Resolution

Chapter Four

It was late at night. She knew, because she had opened the blinds. A nurse had come and left a tray of food for her at some point, but she didn't feel like eating.

She wasn't hungry.

She watched the outside world attentively, taking note of the stars, and the garden lit by moonlight. At the edge of the garden was a wall. She had seen it earlier, in the sunlight, and knew it was covered in leaves and vines. Beyond it, every so often, she would see the headlights of a car driving past, the beams slicing through the darkness like slick knives.

She watched, silently, trapped in thought.

Eventually, her eyelids began to droop. She didn't want to close them. She didn't want to see the visions that lay behind them.

But her body had other plans.

She continued sitting up, but she could feel her limbs growing eat and heavy, her mind slowing. She was falling asleep, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to give in.

Yet without even wanting to, she laid down. She looked out at the night, took a deep breath, and her eyes closed.

And she dreamed.

She saw fire. She saw her fathers face, vacant, mouth agape and eyes glazed. She saw Luke, and the smile he seemed to hold on his face as he lay still, his hair dark with blood.

She felt heat, the searing heat that radiated around her. 

She saw glass. Broken glass, surrounding her. She heard a voice calling for her.

"Brooke!"

She saw her mother emerge through the fire. It wasn't her mother at the party, though. The woman was wearing sweatpants, and a stained grey shirt. She was wearing a smile. A warm, warm smile. In her arms was a bundle of soft blue blankets. 

"I finally got him calm again. Do you mind holding him for a little, while I go do some work for the company? Your father needs me to check some things. You know, he's lost without me."

The fire was licking at her mother's feet as she handed the bundle of blankets, and the little boy wrapped in them to her daughter. She couldn't say anything. She just looked down the little boy, filled with awe.

The fire was pressing in around her, and her mother was gone. She noticed how the light blue sheets were growing dark, becoming drenched in blood. She desperately tried to wipe it away, stop the blood from touching, but it was too late.

The little boy started to cry, and so did she. "It'll be okay. I'll save you." She whispered, but she could hear the fear in her own voice.

The flames closed in on them. The fear grew. Her heart was pumping.

Then the blankets began to unravel, sweeping around her and blowing into the wind, and he was gone. She was alone. She couldn't save him. She couldn't save herself.

She heard her mother's voice again, as she began to cry and sob. "Brooke! Wake up! Brooke! It's a dream!"

The fire closed in on her, and as she shut her eyes, she let out a scream.

"Brooke! Wake up! Something's wrong with your mum!"

Her mum. Her mum was still alive. She needed to find her. Struggling against the fire and the nightmare trapping her, she opened her eyes, and saw glimpses of the hospital room around her. The fire faded away, and she saw a nurse. Not the first she had met, but the quiet one that helped her to the bathroom.