me to it.   

  "Whoa there. Better be careful in those shoes, wouldn't want to twist your ankle. I'm not sure we could find anybody who'd know how to fix those kind of things," the person who caught Amy joked. 

   I take a step nearer her and make sure she is stable, "You good?" Amy nods and we both turn to the stranger who was speaking. Except the person--the boy-- is no stranger. He's Holden Faul, Amy's crush, and one whose father also happens to be a nurse with Amy's mom.

    Amy's mouth drops open in surprise. I see this and quickly jab her with my elbow indicating she must stop gaping. She gets the message. Holden smiles. The three of us stand awkwardly for a minute, and only jump into action when we realize the song is changing. Holden smiles and glances between us, "Would either of you two lovely ladies care to dance?" I look sharply at Amy as she whips her head to me with wide eyes. "I think I'm getting thirsty," I respond, "but Amy would love to dance with you!" I give her a gentle shove toward him and walk away to go get a refreshment. As I turn back around I see Holden has taken Amy's arm and is leading her farther onto the dance floor where a slow song has started to play. Amy herself has a ginormous smile plastered to her face, just like a child in a candy shop. I am such a good friend.

   The rest of the night goes extremely well. Mom sadly didn't win the award for Best Doctor this year but Amy's mom won Best Nurse. When "Nurse Carol Heidit" was announced both Amy and I cheered and clapped obnoxiously, drawing disapproving glares from those around us. But we didn't care, we were just happy.

  On the way home the snow started to pick up. "It's really coming down tonight, isn't it?" my father muttered from the driver's seat. Mom agreed but continued to watch the road through the furiously swinging windshield wipers. 

    "A White Christmas. Also good snow for building snowmen, very packable." I comment as I watch the now thick snow plummet to the ground and stick to everything. So very different from the little flurries we had earlier that evening. 

    Dad smiles and glances in the rear-view mirror at me, "Right you are Apple Blossom."

     Those word are barely out of his mouth when mom screams. His eyes go immediately back to the road in front of him where a deer has jumped onto the road. I watch all of this happen in mere seconds. The brakes slam and I am jerked forward against the seat belt. I give a grunt of shock and pain. The tail end of the car slips on the icy road and just like that we are sliding. Tumbling. Rolling. Crashing. Stopping. 

     In my daze and panic I don't register much. Just cold. And pain. But mostly cold, and how everything is so loud it's deafening. It's so deafening it's quiet. There's just quiet and cold. Those two things are what my world has narrowed down to. But that can't be it-- I know there's more to my world. C'mon think Fiona. I sit in the still, cold quiet and wait as my thoughts collect over what feels like hours but is only seconds. My parents. Suddenly things aren't so cold and quiet. 

    "MOM! DAD!" I scream,  but I can't be sure I made any noise because nothing is quiet anymore. It's loud and hot and red. Almost too hot, too red. "Mom? Dad?" I croak again, hoping this time they hear me. I get nothing. Until finally there's movement in the front. I can't turn to see either of my parents but I can hear at least my father, "Dad?" 

"I'm here sweetheart. My beautiful Apple Blossom. I'm here, it'll be alright. Everything will be alright."

"Daddy," I say. At least I think I say it, "I love you."

   I think I heard him reply with an "I love you too, Apple Blossom." but I can't ask him because everything has gone back to being cold and quiet.

   Then more cold and quiet.

   Then eventually, everything just turns black