I was standing in an empty room. It was plain and boring. The walls were white and there was a window that seemed to look into a hallway, but it was too bright to see what was outside.
I didn’t know where I was, but I knew I’d never been here before. I would’ve remembered.
There was a strange high pitched beeping. It might have been there before, but I just hadn’t noticed. I looked around for the source of the beeping, but couldn’t see anything. I done a full circle and on the second turn I saw some sort of machine. There was numbers and lines going across it. There was something in the back of my mind that nagged at me, trying to tell me what the machine was. But I just couldn’t understand what my mind was trying to tell me.
I walked back over to the window and looked out. I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t know how I got here. So it must be a dream. But there was something about it that made it look too…. Real.
There was a sobbing sound coming from behind me. I spun around so fast I made myself dizzy.
“Mum!!” I shouted. Out of nowhere an armchair had appeared next to the machine and there sitting in it was my mum. She looked breath taking, even though she was sitting there sobbing. She was beautiful even though she had dark circles around her eyes. She looked like she’d been crying for hours and like she hadn’t slept for days. “Mum?” I laid my hand on her shoulder, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Mum, your scaring me. What’s wrong”. She still didn’t respond. She didn’t even look up at me. I knelt down next to her and looked straight into her eyes. Her eyes which were usually the exact same brown as mine, were dark and empty. There was no emotion in them. They looked dead.
I stepped back in shock. I had never seen my mum like this before. Whatever it was or wherever we were, it wasn’t good. Something had happened and something bad.
I walked over to the window again and closed my eyes. One, two, three, four, five. I opened them again and brushed away the tears that were threatening to spill over. I took one more deep breath and turned around again.
Now instead of just my mum and the machine, there was also a bed in the room. The bed was in the centre and it looked like it was made out of plastic. Once again there was something in the back of my mind nagging at me. I knew why the bed and machine looked so familiar. I’d seen this sort of thing on TV loads of times before.
I was standing in a hospital room. It all made sense now, well all of it except my mum. Who was still sitting there, but now silently crying instead of sobbing. I knew the reason she was crying was lying in that bed. However I didn’t want to know what it was anymore, I wasn’t ready to face it yet.
I turned around and closed by eyes again. One, two, three, four, five. I spun around once again and opened my eyes. But the bed, my mum and the machine was still there. At that moment I realised I had to face what was lying ahead of me. It was my only option. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and took a step forward, one. That wasn’t so bad. Still with my eyes closed, I took another step, two. Another, three. I opened my eyes just enough to see that I was still a couple of steps from the bed. I closed them straight away and took another step, four. I let out my breath and froze. Did I really have to take this last step? Do I really have to see? I was just about to turn around when my mind whispered coward. I squeezed my eyes tighter, fighting the tears that I knew were coming. You can do this, I know you can. You have to. Those were the only encouraging words I had and luckily it was enough. I took one last final step, five.
I opened my eyes and looked down. I stifled a scream, but a gasp slipped out before I could stop it. Looking down I saw the last thing I ever imagined I’d ever see. However maybe in the back of my mind I always knew.
There lying in the bed, under the covers, looking peaceful. Was me.
