Everything Changes (Traveler&PoetDreamer)

[Poetdreamer]

Prom had been so much fun. Her dress had been perfect, and her and her boyfriend had danced all night long; the entire night had been like a fairy tale to her that could not have gotten any better. That night was supposed to be just as amazing. Finally, they were going to have sex. After being together for four years, they were ready. The plan was to get married soon after high school so that her stupid parents would stop hounding her about the relationship they didn't want her to be in. But that night, none of it mattered. It would be just the two of them.

After prom, he was driving her to the hotel room she had gotten for them. It was nothing too fancy, but it was nice to help make their night super special. Maybe she shouldn't have been teasing him in the car, but the last thing she remembered was the screeching of tires and sirens.

Now it was four years later, but she didn't know that. Pretty much everyone had given up hope, or had they? She hadn't been breathing on her own for years, until a couple of days ago. The parents had been alerted, but no one wanted to give false hope to anyone else since she wasn't out of the woods yet. After all, people start breathing on their own all of the time right before death. It was the end. She was finally taken off life support because the four years her parents had given her ran up.

Everything seemed lost until she opened her eyes. A nurse had gone on to check on the machines she was hooked up to and to check her heart beat when she saw and immediately paged the doctor. Her vitals were checked and her parents were alerted.

Her mother rushed right over, ready to finally see her daughters eyes opened. She had her maid call the list that had been made of her old friends to alert them, the people who used to come by every week, sometimes every day, but had slowly stopped showing up. None-the-less, they were called as her mom rushed to the hospital.

"Clarissa woke up," was all the message said, but it got the word out. Clary was finally about to notice all of the changes that had been going on around her.

 

[Traveler]

John was looking over the wedding guest list with his fiance when he got the text. At first he stared at the words like it was in some foreign language. His green eyes darted over the words again and again, uncomprehending what he was reading.

"Clarissa woke up."

He drew his hand through his short, dark, hair, and looked up at the woman who was going to be his wife in two months. She had been his best friend the last four years; they had both loved Clarissa, and the hardship of the accident had given them something to bond over, until that friendship blossomed into love.

Four years ago he had been driving the car after the prom. He and Clarissa were going to be married after graduation, but first, they were going to have their first time together. She had been touching him through his pants and telling him what she wanted to do, and he had reached over and slid his hand under her dress, seeking out her panties...

He shook his head and looked up at his future wife. "Hey... babe?" She seemed distracted by comparing silverware patterns. "Babe? This is important. Clarissa... she woke up."
____

Less than an hour later they were walking into her room. John's heart was pounding. He didn't know if she would remember anything, or if she was even coherent, but he needed to see her again. He hadn't been to visit her in over a year, not since the doctor had said that her brain waves were minimal. John figured that she was dead, that her parents had been keeping her body alive for false hope. He didn't know what he was hoping for now.

 

[Poetdreamer]

Alyson was trying to decide how many people she wanted at the wedding with her soon to be husband. It was still hard for her to believe everything that had happened, but she had never been happier. When she felt her phone vibrate, she ignored it at first until John checked his phone and told her that Clarissa was awake. "What, that's impossible." Was her first reaction, but then she checked her phone and sure enough, there was the same message. "This has to be a joke." She said, but then again Aly just didn't want to believe it. Either way, she followed John to the hospital, holding his hand up until they got to the private room Clary had always been in when she let it go.
__
Clary was sitting with her mom in the room, and a nurse was in the corner. Since not many people woke up after such long comas, everyone was nervous she would go into shock with all of the changes. For one, Clary was wondering why her father hadn't visited her yet. Instead of giving her all of this information about the divorce, her mom was still trying to get the daughter to accept that she had missed four years of her life.

"Now baby, I know it's confusing, but a lot has changed." Charlene said.

"Mom what are you talking about? I remember the crash, but how can so much have changed?" Clarissa was in denial. Yes, her mom looked a little older, but still, it could only have been a couple of weeks.

When John walked in, Clary's entire face lit up. See, there was her boyfriend, how much could be that different. Behind him was Alyson, her best friend, so it was all just fine. "Hey baby, and Aly. Tell my mom she's crazy. It couldn't have been four years." She said, reaching for John, her boyfriend of four years.

 

[Traveler]

John had felt Clary's hand slip out of his, and for a moment he felt guilty, as if he had done something immoral or illegal, but then he reminded himself that Alyson had been 'clinically dead' to him for the last four years. Her doctors had said that her chances of waking up were next to none, and that if she did wake up she'd most likely be brain damaged. As much as he had loved her during high school, the thought of having a 'retarded' girl friend or wife made him uncomfortable. He had been in love with Alyson when she was whole... but once the weeks turned into months, and the first anniversary of that accident came around, he let her go.

Now it was like he was looking at a ghost.

She sounded and acted just the same. Of course she wasn't; her hair was longer, her body slimmer from lack of exercise... but her eyes shone like they did that last night together and her voice, though slightly strained and hoarse, was the same one that had whispered naughty sweet nothings to him right before the accident.

John swallowed nervously and smiled. "My God... Alyson... you're really awake! You're alive! I thought... I thought..." he looked at her mother and he felt strangely guilty, as if it had been his decision to 'pull the plug'. But it had been her mom's, and he had felt relieved when he heard that they were finally going to put all of this behind them.

He took a few tentative steps towards her. "It has, baby. We're all... well... we're all getting ready to graduate again. I just can't believe it. The doctors said that there was no hope... but here you are!"

Behind John and Clary a young man nearly walked into the room as well. He was clutching a book to his chest, and his head was down, but when he saw that there were people in the room and that the person in the bed was talking he stopped dead in his tracks and turned around and left. He moved so decisively that only an impression of dark hair and intense eyes was left behind, and the only person who might have noticed him was Alyson.

John drew in a nervous breath and turned to Clarissa. He felt like his whole world had just been thrown into an ironic whirlpool. "Clary! Do you want to... ah, say hi? She's awake!"

 

[Poetdreamer]

(I think you got their names mixed up. Clary is the girl who just woke up, and Alyson is his fiance.)

Charlene looked better the old friends. She knew that John would have a hard time breaking the news of his engagement to her daughter, and she figured the girls mother being around wouldn't make it any better. "I'm going to call your father, Clary. See where he is." Her mom said before walking out of the room, pulling her cell phone out. All of the changed would be hard on the poor girl, and this was just the first of many. She was waiting for the girls father before telling her about the divorce.

Clary looked at John and was wondering why he wasn't rushing to hug and kiss her, as he had so many times whenever they had been apart for only a few days. She still reached out her hand, begging with her eyes for him to take it. "So I haven't missed graduation? Good. I worked so hard for my grades, I'm glad it won't be gone to waste." She said, then looked over at Alyson. As she did so, she noticed a figure walk into, then quickly out of, the room. At first she wanted to call out to him, but then figured he probably just quickly realized he was in the wrong room so focused on her best friend. "Hey Aly, aren't you excited about graduation?"

Alyson looked at her old best friend. At first, she was jealous when John called the girl in the hospital bed "baby" since he called her "babe," then she had to remember that Clary had dated him first, and if anything then she was the one stealing the boyfriend away. Then again, Clary and John had never actually been engaged to her knowledge. She was so torn as to what to do. Her and John would have to break the news eventually. "Clary, I'm so glad your awake. We all waited so long for you." Tears were in her eyes. No one had expected Clary to wake up, and now just about everyone had to give her some bad news that would devastate the poor girl. "Actually there's something more exciting than graduation coming. I'm getting married." She said, though left it up to John to break the really bad part of this news.

 

[Traveler]

(Oops.)

John was getting more and more nervous by the minute. Then Alyson told Clarrisa about getting married, and he chewed the inside of his cheek in indecision. He knew that he had to tell his girlfriend... ex-girlfriend... about his new engagement. He just didn't want to hurt her.

"I... Clary. It's been four years. It's 2014." He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to where she was on the bed. He sat on the edge of the bed, still not quite ready to touch her. "Listen... I know that this is going to be hard for you to understand, Clar, and I don't want to upset you, but when you went into that coma, the doctors said that you'd probably never wake up. They said you were a lost cause, but your parents didn't give up on you. I came to see you all the time. Alyson did too. We would sit here and talk to you, hoping that you'd wake up to our voices."

He swallowed and glanced over at Alyson. Then he held out a hand to her, to ask her to come stand by him.

"After the first few weeks turned into months, and then summertime passed... we started to move on. College started, and so we couldn't visit as much as we wanted to. And then a year passed, and a lot of your friends came here to sit with you. Some of us prayed, some people sang... they really wanted you to wake up." He looked down at his hands because he couldn't bear to look into her eyes. "Clary... it's been four years since that accident. The doctors told us that there was no hope. Your family finally thought that it was time to let you go... let you go in peace. We were all waiting for the phone call to tell us that you had passed on to a better place. No one expected you to wake up." He looked up at her an his eyes had grown wet.

He swallowed and then took Clary's hand. "A couple of years ago, Alyson and I realized that we really cared about each other. She's getting married to me, in two months. I'm sorry, Clarrisa. The doctors thought that you'd never wake up, or if you did you'd be a... a vegetable. I fell in love with Alyson and she fell in love with me. I hope you can forgive us."

 

[Poetdreamer]

As John spoke, Clary didn't know what to think. "It...no...why is everyone telling me I missed four years of my life." However, that news was no where near as shocking as what came next.

Alyson had walked over to John and stood next to where he sat, her hand placed on his shoulder. Sometimes she still admired the nice ring he had gotten her as it shone in the light of the room. Even though this was now hurting Clary, Aly still couldn't bring herself to regret anything that had happened with John. If anything, she loved her soon to be husband more than ever without how he was dealing with everything.

Clarissa didn't take it quite so well. The past four years were nothing to her. There had been times where she could hear vague voices calling out to her and speaking, but surely four years couldn't have really passed. Could they have?

All of his words sunk into her mind as she tried to actually process the words. "That....no. It can't be true. You know I had already bought my wedding dress. You promised me you would take my virginity. We never even broke up and now you're engaged....and Alyson, you were supposed to be my best friend." Clary felt betrayed and cheated on. Tears welled up in her eyes as she pulled her hand out of his. Since the moment she woke up and became aware of her surroundings, Clary had waited to feel John's touch again, she just never realized how much it would hurt when she finally did so.

Alyson held John tighter. "Clary, it's not like that. He didn't cheat on you. You were practically dead." She defended the love of her life.

 

[Traveler]

"I'm so sorry." John knew that it didn't mean anything to her, that it was empty words. "I couldn't wait forever, Clary. The doctors told us to let you go and to move on, and after waiting over a year for you to just show some kind of sign of coming back... I didn't know how to wait for you. If we had gotten married it would have been one thing... but we were both so young, Clarissa. I wish I had been the kind of person who would have waited and never given up hope."

He blinked away the tears that had formed in his eyes. "I'm so sorry... but I fell in love with Alyson and we're going to get married. I hope that you'll let us be your friends still, Clary. We never meant to hurt you. We just... we thought that you were dead. That it was just your body alive." He wiped at his eyes and then put a hand over Alyson's on his shoulder. "I'm sorry... I have to go. We'll come see you soon though, okay? Maybe once you've had some time to rest. I know this has been a lot to hear."

 

[Poetdreamer]

Part of Alyson felt bad for Clary, but at the same time Clary had no right to react this way. The girl had been practically dead, so she had no claim on anything. Also, it was hard to keep in mind that Clary was still living four years ago. She followed John out, passing Clary's mother and feeling ashamed. As soon as they were out of sight of Clary's room, Aly hugged her fiance, knowing this was hard for him. "I'm so sorry baby. I know it would be a lot easier if she had died, but we can get through her being back just like we got through her being gone: together." She said and kissed him softly. It felt nice to feel his lips against hers after all of this.

Clary was aware of the silent tears spilling out of her eyes as she watched them go; she had nothing to say to them, and nothing to say to anyone at the moment. "How could they do this?" She asked her mom, who just hugged her and let her cry. Clarissa wished she could just get up and run off the stress like she had used to, but the doctors were not sure if she would be able to walk completely on her own again.

 

[Traveler]

John felt horrible, but relieved. "I... is it terrible that..." he looked at Alyson, "is it so wrong that we fell in love? We couldn't put our lives on hold forever, could we?" He wrapped his arms around his fiancee once they were out of earshot and kissed her. His mind was swimming though. If he had known that Clary was going to wake up would he have waited? They dated all through high school. She was going to give him her virginity. They were going to run away together after graduation to escape her overbearing parents and have a fresh start... but the accident happened.

He still harbored some feelings of guilt for what happened. A lot of it was blurry, but he remembered her unzipping his pants and teasing him through his boxers. She had said some things and he had reached over to feel her breasts though her dress... and there were lights and screeching tires and a crash... and the rest was lost. But he woke up in the hospital and she didn't.

John brought Alyson's hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. "Let's get out of here, okay? We can't put our lives back on hold just because she's awake. Don't we have some silverware to pick out?"
______

Miles Schriver leaned against the hospital wall. He had ducked into the room next to Clarissa's when he saw that there were people in there. What had terrified him the most was that she was awake! She was... awake. It took him a few moments to still his rapid breathing and then to think to put his ear to the wall and listen.

What he heard nearly broke his heart. Clarissa still thought that it was four years ago! She thought that graduation was just a few months away! And then... he heard the guy in there tell her that he had moved on and he was engaged to her best friend. The anguish in Clary's voice and her sobs when her mother returned brought back all the memories of the accident four years ago. He could remember the crying at the funeral, the angry accusations, and the feeling that life had ended for even those who had survived the accident.

He stayed in that room and listened to the muted voices on the other side of the wall, paralyzed and confused about what he should do next. For four years he had known what his duty was. He had a task; it gave him structure and purpose. But now everything had changed...

 

[Poetdreamer]

Alyson listened to everything that John was saying. At first, a large part of her thought that he was about to end it to go console Clary, to tell her that everything was different now. He was questioning their love and she was terrified that she would have to call everyone and tell them to wedding was off because some stupid girl woke up. She was starting to hate Clarissa for not dying, which made her feel even worse since that girl used to be her best friend.

"We aren't horrible. We did was any two people would have done in that situation. We helped each other through it, and just because feelings developed does not make us bad; it makes us human. She has no more claim on you than if she had died. You're mine now, and I'm not going to loose you now." Aly was ready to fight for the man she loved, no matter what anyone said to her, he was hers.

Then John asked her about the silverware patterns and kissed her hand, causing her to smile. "Yes, we do. Everything has to be perfect." She smiled at him, taking his hand as she had a million times and walking out of the hospital. See, not everything had to change just because something else happened.

___

Clarissa talked to her mom for a while. Eventually she was getting tired. "Why isn't dad coming? Is he not happy I'm awake? If it's been four years, why wouldn't he want to see me?" She asked her mom.

Charlene sighed. She really didn't want to break the news to her daughter right now, especially not after John and Aly had, but she couldn't keep lying to her daughter. "I don't know Aly." Her daughter started protesting, but she talked over her. "I don't know where he is; I never do anymore. Dealing with your coma was too much for our marriage, and we divorced. He has some other wife now, with 2 other children. I think they're off on a cruise or something because I can't get a hold of them."

Clary just sat there. More tears well in her eyes. "I broke up....but...." She didn't know what to say. "I just want to be alone."

There was nothing her mother could do. Knowing that the hospital staff would watch out for her, she kissed Clary's head and stood up. "I still love you baby. I'll be back later." When she left, Clary broke down into sobs. Why did everything change for the worse?

 

[Traveler]

Her boyfriend had moved on and was now marrying her best friend. Her parents divorced and got remarried, had other kids... life went on for them. But Clarissa had been stuck in a time capsule of her own body and was now forced into a future that she didn't anticipate or want. It was cruel and unfair, and Miles felt guilty for being alive and healthy, for knowing exactly what had happened in his life these four years, and for not falling apart like many people thought that he should have.

He touched the small graduation ring that hung from a silver chain under his shirt, taking comfort in the physical presence of the token. The room next door had been quiet for a while now. He had listened to Clarissa's mom walking away, the crisp click-click-click of her heels on the hard floor sounding official and final. The girl had grown quiet too; perhaps she had cried herself to sleep. Perhaps she was just staring at the ceiling, contemplating her future and her past. Miles had made himself a promise, though, and every Saturday that he had control over he had come and sat with her, reading to her from the newspapers or a book. The nurses had come to know him, and he they. When he missed two weeks in a row a year ago they actually tracked him down to find out that he had pneumonia and was at his apartment, too sick to get himself to the hospital. He had become their mascot in a way, and they arranged for him to get the treatment he needed so that he could some back and read for the 'Sleeping Girl'.

Miles stood up and went around the corner and peeked into Clarissa's room. She seemed to be sleeping again, though her back was to the door and it was strange to see her in a rumpled up bed instead of the smooth, perfect sheets the nurses had put her in. He walked in, his sneakers quiet on the hard floor, and adjusted the chair that was next to her bed so that he could sit facing her. The book in his hand weighed heavy in his grip, as if it wanted to be read so that its burden of knowledge and story would be lessened.

Should he read to her? That's why he was here, but now that she was awake she might not appreciate some stranger reading random books to her... but then again... it was Miles' habit to be here. He didn't know what else to do... and she looked like she was asleep anyway. He sat down and opened the book. He had picked up 'Dash and Lily's Book of Dares', a modern love story of sorts that was written in a light, breezy manner and had a quirky storyline about two people who met anonymously over a few clues and exchanged notes from a used bookstore chance encounter.

He softly cleared his throat and opened the book. He began to read, just as he had for years. "This is a new book, Clarissa; Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn & David Leviathan. Chapter One: Dash. December 21st. Imagine this. You're in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves. You get to the section where a favorite autor's books reside, and there, nestled in comfortably between the incredibly familiar spires, sits a red notebook. What do you do? The choice, I think, is obvious...."

 

[Poetdreamer]

Clary was tired, and she hadn't even done anything. More like her mind was tired. That's why she was curled up in bed. Lying straight was tiring. Everything was tiring to her, and she couldn't handle anything any more. Her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping, but her mind was racing too fast to allow sleep to come.

Her last thoughts of Jon before the coma was of her hand in his pants, rubbing him through his boxers, and his hands fondling her breasts. He was going to take her virginity, and now he was two months away from marrying her best friend? Nothing added up. Just like her parents, who had been so in love, now weren't speaking, and she had siblings, which she had never had before in her life. What was going on? Her mind couldn't process everything at once.

Steps could be heard. They weren't the soft steps of a nurse, nor the loud steps of her mother's heel. Definitely male. Her father's? No, her mom said he wasn't around. How could he have given up on her? She had been a daddy's girl in everything except her relationship, which was apparently over. Jon? Coming to apologize? Maybe. She wasn't sure, so she just kept where she was, eyes closed, pretending to be in the sleep she wanted to be in. The guy sat next to her, and she wanted to take his hand, hoping it was Jon coming to his senses and realizing that they were meant to be together, and the years with Aly had been a mistake, a second-best because he couldn't have her.

The voice said it wasn't Jon. But that voice...it was so familiar. Not from her past life though, because she couldn't put a name to it, but she had definitely heard it before. The voice was relaxing. Clarissa was close to allowing it to put her to sleep before the urge to put a face, and hopefully a name, to it overpowered her, and her eyes drifted open.

She had never seen this guy before, or at least not that she remembered. Her first instinct was to call for help since some random guy was in her room. However, his voice still seemed to familiar. He seemed to be lost in the book, so she gave a little cough to alert him that she was awake. "Who are you?" Although it was rude, it's all she could think of asking.

 

[Traveler]

He startled at her cough. She never made a sound before! But he had already forgotten that she had woken up, so enthralled was he in reading to her again, and for a moment his green eyes simply stared at hers. He was scruffy; unshaven for several days since finals' week had just come and gone, and he hadn't bothered to shave during the hellish few days of exams. He was wearing a simple t-shirt under an open button down short-sleeved shirt, and his jeans were faded from use, not fashionably designed to look old and worn.

Who was he? Everyone in this wing knew him. It surprised him, for a moment, that she didn't know him, but then he realized that she had been in a coma all that time; his conversations to her had been one-sided at best. He was a stranger to her, and it was possible she'd tell him to leave.

"I'm Miles," he finally answered. "Miles... Schriver. I, ah... read to you." He lifted the book in his hands lamely, as if its presence would give credence to his words. He drew in a breath of indecision as he let the book fall back to his lap. "Uhm... welcome back. It's good to see you awake."

 

[Poetdreamer]

A million thoughts raced through her mind about who this guy was. He looked scruffy, but not unfriendly. Then again, she probably didn't look that great either. It was the first time Clary thought about how she might look. She could see that she had gotten thin since her diet had consisted of liquids being pumped into her for the past four years, and she could see that her hair was longer than she had ever liked it, but what about her face? Were her eyes still the sharp blue that everyone had been amazed at? Were her lips still the puffy pink that John had loved...apparently not.

Miles? Had she known a Miles? She couldn't think of one right then. Not that that meant anything since her mind was so crammed with so many other facts that she had just learned that day. Then why was he so familiar?

"You....do you read to me often?" She asked as he identified himself as a reader. Maybe that's why he sounded so familiar. Maybe her mind subconsciously recognized the voice for her since she should have recognized him if he read to her all of the time.

Then she took in more than his face. His clothes weren't of a homeless nature, but they weren't work clothes either, or at least not work clothes acceptable for in a hospital. "Do you work here? Is that why you read to me?" Clary was trying to make any type of connections she could, trying to make sense out of this since she couldn't make sense out of all of the other changes she had learned about that day.

 

[Traveler]

He had never seen her eyes open before. The absolute beauty of their clarity had left his speechless. She had always had a slack look to her; as if she was really dead... but now, animated like this, a loveliness shone through that he had only seen in the picture of her that had been printed in the newspaper. Her eyes had been so startling blue that he had almost not heard her first question.

"I read to you most Saturdays. I missed a couple of them; I was sick for two weeks, and then there were a few weeks when I had to work, but then I came on Sunday... but yes. I read to you often." He smiled, and a dimple creased his cheek. "We've gone through a lot of books, but sometimes I cheated and read to you from my school books. I hope you didn't mind." He looked at her and his eyes grew concerned. He wasn't ready to tell her exactly who he was yet; it was too soon, both for her and for him.

"I don't work here... I just started to read to you after the accident. I read that sometimes coma patients could hear the sounds around them, and so I thought that... well, that you'd like it." He quietly shut his book. "I'm sorry. If you want me to leave you alone I'll go. I just, I didn't know what else to do, and I didn't know that you had woken up. I almost thought that you were going to be gone once your family turned off the breathing machine." He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "How is your throat? Would you like some water?"

 

[Poetdreamer]

Listening to this Miles tell her how often she came in, Clary got upset. It seemed this stranger visited her more than any of the people who supposedly cared for her. That wasn't right. When he admitted to cheating and reading from his school books, the girl finally smiled. "You can read whatever you like to me. The thought is very nice."

Since Clary couldn't figure out who exactly he was, or how he came to be reading to her, and not anyone else, she gave up. Her mind was tired, and she just wanted to not think for once. "I remembering hearing some stuff here and there. Your voice sounded familiar, so I guess I did hear you at some point in time." Clarissa admitted.

When he offered to leave, she frowned. "You don't have to leave. You have a nice reading voice. Don't let me being awake ruin our routine, it sounds like it was nice." With all of the bad news everyone else had been given her, Clark was happy that she was getting some good news, and that someone cared enough to take time out of his own life to come read to someone no one else cared about.

Then he told her that the breathing machines had been turned off. Her parents were going to kill her? No one had told her that. Sure, she knew everyone thought she had been dead, but she didn't know realize they were actually going to let her die. The girl didn't know how to respond to this news at all. "Some water would be nice." She finally said, not being able to find words for what he had said before that.

 

[Traveler]

He went out and brought back a plastic cup of iced water with a straw in it, and then he held the cup for her to let her take a sip. His hands shook slightly as he watched her, he reality of her being awake after all this time finally beginning to sink in.

"You must feel a little bit like Sleeping Beauty, after all this time. I guess that would make me Dopey. Or... is that Snow White?" he smiled at her and set the cup down once she had her fill. "I, uhm, I made a book of clippings for you about the accident. One of the psychologists said that reading official documents about what happened helps. The book's in that side table if you want to look through it."

He pulled his chair closer and sat back down, picking up the book. He didn't open it, though. Instead he looked at her for a long time. "Do you want to talk? A lot has happened to you in the last few hours."

 

[Poetdreamer]

Clary thanked him for the water and took small sips as she had been instructed to do. She knew that for dinner they were going to try her on soft foods, which would take a little for her body to handle after her not having eaten in four years.

Then she chuckled a little at Miles mixing up the princess. "Well if I were Sleeping Beauty, I wouldn't be awake because my Prince is off with my best friend." She said a little sadly. "And yes, it is Snow White who has the seven dwarfs, but you don't seem like a Dopey at all." Clarissa reassured him with a small smile. She was glad that someone could stay around her without giving her bad news.

At learning about the clippings from the accidents being in the drawer beside her, Clary glanced to it. "Maybe later. I think I want to get through this first day, first." She admitted. "And maybe we can talk then. Right now I guess I'm still trying to process everything, which isn't easy." Clary said, looking down. "How about we get back to reading, and this time I can actually pay attention to you!"

 

[Traveler]

Miles nodded and sat back, opening the book to where he left off. He read the first two chapters. Each chapter was from a different character's perspective. It started out with Dash finding the notebook, and told about what he did with the instructions inside, and then the second chapter followed Lily and explained why she set the game in motion in the first place. The writing was light-hearted and easy to read, and the story was a nice escape from reality.

Just before he was about to start the third chapter his phone alarm went off. It was the sound of a meadowlark, and it started softly and gradually grew louder.

"Oh... that's my alarm." He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out his phone to turn it off. "I'm sorry - I have to go to work. But school's out for eight weeks. I could come back if you'd like. I imagine you'll be home by next Saturday... if you'd like me to I'll come back tomorrow. Maybe we can finish the book before you have to go?"

 

[Poetdreamer]

As Miles read, Clary did not except sit there and give him her full attention. Listening to him, she allowed his voice to fight back all other thoughts in his head, and she forced herself to only think of the characters in that story. She was finding that reading might be her new favorite hobby since that book was successfully allowing her to get rid of all of the thoughts she couldn't get rid of before.

Her mind was completely lulled by his voice and the story until it was all interrupted by the sound of birds. Clarissa started looking around, wondering where it was coming from, when she realized it was his phone and blushed.

He had to go. "Yea, I would love for you to come back tomorrow. You're the only person I've seen today who hasn't given me bad news." She said, missing him before he even left. It was nice being around him, and he comforted her in a way no one else was at the moment.

After Miles had left, Clary pulled out the phone her mother had given her. Sometimes it was really nice to come from a wealthier family. She text John. "Hey, can you come over. I just want to talk." It wasn't until after she hit send that she thought maybe he deleted her number. If so, she told herself she would just move on from him since he obviously didn't care if she did die.

 

[Traveler]

Miles agreed, and it made him happier than he would have anticipated to have her invite him back. Coming every week without anyone's permission had been one thing; it had been something that he did for himself, but coming back tomorrow would truly be for her, and it made him glad to have something, even this small thing, that he could do. He left the book on her side table in case she wanted to read more later and told her that he'd come by in the morning after he ran a few errands for his aunt.
----
When John got the text it made him confused, for a moment. He has switched phones twice in the last four years, and the last time he updated to the newer iPhone he didn't transfer over Clary's old number or her picture. It had just been too painful. Now he stared at the text and the number, and it took him a few moments to recognize who it was.

"I will. I have stuff I gotta do 2nite, how about in the morning? Will U B there?"

He looked at the text and saw how the 'I will' seemed a lot like 'I do' and it made him conflicted. On one hand, he loved Alyson. On the other, he never stopped loving Clarrisa - he just thought that she was as good as dead.

Then he sent another message to her. "I missed U."

He knew that Alyson was going to be doing a dress fitting with her maids of honor that next morning, so he'd be able to disappear without there being any questions. He felt his emotions completely torn between the two women.

 

[Poetdreamer]

After Clary said goodbye to Miles, she sat and waiting for a text, hoping she would hear the phone going off. Since it had been a little while, and the doctors had come in, the girl tried getting her mind off the fact that he wasn't going to respond. Since she had been out for so long, they were slowly dwindling the amount they had come in to move her body, so everything was stiff. She had most range in her arms, since they were the first thing she wanted to use, but her legs had done nothing except sit there. A car crash and a four year coma later, of course there had to be something wrong with her. Clary was beginning to see that the life she was about to enter was completely different than the one she had left.

When the doctor and nurse were about to leave, Clary heard her phone go off. As soon as they were out of the door, she snatched it up and read the messages, smiling to herself.

"Yea, I'll b here" She responded to the first one, knowing it would at least be a week of them monitoring her before she would get to go home, not that she really wanted to go home since she wasn't sure if that home would be the same one. It would definitely be different.

The second message made her smile even more, although she did have her doubts about how much he had missed her in the end since he was two months away from his wedding to her best friend. "I miss u now" She responded to that one, then went to sleep with a smile on her face, clutching the phone that was opened to that message. After all of the emotional news she had heard, Clary was absolutely exhausted. Plus, now she wanted to fall asleep so that the morning would come faster.

 

[Traveler]

The next morning John showed up at the hospital a little after eight. He was dressed neatly and wearing a dark blue shirt, similar to the one that had once been Clarissa's favorite. He paused outside her door and then took a deep breath before knocking lightly and then walking in.

"Clary?" He had brought the school yearbook from their senior year. He supposed that she didn't have a chance to see it since she woke up, and he thought that she'd be touched by the full page display that the yearbook staff had dedicated to her. He smiled as he stepped deeper into the hospital room. There were flowers that had been brought by the window, and several balloons that had been sent as well.

"Looks like you've had a few visitors," John said, going over to the bed. He drew in a deep breath as he looked down at his once-girlfriend. "How... how are you feeling?"

 

[Poetdreamer]

That morning, Clary was given some soup to eat for breakfast to see how well she could hold everything down still. So far, the doctors and nurses were extremely impressed with how well she was doing, but they were still working on finding someone for her to talk to, like a therapist or shrink or something.

When the door to her hospital room opened, she looked up eagerly, not knowing if it would be John or Miles, or some other stranger bringing more flowers.

It was John. She smiled and used her hands to push herself up into more of a sitting position. "Hey ba...hi John." She said, having to stop herself from calling him baby since he wasn't her baby anymore.

When he commented on the flowers and everything, she glanced between him and them. "I think people were feeling bad they had given up on me." She said, then looked down, embarrassed, because he was one of the people that had given up on her.

"Physically or emotionally?" She asked with a small chuckle. Physically everyone was telling her how great she was doing, except her legs which still had very little movement, but emotionally she was still extremely shaken from all that she had found out. "Not too bad." Was all she said on that topic. "What did you bring?" She asked, seeing the book in his hand. "I'm sorry. That was rude. How are you doing? How's Aly?" It felt strange asking him that of all people. "Come have a seat." She said, patting the edge of her bed. A million thoughts were chasing each other around her mind so her words were all over the place.