Jennifer's Dream

Jennifer

"EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! EVERYTHING IS COOL WHEN YOU'RE PART OF A TEAM!"

Jennifer's alarm clock always chose the worst moment to wake her up. She'd been dreaming of flying through the air, soaring above the planet like an eagle.

She reached over and stopped the alarm. There was only so much of that song she could take at 8AM. She slowly got out of bed and headed towards her door. As she did so she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She was nineteen years old, tall, and had long red hair which had decided to frizz completely out of control during the night.

"Sometimes I think I should cut it all off," she said to herself before leaving her room and heading downstairs.

She went into the kitchen and found her parents watching TV while they had their breakfast. It was some medical drama they liked.

"Do you think she'll ever wake up?" One of the characters asked the doctor. She didn't hear what came next.

"You really need to change your alarm you know. Everything is not awesome when you can head that blasted song at 8AM!" Her mum said as she entered the room.

"It's more awesome then waking up late," she replied grumpily.

"I'd have thought you'd be sleeping in today. It's the first day of the summer holidays you know," her dad said as Jennifer got some cereal.

"That's exactly why I'm up early. Nick is starting the complete Spongebob marathon in thirty minutes, and I don't wanna miss a single nautical second!" She replied as she sat at the table.

"Is that really what you plan to do for six weeks?" Mum asked.

"Only weekdays until 5PM. Then I plan on indulging myself by reading my favourite book," Jennifer said as she took her first mouthful of cereal.

"MockingJay? Again? Really Jenny? You've read that book a thousand times already!" Said her dad.

"Actually, it's only been 16 times. I have to keep reading it, because I refuse to acknowledge Prim and Finnick's death, and there's always a chance I missed a page about her going to an alternate reality, or finding out their deaths were all a dream. So long as I keep reading, there's a chance they're alive OK!?" She said in a voice that was probably a little bit too emotional.

"Well when you put it that way," her mum said rolling her eyes.

Finishing her cereal, she walked into the living room and switched the TV on. She flicked through the channels while she waited for the marathon to start. She decided on watching Lorraine on ITV.

"So, you were in a coma for six months after the accident. How did it feel when you woke up?" Lorraine asked today's guest. She was a girl who'd been in some horrid accident and was in a comma for ages. Well, that was a depressing way to start the day.

She picked up her phone and checked her Twitter. Taylor Swift had tweeted some new pictures of her cats, and after a minute or so of cooing over them, she finally calmed down enough to retweet them and post to her Google Fanpage. Her phone buzzed an alarm. One minute until yellow squarish goodness! She turned over and prepared herself.

"Are you ready kids!?" Yelled the nameless captain.

Kids? Please. She picked up her phone again and quickly tweeted: "I don't care what you say, but you can never be too old for #Spongebob."

Two episodes later, her mum came in and switched off the TV.

"Mum! What are you doing?" She asked.

"Stopping you from wasting the day. I want you to go and get showered, and then go outside for a while. Maybe go for the run you said you'd take back in March?" She said.

"Ugh. Fine. But I'm getting a Starbucks on the way home," she said as she headed upstairs.

Why did her mum have to remember the promise she'd start exercising, when she made it so many months ago?

After showering, cleaning her teeth, and spending what felt like hours torturing her hair into submission, she was ready for her run. She headed for the front door, when suddenly she stumbled and grabbed hold of the banister. She had an intense pain in her legs that took her breath away.

"Come on now. You aren't that scared of exercise are you?" She said to herself, and the pain slowly subsided.

She ran out the door, and started to jog, whilst listening to some Bastille. If she wasn't breathing so heavily due to the exercise, she'd probably be singing at the top of her lungs and making the people she passed wish they were deaf.

She jogged across the street, and heard tyres screech. A black Audi A5 had stopped only inches away from hitting her. She hadn't heard it coming over Bastille singing Flaws at almost maximum volume.

"Look where you're going! I could have killed you!" The driver shouted.

"I'm so sorry! I'll turn the volume down I promise!" She said before setting off again.

A little shaken by her close call, she cut through the park, and stopped halfway across the bridge that crossed the duck pond. Jennifer had always loved Ducks. Especially the sound they made. After a few minutes, she started running again.

She managed another block before the pain set in again. She leant against the wall of a shop to catch her breath. It was much worse this time. Then, with a sudden flash, she couldn't feel her legs at all. Her back arched as pain shot through her ribcage and she fell to the ground. She heard a loud snap come from her left arm, and suddenly it wouldn't move. She looked at it to find a gaping wound all the way down her forearm. She tried to scream again, but like the last time nothing would come out. Suddenly, everything went black and she couldn't feel anything at all.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

That was all Jennifer could hear. She wasn't in pain anymore. But then, she couldn't feel much else either. Her right arm was there, but her left arm and anything below her waist was absent. She couldn't open her eyes. She had to open her eyes. She pushed, and she pushed, until eventually they snapped open.

She was in a hospital room. This Morning was on the small TV in the corner, and her parents were talking to a doctor at the end of her bed.

"Mum?" She managed to say.

"Jenny! You're awake! We thought you'd never wake up! We're so glad!" Her mother said with tears in her eyes. Her parents rushed over to kiss her.

"What happened? How did I get here?" Jennifer asked.

"You were hit by a car while you were running. Darling, I don't know how to tell you this but... Your spine and left arm were damaged. You may get some movement back in your arm, but you're never going to walk again," said her father through choked back tears.

"What!? The car didn't hit me! I made it to the park! I watched the Ducks and everything!" She shouted, which made her lungs burn.

"No dear, you didn't. You've been in a coma for three days now. I'm so sorry," her mum said before throwing her arms around her.

That was when it made sense to Jennifer. The medical drama she'd seen her parents watching at breakfast. "Do you think she'll ever wake up?" The person had said. Then there was the Lorraine interview she'd seen.

It was a dream. She'd been reliving the day she'd been hit. Only in her dream, she made it to the park just as she'd planned to that day. Suddenly, she remembered. The Audi hit her on her left side. She remembered hitting the windscreen and then bouncing.

She would spend the rest of her life wishing she'd paid more attention at the crossing, instead of listening to her precious music. But there was, at least one good thing. She was alive.

She didn't say anything more, nor did her parents. They just cried together. In silence.