Saving My Heroine

Anna woke up with a jolt, she could still feel the collision between her car and the truck and the pain of being crushed. She sat up gently, so that’s what dying felt like, she thought grimly, horrible experience, won’t recommend. She held her head, death was actually quite strange, she didn’t feel any different than being alive. She was disappointed, she had hope for rest after death but it seems like it was just another version of life. She paused, doesn’t this mean I can find Celine? She jumped off her bed only to be hit by a pounding headache. She fell back to her bed, wasn’t she dead? Why was she having a headache then? She looked around, taking in her surroundings for the first time since she woke up. Hold on, she thought grimly. Why am I at home? Didn’t I die? Is this some kind of punishment? Even if it was, how am I feeling pain? She asked out loud. She held her breath, she was alive, she could feel it. It was strange and she was certain that she was going to die but somehow, she survived, she smiled then paused. Hold on, there was a flaw in that reasoning. Unless she had been in a coma she should be in pain and her body should not be as normal and okay as it was right now, in fact even if she was in a coma how could there be no evidence of her accident on her body. A wild thought entered her mind, she walked slowly toward her mirror, she stopped in front of it and looked at the face before her. She gasped sharply, dark brown hair on a beautiful chocolate toned skin, she looked like she had regressed 5 years. She turned around, rushing to her bed, stumbling in her haste. No way, she thought, grabbing her phone off her bed, what she ought to have done from the very beginning. March 3rd 2020, she had been reborn. She collapsed on her bed in shock, how? Why? Was this actually real or just the dying thought of a girl who wished she could have saved her best friend? She was well aware that her biggest pain was Celine’s death, so it made sense for er to fantasize about saving her. Celine, she thought and jolted from the bed once more, she picked up her phone and dialed the other girl’s number quickly. “Hello my birthday girl, good morning.” Celine said sweetly, picking the call up at the first ring. Anna burst into tears immediately, startling Celine, she had not heard her best friend’s voice in months. “What’s wrong?” Celine asked in a worry but Anna couldn’t say anything, she just kept crying, she had missed her best friend desperately and didn’t know how to feel now that she could hear her voice once more. “I’ll be there in less than a minute baby, just hold on a bit.” Celine said. Anna could only nod even though she knew Celine couldn’t see her. True to her word Celine got there shortly after the call ended, she rushed to Anna’s room and saw the beautiful girl still crying seriously, she rushed to her bed and pulled her into a warm comforting hug, whispering soft and sweet words to her. Anna cried harder, she held on to Celine tightly, worried that if she let go, she might fade from existence. After a few minutes her tears started subsiding and she raised her head staring at her friend. Black hair, brown eyes, a beautiful straight nose, soft pink lips and rosy cheeks. Celine was very beautiful, it was hard to believe that she would die in less than 5 years. She smiled softly at Celine who was wiping her tears and muttered “You died.” Celine paused and looked at her with a hint of confusion in her eyes. She could vaguely understand Anna’s words but the certainty in the other woman’s voice threw her off and the sadness and pain in her eyes were so real. “Did you have a nightmare?” Anna shuddered, hugging Celine again. No, she thought, it was real. “Alright that’s enough, today is a happy day, stop crying.” Celine said, patting her back, she pushed her away softly to look at her. “I’m right here so whatever you saw, it didn’t really happen.” She pulled Anna up gently. “Go freshen up, I have a beautiful gift waiting for you.” Anna was reluctant to leave Celine but she did have to get ready and needed to sort her thoughts privately a little more. She walked to her bathroom, a bath would be nice, good for thinking too, she mused. She took her soap and body wash from her toiletry shelf and headed towards the tub, she filled it with warm water, added soap and immediately entered it. She sighed softly and rested her head on the bathtub. Was she really alive or was she dreaming in the final moments of her life? She shook her head, a dream can’t be this real, she curled to one side, biting her lips in worry, what was happening? Did she really travel to the past? Did she really experience those for years or was it just a dream? It couldn’t be, that 4 years had been very real as well. How did she come back to the past then and why? Can she go back? She pondered. She didn’t want to go back, she was pretty sure that she was already dead in the future and most importantly, Celine was already dead. No, she didn’t want to go back, she sat up sharply and started scrubbing her body, she rinsed off and stepped out of the tub, she wrapped a towel around herself and stepped into her room. Celine was not there, probably cooking or helping out with some chore. Instead she saw a soft baby pink jogger and a matching crop top on her bed. That was the gift Celine had given her for her birthday even in the previous timeline, well if she needed more proof this was it. She dried her body, applied lotion to it, she checked and saw that Celine had brought out some under wear too, she put her head on her face to stop the laughter threatening to come out. It was cute and pink and somehow that made her want to laugh. She put on her clothes and moved to her dressing table to add some colour to her face and do her hair. She paused once more, staring at her face, she blinked and started brushing her hair, she took it down from the messy bun it had been in all day only to put it in a more organized messy bun, she powdered her face and added some lip gloss, she wasn’t planning on going out so she just applied her everyday routine. She picked up her phone as she was leaving the room certain that she would have gotten some messages. Anna stepped into her sitting room, looking around her modest one bedroom apartment, she had not been home in weeks, she had gone to Celine’s parents place to stay with them for a while and it was on her return that she had the accident. She headed towards the kitchen, if Celine was not in the sitting room then she was in the kitchen. Celine noticed her immediately she entered the kitchen, “Go back, I’m already done here, go sit I’ll bring your breakfast.” She said sternly not giving Anna a chance to say no. Anna nodded and went back to the sitting room. She sat down on her sofa and opened her phone. A flood of birthday wishes came through from friends, colleagues and old classmates. She was replying when she received a call from her mom. She picked up immediately and heard a birthday song singing from the other end, she smiled, when she was home her parents would wake her up with birthday wishes and a song and when she was not, they would call to sing for her like this. “Happy birthday to our little princess.” They both said. “Thank you” she replied with a smile. “We have mailed your gift to you. I believe Celine is already with you? Give her our greetings” Her mom said, Anna nodded, then remembered that her parents couldn’t see her and was about to reply but was cut short by her father’s warm tone, “We won’t keep you, just make sure to enjoy your day and eat lots of good food.” She laughed because her father was a foodie and telling people to eat was his favourite love language. “I’ll do that, thank you mom, thank you dad, I love you.” “We love you too Anna.” They replied and ended the call. She dropped her hand. “Was that uncle and aunty?” Celine said coming out with a large tray of food, Anna's eyes widened at that. “I hope that is not just for me” She looked up at Celine who smiled mischievously, dropping the tray on the table. “It’s not, I haven’t eaten this morning either, I wanted us to eat together.” Anna let out a breath and looked at the food, she had not been hungry but seeing the food woke her stomach up. Celine had made all her favourite fast meals, there was bread, fried egg and plantain, noodles and two cups of hot chocolate. Anna rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “My bathroom time was well spent, I see.” Celine smiled in satisfaction, “Of course, it’s me after all.” She said, patting her chest in pride. Both women dropped the small talk and focused on the food, they didn’t stop eating until it was only the hot chocolate that was left. “That was a great meal” Celine sighed feeling satisfied, Anna nodded in agreement as she picked up her cup of hot chocolate and started drinking it, Celine looked at her, she was looking much better now. Good, she thought. “Want to stay in or head out?” She asked the younger girl. “Stay in” Anna said immediately “Let’s watch a series, I believe we have many on our watchlist.” Celine could see that Anna did not wish to see people so she agreed, she turned on the T.V “Want a series we’ve watched or something new?” Anna hummed softly, sorting through movies. “Oh, let’s watch that new movie, chasing delusions” she said. “You mean, Unexpected reality?” Celine asked. “Yeah that.” It was one of Anna's most favourite series, she always forgot the name though. The movie started and both women settled into the couch, Celine brought out the snacks she had bought while coming, Anna looked at it and asked with wonder “Did you buy out the entire shop? Or do you plan to open a snack shop in my home?” “Complaining now but in less than a week you’ll be complaining about needing more snacks.” Celine retorted. Anna raised her hands in mock surrender. “My apologies, do forgive me.” She said and picked up a pack of wafer cubes. She had missed this, even before Celine’s death, simple hang outs like this had become very rare. Celine’s relationship or the problems had taken most of her time away. She sighed leaning on the other woman’s shoulder. This time she won’t allow her best friend to disappear from her life. This time she will protect her.