the reason | 13rw

s e v e n t y - n i n e

NICOLETTE'S POV

as i walked into my house, my heart fluttered and i took in a deep breath. i felt someone place their hand on my back.  i looked over and saw monty. 

"i'll bring your stuff upstairs, why don't you go rest on the couch." 

"yeah," i nodded and handed him my bag. he kissed my head and moved up the stairs. 

i walked over to the couch, steadily, i still had to be careful because of my surgery. i reached over and turned the tv on, laying back. spongebob popped up and i smiled. for the past two weeks i'd only been watching the news and tmz. 

"hey, elliot and your dad will be here any minute with the food." monty said from the doorway. 

"are you leaving?" i asked. 

"no," he shook his head and came over. he sat next to me. "i'm not leaving." 

i leaned my body against him. he put his arm around me and kissed my forehead. i let my eyes travel up to his. 

"thank you." i said. 

"for what?" 

"for skipping the past two and half weeks to stay with me in the hospital." 

"i was never going to leave your side."

it fell silent between us as my mind wandered. 

"monty," i said. 

"yeah princess?"

"what did it look like?" i asked. 

"what did what look like?" 

"i can only remember up until you guys arrived, what did it look like when tyler...you know..." 

he took in a breath, letting it go. 

"well, i was horrifying. we were all trying to talk him down. you were crying, we all were. you were apologizing to tyler, telling him you didn't mean to hurt him and he just snapped. he shot and then bolted." 

"what happened after?" 

"well alex and zach chased after him, they tackled him in the parking lot. i ran over to you and just held you in my arms. hannah called your dad and jess called nine-one-one. your dad thought hannah was lying." 

i stayed quiet and nodded. i looked back over to the tv, resting my head on monty's chest. i couldn't focus on the episode though, i just kept thinking about the dream i had while i was out. 

....

my eyes opened and i saw the blue sky above me. i was lying down, surrounded by grass. i sat up and saw hills all around me. but i also saw a woman, long brown hair. her back was to me, i watched as she pulled her sweater tighter around her. the wind blew, pushing her hair to the side.

i pushed myself off the ground and started walking towards her. 

"excuse me?" i asked. "this is embarrassing, but i don't know where i am."

i watched as she turned and the second she did, her soft face grew into a smile. 

"mom," i exhaled. 

"nicolette," she said and hurried over, hugging me tight. 

"what is this?" i asked. 

she pulled away and looked at me, "this is just your imagination." 

"why are you here? what is happening? am i dying?"