Undeniable

Chapter 2: Dreams Or Nightmares?

The sky is so beautiful. Pinks mixed with oranges and shades of purple. It's almost like I'm staring at a painting that you would only find in an elite museum, with paintings from around the world by the best of the best. I'm captured by its beauty, feeling at peace with the scent of nature surrounding me; my head held high, eyes closed, embracing the sounds and serenity of greenery around me. In the distance, I see James running toward me, ready to embrace me. I smile and look down, only to see my full, round, pregnant belly.

All of a sudden, a flash of darkness surrounds me, and my peace is raked away from me. I shudder and feel intense tugging, ripping my body apart. I tremble as I look down and see that my belly is now flat and empty. What once was a beautiful dream, has turned into a nightmare. I stumble along, trying to pick up the pieces and find answers to my questions, only to keep sinking down into a pit of darkness.

I wake up screaming, petrified, and back to reality, remembering where I am, as I grasp both hands onto the small railing along the sides of the hospital bed. No one is in the room with me, but I can see my mother in the distance by the nursing station talking quietly on the phone. Just then, Dr. Forest walks in accompanied by a nurse wearing gray scrubs. He looks over at the heart monitor noticing how fast it's beeping. "Good morning Olivia, how are you feeling today? Your heart rate seems to be elevated this morning." I wipe the beads of sweat running down my face. "Im alright, but," I pause. "I had this really strange dream that I was pregnant and-" He waves his hand passively, and cuts me off before I can even finish getting the words out. "Oh yes! These kinds of things happen all the time. It's normal to have night terrors when coming out of a coma." I clear my throat and smile uneasily, thinking to myself Is it?

He turns his attention away from me and stares at the tall, blonde woman standing next to him. "This is my head physical therapist Staci. Today we want you to start building up your muscles so you can start walking again." Dr. forest exclaims. Staci smiles and waves at me with the whitest teeth I think I've ever seen in my life. "It's so nice to meet you, Olivia! I've heard so much about you!" She says with her bright blue eyes in awe.

She walks over to me and grabs me by my hands to lift me up and place me onto the wheelchair. She starts wheeling me out of the room and my mom is nowhere to be found. I wonder where she went. I think to myself as I'm being wheeled away. Staci pushes me toward a big glass door, and through it I see an older man straining as he holds onto the parallel bars to help support his weight. Staci pushes the door open and wheels me to a blue pad laid out on the floor. She lifts me up and lays me down gently on the mat, asking me if I'm comfortable. I tell her yes, even though this mat is as hard and lumpy as a rock. She grabs one of my legs and bends it towards my chest, slowly pushing it in, inch by inch. I wince in pain, but she keeps going.

"I know it hurts, but your body needs to start working its muscle memory again. In time, it will be a piece of cake, I promise!" She says grinning. "If it hurts too much or you feel like you need to stop, just let me know and we can take a break and try again tomorrow."

"That's ok, I want to keep going, I know the more I push myself the quicker I can get out of here," I say as I let out a soft chuckle. "Well, I love your enthusiasm but remember you need to take it easy too, pushing yourself too hard can be detrimental as well. Just listen to your body and work at its pace." She remarks.

"Note taken," I answer in return with a smile on my face.

After we finish, she wheels me back to my room. As we enter I am delighted to see James waiting for me and all I want to do is kiss him. I feel like I'm a high school girl falling in love with her first crush. James was my first after all. I have never been in love with anyone else. I mean, I've had crushes before, but I always believed in that old-school 'dating, marriage, then home base' kind of idea, and James was okay with that. He waited for me and swept me off of my feet, so every time I see him unexpectedly my heart always skips a beat.

"Hey, sexy." He says, raising his eyebrows up at me.

I smile back sarcastically replying, "Yeah reeeaaalll sexy with this hospital gown and half my butt hangin' out."

He laughs at me. "How're you feeling?" He inquires as he leans over and kisses me.

There it is, that feeling of butterflies rushing through me, making me feel like I'm floating away into space.

"Better now that you're here," I blush at how corny that sounds. To keep from saying anything else embarrassing, I inhale and hold my breath in. From the corner of my eye I see Staci shift awkwardly before trying to slowly back out of the room.

Before she can make it out James looks up at her and asks, "Any word on when she can get out of here?"

Staci looks at us and replies' "Well I'm just the physical therapist, so I'm not exactly sure, but I can ask the doctor if you'd like."

James smiles. "No worries, I know you're busy, I'll just ask him once he makes his way back over here."

Staci flashes a thumbs-up and hurries out of the room.

James has his full attention on me now with a frown on his handsome face. He grabs my hand planting a soft kiss on knuckles.

"I really miss you being at home babe, it's not the same without you there next to me."

"I miss you too. You already know I would be there if I could." I say as I blush. A flashback of our honeymoon comes racing back to me. My blush from moments ago not only returns but intensifies, turning my cheeks as red as a beet.

"What? Why are you blushing?" He asks smiling.

"Oh! nothing, nothing," I say as I try to wave off the question. The color flushes back to my face as I quickly try to change the subject. "So, any chance you saw my mom?" I ask.

"Yeah," He says, "I was actually on the phone with her earlier before I came to see you."

So that's who she was on the phone with earlier.

"Oh, okay. I saw her on the phone but I didn't get a chance to talk with her today. I was wondering where she went off to."

"She was here with you all morning babe, I couldn't be here because I was working." He says. "She said she'd be back later to see you."

Just then his cell phone chimes. He lets go of my hand to check his texts. "Shoot," He says as he flips his phone closed. "I have to get back to work, there's been a mix-up in one of the labs, but I'll be back later before I go home, okay?" "Sure babe, I'll see you later," I say. He picks me up and lays me back down on my bed and covering me up with a crisp, freshly washed blanket. He leans over kissing me on my forehead.

"I love you!" I call out after him. His reply is a warm smile before he makes a shape of a heart over his chest. I blow James one final kiss before he walks out.

I'm so tired after the physical therapy that I start to drift to sleep, feeling so warm and comforted after seeing James. As I lay there drifting off, the weirdest thing happens. Have you ever had one of those dreams where you left the tv on and those conversations merged into what you're dreaming? Well, that's what it feels like now. I'm in a light sleep, but somewhat conscious of what's going on around me.

In my dream I see people standing around in a circle at a restaurant wearing these ridiculous outfits. All of a sudden, I'm sitting down at one of the tables and I overhear this odd conversation taking place in soft voices, it almost sounds like it's between my mother and Dr. Forest, but in my dream, it isn't them, it's just people who look almost exactly like them.

"We still need more time, Mrs. Ramona. Once she's stable, my higher-ups have informed me that she will need to be moved into a secluded place far away from here." His voice sounds so raspy and hard. So different from the Dr. Forest I've seen.

"Well, this 'protocol' you're following needs to hurry up and move along before she starts noticing things." The woman who looks similar to my mother says. "We're working as quickly as we can Claudia, which reminds me, she woke up today trying to relay a 'dream' she said she had about being pregnant." The man whispers.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," She says.

Just then I see another person walk in, but they're just a silhouette, a dark shadow, and when they speak their voice is familiar, but I can't quite make it out. "You both are idiots talking right here in front of her, what if she wakes up and hears you?" The voice says.

"Oh shush!" The woman softly shouts.

 I tried to wake up from this odd dream, but I couldn't. I just drifted deeper and deeper into sleep.