Wanderlust Heart (18+)

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An annoying, incessant beeping sound filled my ears as the smell of Matteo's intoxicating cologne filled my nostrils.

Matteo's here?

I heard an unfamiliar voice, "I'm sorry, but as next of kin to Samantha, you have to make a decision very soon. She can no longer stay on the ventilator."

Then I heard my brother's voice whimper and I heard Matteo's voice, "Bullshit. We're paying you thousands of dollars every day so you will keep her on the machine until she wakes up!"

The unfamiliar voice spoke again, "She's been on the ventilator for almost a year, Mr. Salvatore. Her last scans show very little brain activity due to her drowning and if they haven't already, her organs will begin failing shortly. She needs to come off of life support."

A year?!

My eyelids are heavy like something is weighing them down and there's... there's something making it difficult to breathe. It feels like a tube in my throat...? There was a hissing sound beside me along with the beeping machines and I tried to breathe in, only to gag. My eyes pried open and I began choking against the tube feeding into my mouth and down my throat.

I saw my brother look over at me with scared eyes before the doctor rushed over to me whilst Stefan began screaming, "What's wrong with her?!"

"She's fighting intubation! Nurse!" The doctor yelled calmly. The nurse ran in and began helping to pull the tube out as she spoke calmly to me with a grin, "Welcome back, Samantha."

They got the tube out and the nurse left while the doctor I recognized as Dr. Romani looked at me with a smile, "Ms. Castillo, do you know where you are?"

I looked around me and nodded, "H-H-"

I can't talk without my throat hurting and the lights are burning my eyes.

"Hospital, correct. Don't be alarmed by not being able to speak clearly right now, you haven't used your voice in a very long time. Do you want to write on something so you can ask questions?"

I nodded my head and Stefan handed me his phone. I cringed at the brightness all the way up and turned it down as I wrote in the notes, "Can you turn the light off? It hurts."

I showed it to the doctor and he nodded as he turned the big light off, instantly relieving my eyes. I sighed in content and wrote in the notes again, "How long have I been in here? What happened? I thought Matteo died? Are Willow, Benny, and Gino okay? Is Stefan okay? Where's Ezra? Who won the Capo Crimine? How come I can't talk?"

I showed the phone to the doctor and he chuckled, "I will let your friends answer these questions. I will be back to check on your fluid levels later. Please try not to strain yourself, Ms. Castillo."

I nodded as Stefan grabbed the phone and read everything aloud with a confused face. Matteo came into my view and I flinched backwards. He's going to try to hurt me again. He looked at me with a confused face as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Who is Ezra? What do you mean you thought I died?" He asked and I opened my mouth to speak but it was hoarse.

"W-Wa-"

"Water?" Matteo asked closely and I flinched again. He looked hurt but handed me the water beside his chair anyways. I drank it and the coldness bit at my throat painfully at first before it began soothing me. I drank it all shamelessly.

"Ezra... De Luca," I whispered and Stefan and Matteo both shared the same confused looks. Stefan spoke up before Matteo could, "Sammie, who is that?"

Now I'm confused. Is this some kind of cruel joke?

"Ezra... my boyfriend? We got together after Matteo cheated on me," I said softly and Matteo's eyes scrunched up, "Sweetheart, I never cheated on you. No one has heard of an Ezra and I was crowned Capo Crimine when I turned eighteen."

"N-No... there was a race for it... and you and Ezra hurt each other... then you tried to hurt me and Gino k-killed you," I whispered confusedly as my eyes began to fill with tears.

"D-Did I dream that?" I whispered, hardly inaudible and Matteo sat on the bed near me. He lifted his hand and pointed to the ring on his middle finger that he always wore, "Can you read that?"

I looked closely at the ring and it showed a crown with the words Capo Crimine in it. I closed my head, trying to remember everything with Ezra and I came up blank. He doesn't exist... Matteo never hurt me, he never cheated.

"You left?" I asked him and he reached up to wipe my tears away with his thumb, "I did, but only for a bit to get things with the police sorted so we would both be safe. Then I came back to tell you I won't be leaving you ever, but you were already hospitalized from the drowning. Some guy named Kyle Fortgang saved you. He was the lifeguard at the beach."

"Ezra Fortgang was the guy who saved me... I guess in my dream... I woke up. The news lady showed pictures of Matteo cheating on me across the world. Ezra and I fell in love and we went to the Capo Crimine thing. He told me he lied to me about his name and his last name was actually De Luca, not Fortgang. He had to have an initiation into the mafia along with four other families: Ambrogi, Bianchi, uh... Lombardi, and Salvatore."

"There are ten main families in the Italian mafia: Morelli, D'Angelo, Armani, Di Maggio, Saccone, Valentino, Argento, Tarantino, Romani, and Salvatore. Outsiders are not welcome in the mafia family parties unless married into them, so even if it were real, you would be killed on the spot. There is no Ezra Fortgang in the Italian mafia family, especially since the name Ezra Fortgang is Jewish. I would never cheat on you, ever. The De Luca Italian name was killed off three decades ago for their betrayal towards our allies," Matteo explained thoroughly

"So... you're you? You're not mentally ill?" I asked and Matteo smiled with a shake of his head, "I am me and I am not sick. I've been by your side every day for eleven months. So has your brother, Willow, Gino, and Benny. They're down in the cafeteria right now. Everyone is healthy, everyone is okay. Now, are you okay?"

I wrapped my mind around everyone and suddenly I felt my face light up in happiness once everything clicked.

I was just dreaming.

Everything is okay.

I'm happy.