Chapter 1: Nightmares and Dreams Come True
When you were little did you ever pretend you couldn’t move your legs? Did you ever envy the people who got to ride around in wheelchairs all the time or the great parking spaces they got? Probably; most kids did. Mackenzie Connor did. That was before she became one of those, so called ‘lucky,’ people.
The funny thing about being paralyzed is that you don’t feel like you are. You can obviously still see that your legs are there. They didn’t just disappear. You can still feel them too; in your mind that is. In your mind you could jump out bed and run a marathon. You’ll wake up in the middle of the night and have to go to the bathroom so you just throw back to covers and swing your legs around; too bad that when your paralyzed you don’t get any father than throwing back the covers.
She sat stationary in her bed staring forward at the wall. Her mother sat to her right with her sister by her side. She could hear her mother sniffing and see her wiping away tears out of the corner of her eye. That’s all anyone who came to see her did; cry. Having them cry in front of her and act as though her life was over didn’t exactly make her feel any better. Sure she could understand that they were upset; so was she. But she wasn’t dead. They should be happy that she survived at all because most of the doctors thought she wouldn’t. It was a true miracle that saved her, they said. So was this the price she had to pay? Save your life and lose your legs? She often questioned why; what had she done to deserve such a cruel punishment? She was an upstanding citizen, an all round nice person; some might say the all American girl next door. It just didn’t make any sense.
~*~*~*~
“She’s in room 802.” The nurse informed him with a flirtatious smile. “That’s just right across the way. If you need anything just call.”
He thanked her and walked towards the direction she had pointed. Sometimes people amazed him. He was here to spend time with sick children and she was flirting with him. Shaking his head he knocked lightly before opening the door and walking in. He hated hospitals; they creeped him out. They just had this smell about them; they were stale and musty smelling of inevitable death. He shuddered and moved towards the young woman lying in bed. He looked her over, surprised she was so old. She looked almost his age. He had assumed she would be around twelve or thirteen. He offered her a weak smile but she continued to stare straight head. It was almost as if she were looking through him. His eyes continued their surveillance; scratches and bruises covered her thin face and exposed arms. Her eyes were dark and seemed to have lost all spark that may have once existed. Her skin was pale and she wore an unyielding scowl. He felt bad for her. She was a cancer victim; at least that’s what it said in the profile his PR had provided him with.
“Hello there.” He greeted quietly taking at seat in the chair adjacent to her bed. “Ms. Stran, from the Make a Wish Foundation, told me that you wanted to meet me.”
Her head swiveled in his direction and her scowl remained firm. “I don’t know Ms. Stran and I’m not a part of Make a Wish Foundation and if I were I certainly wouldn’t wish to meet some stuck up, egotistical pop star like yourself Mr. Timberlake.”
He was visibly taken aback by her uncouth comment, but bit his tongue. He was sure that if he were in her situation he would have acted the same if not worse. “I apologize I must have been directed wrongly by the nurse.”
“Are you looking for Bethany?” He nodded. “She’s on the other side of the curtain.”
“Oh.” Justin said quietly. “Thank you.”
“She loves you, you know.” She told him as he started to walk away. “You’re all she talks about.”
Justin didn’t really know how to respond to her statement. He smiled tightly and slipped to the opposite side of the curtain.
~*~*~*~
She lay listening to then talk. Bethany was giggling like mad ever since Justin arrived. She could imagine the smile on her little face. All she talked about once she found out Justin was coming was how excited she was and how when Justin saw her he was going to fall deeply in love with her. Of course she humored her and asked to be invited to the wedding.
“How old are you Bethany?” He asked.
“Ten.” She answered happily.
“I would have thought you were at least…twenty.” Bethany erupted into another fit of giggles.
Mackenzie’s eyes started to droop in her tiredness and she eventually conceded and fell into a deep sleep. Of course with sleep comes dreams and with dreams comes nightmares.
She’s standing; standing in the desert. It’s hot and dry. She’s thirsty and tired and her eyes are incredibly dry. She squints to see a car approaching in the distance. It’s a candy apple red Mustang. It’s heading right for her. Mackenzie recognizes the driver as the one that hit her. She opens her mouth to scream but finds her mouth is full of sand. She tries to run but her feet are buried in the sand. She can’t move and the car is moving faster and getting closer.
Justin attention is redirected from Bethany to the curtain separating the room when a soft cry is heard.
“She’s having a bad dream.” Bethany informs him as if reading his thoughts. “She has them all the time.”
“Oh.” It saddened him to hear Bethany talk like this. She shouldn’t know things she does. She shouldn’t be stuck in the hospital. She should be out being a kid and playing with her friends. She shouldn’t know that the girl across the way always has nightmares. “Will she be okay?”
“We should probably wake her up before they get to bad and she starts screaming.” He did not like this. What if she went crazy on him or something? He didn’t know what the woman was capable of. “Mackenzie!”
Slowly he rose from his chair and pulled back the room divider. The woman he had mistaken for Bethany earlier was thrashing about in her bed whimpering and crying for help. He looked back at Bethany, as she called out for Mackenzie again, before taking the few steps towards the other bed. Gingerly he reached out his hand and curled his fingers around her shoulder slightly shaking her.
Mackenzie shot up out of her sleep gasping for air and soaked in sweat. “You were dreaming again.” She looked over at Bethany and then realized the man standing in front of her.
“She told me to wake you up.” He said quietly pointing over his shoulder to Bethany.
She whispered a quiet ‘thanks’ and closed her eyes to try to get some peaceful sleep for once.
TBC.....(Please Review!)
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