Wake me

21: Clarity

As soon as I stepped under the door, I knew that this was my house. I recognized the irritating wooden ornaments that Mother used to dust every Sunday, placed nearly in rows on the mantle piece. The lounge couches still had the lace overthrows, and the comfortable cushions. The kitchen walls were still the screaming yellow, and when I walked into my bedroom... It was as if my life made sense. Mother and Father hadn't touched anything, my books were still in the order I had placed them on the shelves, my blankets still a mess from when I didn't make my bed last. The floor still needed sweeping and the curtains were drawn, revealing the pretty spring sunshine. I turned around, and hugged my smiling mother, who still had tears on her face.
"Grace, my dear," she sniffled, "I'm so happy to have you back, I thought-"
"Mommy," I whispered, "I need my questions answered, I'm in a state. I need to know what happened, what's been happening."
"Of course," she pulled away, patting my shoulder, "I made lunch. Let's go join your father, Wanda, Luke and Anna downstairs for a nice lunch. You look starving." I nodded, and followed her into the dining room. Luke had set the table like a true gentlemen. The tablecloth was white with lace fringes, and he put a large plate at every seating. They were mismatched colours, but for once Dad didn't seem to mind. I sat down between Luke and Anna, my parents opposite me. Seeing Anna alive was like a dream, and a blessing. I gave her hand a friendly squeeze under the table, and she hugged me tightly.
"This looks lovely, Mrs Parker." Wanda commented as she dished up her side of salad. Luke, as I remembered him, was already tucking in to the chicken and cold meat. Anna nervously dished up some cold meat and salad, and Dad waited with a happy smile on his face.
"Thank you, Wanda," Mother smiled, "Now, Grace, you obviously have many questions."
"I do," I murmured, "I don't even know where to begin!"
"Well," Anna swallowed her mouthful, "I just want you to know that I tried to reverse the car away, I don't even know-"
"Reversed when?" I asked, frowning.
"Don't you remember? Okay, so this is the story from start to finish." Luke swallowed, "I went missing, as you know, and it was because I had a nightmare before I woke up from my coma. I was so confused, I had no idea where I was- just like you, now. But I had nobody to help or explain, so I ran out. I didn't want to talk to anybody, I needed to know that you were okay. And when you weren't at home, I assumed you were at college. So I drove, far off to where your college is. When I got there, you weren't in your dorm. I remembered that the lake that we went to sometimes was near your college, and  so I drove there. I arrived, and you weren't there. I had a camera in my car, so I took it out and tried to take photos of the lake- because in my dreams, I did that. For some reason. Anyway, I heard a car come and I watched and waited, wondering who was there. And then through the window I saw you. I panicked, and I ran towards the car. I needed you, Grace. And then the car started to reverse, and all of a sudden you slammed into a car from behind. I saw your head lurch forward, and I had to rummage you out from the car. You didn't respond. Anna was on life support when she got to the hospital, and so were you, but when the doctors told me you were in a coma... I thought I was going to die. I had to visit you everyday, I was so scared you wouldn't wake up. Anna got better, but she didn't go back off to college. She stayed with me in the room with you, she wanted you to wake up. We would sit and talk about things that you did, and we'd sit there hoping that you'd open your eyes. Anna went to go get coffee for herself and I when I started talking to you, I kept asking for you to wake up. I told you I loved you, and that your mind was such a beautiful place so I needed to be able to get back inside that mind again. I love you." Luke's eyes were moist, and he wiped them with his sleeve. Pieces started falling into place.
"We didn't get shot?" I asked.
"No," Anna shook her head, "The bangs you heard were the tires at the back bursting. One of them burst, I think."
"And... We weren't locked in some weird room? Wait, you didn't... Die?" I stuttered, the cold meat becoming tasteless.
"No, what room? You went into a coma instantly," Anna explained, "And no, I could've died... But I didn't."
"So everything that I was experiencing wasn't real?" I gasped, finally aware that all the horrid, unexplained nightmares were all fake. They were all dreams, nothing more.
"But things made sense, they sort of... Link." I mumbled.
"That is possible," Wanda commented, "Your brain, during a coma, gets confused with reality and its memories, as well as its dreams and imagination. It can't differ between them all, and so muddles them up into one huge dream. You might have experienced some things that brought back a memory- did you experience any of those?"
"Yes," I nodded, "I found a letter in one of the pill bottles, and I had put a letter in one of Luke's pill bottles so that when he woke up and had to take his pills... He'd find it."
"Y-you wrote me a letter?" He stammered, "I have the bottles in my bag, I'm going to-"
"Not now," I put my hand on his arm, "Let's eat!"
I dug into the salad and the remains of my food gratefully, happy to find that I was no longer starving. Mother and father chatted about things that involved me- things they did, like took photos of the shed or flick through photo albums. They thought they had lost me, and so did Luke.