Convict

34.

A Coma? They weren't dreams I was experiencing. The nurses all moved around me, removing some wires and adjusting others. I didn't move, I was trying to process everything. I was trying to come to terms with that fact that everything I had felt was nothing but a story my subconscious had mad up to keep my mind alive.

Mom and Ashton stood in the corner, I could see them talking but I couldn't make out what they were saying. The nurses finally stopped fussing around me "It's good to have you back, Chloe" One smiled at me, she looked strangely familiar. Her copper hair pulled back into a tight pony tail, it dawned on me

"Jasmine?" I croaked

She smiled "You do remember me telling you my name"

I nodded, not quite how I remember her. She took a note of my vitals and left the room. Ashton didn't even look at her, I needed to remind myself that everything that happened was only in my head, I needed to rehabilitate myself to the real world. Mom and Ashton walked over to me, they smiled and took my hands as they had done for the past. "How you feeling baby?" Mom ran her thumb over the back of my hand.

"Confused" I admitted "Coming to terms with what's real now and what wasn't"

"Must've been a crazy time" Ashton laughed "You said some pretty crazy things every now and then. Whose Oliver?"

I felt my face heat in embarrassment, did I really have to tell them? I decided I probably should, it might help them to understand why I am feeling the way that I am. I launched into an explanation from right at the start until the very last second, I didn't miss a detail, I remembered everything so vividly. I watched Ashton's face fall as I recounted the part where he had cheated on me, I couldn't imagine it was hard hearing that my mind had made up this completely crazy other world. My mom watched with sadness in her face as I spoke of everything that happened, I had finished explaining to them before realising I had no idea why I was here in the first place.

"Why am I even here?" I looked between them both "Where's dad and Henry?"

"Oh" mom suddenly choked up as I asked this, her grip tightened on my hand. I looked at Ashton who sighed "Chloe, there is a lot we need to tell you"

Mom suddenly took a step back; her hands over her face. I could see she was trying to hide her tears from me as I laid there "I'm sorry Chloe" she sniffed "This should've been easier than it is"

"What?" My confusion was irritating me "Where are they? Will you please just tell me?!"

"Chloe" Ashton soothed me, placing a kiss on my forehead. I laid back on the bed that had been positioned so that I was sat. I was tired, despite being asleep for nearly seven months; my body felt exhausted. Every part of me was aching.

Ashton took a deep breath before laughing into an explanation.

"Do you remember going for a drive, to the coast with your dad and brother?" He asked me, I shook my head in answer.

"I think you're about to" He sighed "First of September last year, before we moved across the country to pursue our careers, you went on a drive to the coast with your dad and Henry. Your mom and I were preparing a leaving party for you back home-"

As Ashton spoke it was like my memories started coming back to me, I remembered the morning we had decided to go. Henry jumped down the stairs, excited to have a day out. I remember us waiting at the door, saying goodbye to mom as we piled in the car. I had called shotgun on the way there, much to Henry's annoyance he climbed into the back.

We set off for the coast, I knew this was a way of trying to persuade me to stay, knowing I would miss the Florida sun when I moved to Montana in the next few days.