With a shaky breath, Angelina held her chest as tightly as she could before closing her eyes tightly. Her trembling body hit the cold floor of Saint Child Hospital as the nurses moved around hurriedly. Strange voices filled her ears as she struggled to open her eyes to see what was happening.
"Ma'am, please breathe...breathe..." She heard continuously but she couldn't understand why they were asking her to do that and just as she opened her mouth to talk, an oxygen was placed on her as darkness took hold of her.
Minutes, or was it hours or days? Angelina couldn't tell as her body lay on the hospital bed lost in her dreams, or was it her reality? She couldn't tell. A single tear found its way down her cheek as she felt a familiar hand on her skin. She wanted to hold the hands back, but her hands felt heavy. It was like something strong was pulling her down, and she had no energy to fight it off.
Letting out a huge sigh, Angelina opened her eyes but was in shock at what she saw. Right beside her was a man in black clothing with a hood on. His eyes were dark, and his hands were made of hooks. Her heart skipped a beat, and then she saw the man raised up his hook hands up toward her. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, expecting the impact of the hook on her, but nothing came.
Opening her eyes, she saw that the man with the hook still stood beside her with his hands down as he stared at something, or was it someone beside her? Carefully turning her head, Angelina saw the woman who lay on the hospital bed with a machine stuck to her. She moved closer to the woman, and she needed no one to tell her who she was. Breathing calmly with her mouth, she stared at the man with the hook and then the woman on the hospital bed, and it was then she the truth hit her like a cold water was thrown at her.
Death?... yeah, death is upon her, and that realization shocked her to her bone marrow, but she didn't let it get to her completely.
"I see you've come to the realization of why I am standing beside you?" The man with the hook asked in a funny tone, and for one, Angelina wanted to smile in a girly manner, but she held herself.
"I am not ready to go now. I have not yet lived life the way I want to and my family.... Oh, no! Jamie!" Angelina screamed, running straight out of her hospital room as her eyes scanned around where her daughter's room was. Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt a sharp pain in her heart as she found where her daughter was meant to be but could only find an empty bed.
Tons of tears found their way down her body as her body trembled aggressively until her body hit the floor. "This feeling is very familiar. This has happened to me before," she spoke, calming her heartbeat. Running back to her room, she saw the man with the hook closer to her body as she walked straight to him.
"You could have let the feeling of bitterness take over you completely. Your heart almost gave up." The man with the hook said with a big smile.
"You are a douchebag. Stay away from my body. Stay away from me and.." Turning to face her body, she saw the people beside her body. Her husband, Jeremy, and..."Oh, gracious Lord, Jamie?" she said, walking close to her baby daughter only to find her crying so bad.
"What happened to you, honey? You don't have to cry. Mommy is here for you. Are you hurt?" she asked her daughter as she tried to touch her, but her hands slipped past her daughter's body.
"I am so sorry, Dad. I went ice skating in the cold after Mom warned me not to. If I hadn't fallen in the ice and mom was there to pull me out, she wouldn't have been in this state. Mom is going to die because of me, and you'll hate me for that. I...please, I have learned my lesson... I just want to have Mom back, I miss her so badly." Jamie said with lots of tears, and she saw her husband cry as well as he pet their daughter.
He must be in severe pain. "Oh, my babies." Angelina said, staring both at her husband and child. Taking in a deeper sigh, Angelina knew what she had to do. She won't die now and let her daughter ruin her life with regret. She knew she had to fight and that she would. She vowed. As she turned toward death, her brain went to a calculative mode on how to keep out death from her life and after some eye to eye battle with death, she knew what she had to do. She needs to have a talk with death.
"Don't you have someone better to take away? As you can see, my heartbeat is fine, and I am still very much alive." Angelina said with a goofy smile.
"Ah, nah. Not very much alive but, in a coma, which means you are stranded, and only I know the way out, and that way is death. Besides, I am assigned to you, so I can't leave your side until you are dead." The man with the hook replied.
"Thanks for verifying something nice for me. So, there's a way for you to keep out of my way after all." Angelina responded as well.
"That is nice. Now, slowly think about something painful and let your emotions take over. I'll do the rest from here." said the man with the hook.
Smiling ear to ear, Angelina took a deep breath and thought of the most interesting memories she had with her husband and her baby. She frowned when she remembered what she caught her husband eating with their child when she traveled impromptu for just 2 days. Noodles and other sorts of food she detests.
That thought held so much power as her present thought presented itself. Who would cook and clean the house when I am no more? I don't trust my husband to do the work. He only does well at being very romantic and taking good care of me. Turning to her inner self , she spoke, ”you have to survive because if you do not, no one can replace you in your family.” With this, her brain registered the mesage as all her emotions became one to fight the battle with death. "Wake up! You have to wake up for them and also for yourself." Her mind screamed so hard that she jolted back to life.
"Baby...? My..."
"Mom! Mom is alive!" Her daughter screamed, cutting off her father's sentence, and just then, nurses came in to check on her.
"I am alive!" Angelina said before kissing her husband romantically after the nurses left.