“Who are you?” I asked carefully. My voice was light as a harp, but it hurt to speak.
“Little one, you’re our child,” the man told me. They were changed from the memories in my mind; maybe it was age or the wear of time on my mind.
“Dad?” The man nodded. “Mom?” The woman smiled kindly. “Where are we?”
“Oh, little one, everything is going to be alright,” my mom assured me. “We’re going to be together now.”
“Is this-” my question was cut off when the lights around us started to fade. My parents seemed frazzled and then panicked. I tried to reach out to them, but hands grasped at empty air.
“You’re going to be okay,” my father’s disembodied voice assured me.
“What do you mean?” I gasped, trying to walk closer, but my feet were cemented in the same spot.
“Don’t fight it, little one,” my mother’s voice was full of tears as she folded into her husband’s arms.
“We’ll always love you, no matter what.”
Then all the lights were gone, and it was black again, darker somehow. I was pinned to the ground under an unknown pressure, and I struggled to get out from under it. I tried to touch it, but my arms would not move. Then, from my belly, I began to feel the burn. It was moving through my veins, my muscles, my heart.
It wasn’t a hot burning. It felt like acid moving through me.
After a while, I grew used to the feeling. After a while, there was no feeling, just existing in the darkness. After a while, I started hearing something, someone, close to me.
After a while, I heard Theo’s voice.
Fight For Me
I felt my feet first. Somehow, I could count every bone individually. I suppose when you have nothing to do but lay there, counting your bones is about all you can do.
My legs came next, all the way up to my knee, and then the cartilage underneath it tingled like pins and needles. My thighs and hips and lower back came alive a while after. Soon, I felt the tips of my fingers, my nails, my knuckles.
The rest of my body filtered in slowly. I didn’t think I would be able to feel myself healing, but everywhere I felt pain, there was also a buzzing sensation, and the pain lessened by the minute.
Theo’s voice hummed in my ear the entire time. His voice, along with Gabriel’s, Cam’s, Gemma’s, and even Tansy’s laughter, surrounded me.
I couldn’t wake up, no matter how many times I tried. I heard another voice, presumably the doctor, who said I was on a medication that would make me sleep for a few more days.
“Hey there, little one,” Theo breathed roughly, kissing my hand as he spoke. “I’m not really sure if you can even hear me or not, but I just want you to know that I’m never going to leave you ever again. I love you so much. Please, please just try to fight. I know it’s hard and I know you must be tired but please. I can’t lose you, Margo. I swear to you, when you wake up, you’re going to be so spoiled. Anything you want, I’ll get it for you. I’ll never leave you again. Please, Margo. Please just try to fight, for me, for us.”
Theo never left me, just like he said.
Gemma, Cam, and Tansy came in and sat and talked for a while. I was thankful that Theo wasn’t alone. His brothers and Sloane came and made sure he was okay, although I don’t think Eli ever entered the room.
I was poked and prodded and pinched all day long. There were two large bandages on either side of my neck that the nurse changed every few hours.
Another nurse came in and told Theo she was going to wash me; he didn’t allow her to. Instead, he took the soft cloth and a basin of warm water and began cleaning me. He cleaned the dirt from my feet and fingertips, the dried blood on my arm, and some on my legs.
As he was dabbing the cloth around my forehead, I winced.
He froze and sucked his breath in.
“Margo?” he whispered gingerly. I practically moaned at his voice, it was breathless and barely noticeable. Theo huffed out a breath that sounded something like a laugh like he couldn’t believe what was happening.
“Margo, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?” I couldn’t. I tried, but my eyes remained shut. “Okay, can you squeeze my hand?”
That I could do. It wasn’t anything special, but I wiggled my fingers in Theo’s, and he cried out, picking my hand up in his and pressing his lips to every inch.
“Margo, I’m right here. I swear, I’m not going anywhere. You’ve just got to open your eyes, can you try?”
I wanted to glare at him, tell him, ‘don’t you think I would open my eyes if I could?’ He would’ve given me a look and told me he was only trying to be encouraging.
Sometime later, maybe an hour or so, I could open my eyes. It was slow at first, but then my eyes snapped open all at once.
Everything was so crisp. I could see everything in the room at the same time. Theo was looking at me anxiously, my hand still in his grasp. I took a huge breath in and looked at him.
“Margo?” he said warily. His eyebrows were scrunched up, and he looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week. I swallowed, and my ears popped. “Sweetheart?” This time his voice sounded much louder to me, clearer, stronger. I jumped a little in surprise.
When I looked at the rest of the room, I came to the realization that I could feel the blood pumping through me. I could feel each of my heartbeats, the beeps from the machines, the air coming through the vents, the click of someone’s shoes down the hall, the wind from outside, a car door
