“Kayla, you’ve got a package!” Alana’s voice called out early the following morning. Kayla rolled over in bed, seriously debating whether or not she really wanted to get out of bed right then. She couldn’t recall ordering anything and Ariana had made no mention of any incoming packages either, so she couldn’t imagine what it might be.
Eventually, curiosity won out over her powerful desire to remain exactly where she was so she forced herself to climb out of bed and amble out into the apartment. Alana sat on the couch with a bowl of cereal, deeply engrossed in an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. She pointed vaguely toward the table in the kitchen, where a thick brown envelope was lying. Kayla rolled her eyes as she crossed the room and opened the envelope.
“What is it?” Alana asked when she heard the package being opened.
“It’s…” but the words died in her throat as the pair of small black booklets spilled out onto the table.
“What’s wrong?” Alana asked, managing to pull herself away from the TV and coming over to look. “Passports? You got a passport? Where are you going?”
“Ariana… she wanted to go to Paris,” said Kayla softly, running her fingers over the golden ‘United States of America’ on the front of the booklet. “I actually forgot we applied for these. I guess it doesn’t really matter now.” Alana put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Of course it matters,” she said. “Maybe you’ll still be able to take her there someday.” Kayla shrugged.
“You know, I… I had this plan. I was gonna trick her into thinking we were going someplace else. I was going to charter a private jet and tell her we were going… anywhere, really. We’d land and once she figured it all out, she’d be so excited… God, you should see her when she’s excited. Kid lights up the whole damn room. I would’ve taken her out, shown her the city… been all sappy and romantic the whole time. She would’ve loved it.”
“Are you gonna be okay?” Alana asked worriedly as Kayla put the passports back in the envelope. Kayla managed a slow nod.
“Yeah,” she said quietly. It was a complete lie. She was never going to be anything close to ‘okay’ ever again, but she hadn’t been prepared to be hit with something like this right then. She hadn’t been anticipating a shattered dream of Ariana’s to come crashing through her front door without a second of warning. It hurt. Bad.
“Come on,” said Alana, giving Kayla’s arm a forceful tug. “Let me get you some cereal and we can watch TV together.”
“Fine,” said Kayla, knowing it was pointless to say she wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. “But we’re changing the channel.”
“Aww…” said Alana, looking rather disappointed.
“I’m serious,” said Kayla firmly. “Change it. Now.”
-.-
Life went on, just as Kayla’s dream-Ariana had told her it would. Slowly the long hours turned into longer days, and those days turned into weeks which in turn became months. The harsh winter that had plagued Detroit for what seemed like years had at long last faded away. The deep snows had melted at last and the warmth of spring had arrived, bringing with it long, sunlit days and the lifted spirits of all.
Even Kayla’s mood had been brightened by the change in the weather. The bubble of hope that had grown within her that night in the cafeteria had stayed with her for a long time, but the endless cold along with no signs of Ariana’s condition improving had begun to deflate it. Kayla could feel herself slipping back to that dark place and she didn’t want to go there again so she started, once a day, to force herself to think one happy thought.
These thoughts usually were memories of something Ariana had said or done, or something they had done together. Each time, she managed to pull herself back from the brink. Of course, she had barely five weeks of pleasant memories with Ariana to draw from and she had been terribly afraid of what would happen when she ran out. As luck would have it, she didn’t need to find out.
It started in the middle of April. Kayla had been sitting with Ariana in the late evening hours, telling her about her day. It was part of the steady routine she had fallen into in the previous weeks. She would wake up, eat breakfast with Alana who had elected to stay with her sister and start working on getting West Coast Weddings – Detroit up and running while Penny returned to San Diego.
After breakfast, Kayla would drive to the hospital and sit with Ariana for a while. Then, she would spend her afternoons with Alana, working to establish the business. It was going fairly well, too. They had a small storefront downtown and three clients lined up. Admittedly, Kayla's heart wasn't in the work, but Alana was so excited that she just had to help her. Plus, it gave her something to keep herself occupied while she waited.
Waiting. It seemed that was all Kayla did these days. She waited. Every agonizing second, minute, hour, day... it never ended. At least, not until that very day that she sat in the quiet hospital room, holding Ariana's hand and talking to her. Without any warning, Ariana's small hand contracted around Kayla's. It was this moment that re-inflated Kayla's bubble of hope. While the doctor's said this wasn't a sign of progress, Kayla's heart soared each time she thought about it.
Kayla believed. It was the very first time that she actually, honestly, truly believed that Ariana could get better; that she could wake up and come back to her. She knew it was a long shot. All of Ariana's doctors had told her the same thing; that Ariana's brain was simply too badly damaged and healing was impossible. She would like exactly as she was until she died. Kayla knew it was probably true, but she just couldn't help but believe.
Three weeks passed. Ariana's brain activity, according to her doctors, was off the chart for someone who had been clinically dead for ten minutes. They performed scans that revealed that her brain was healing, very slowly, but it was healing none the less. It was this discovery that shocked and amazed the entire hospital staff. Such a thing was not just improbable, it was completely impossible... and yet it was happening. No one had been able to explain how it was happening. One doctor told Kayla that the only explanation he could come up with was to say that it was a miracle from God. Kayla wasn't sure she even believed in God, but Ariana's recovery certainly seemed to be... supernatural. Truth be told, she didn't really care about the how's or the why's of any of it. She only cared about Ariana's getting better.
And getting better she most certainly was. Soon enough, she was able to respond to requests to squeeze people's hands which meant that Ariana was able to hear. It was the best news Kayla had ever gotten. Kayla started sleeping at the hospital again, determined to stay as close to Ariana as she could manage. She thought that her presence might, perhaps, help Ariana's strength continue to grow. She liked to think Ariana knew when she was there, could sense her presence nearby. Kayla was certain she could.
But none of them, not Kayla, not Cooper, not the best doctors money could buy (and they were exactly who Kayla had ensured were brought in to see to Ariana's recovery) could possibly have any idea of the unseen battle still going on in Ariana's mind. It was a battle over the simplest of things; opening a door. For eleven-year-old Ariana still plainly refused to open the door to her closet.
She had refused, countless times, to open the door. However, her older self continued to fervently press her to open it. But she just couldn't do it. She didn't want to... but she didn't want to hurt either. She loved her father and she knew the things he did to her were for her own good, but... but he hurt her so badly, so often that Ariana had begun to wonder if, perhaps, it could ever end.
"Okay," said her older self, her voice filling the dark closet. "This is it. Tonight is the last night for this. You don't have any more time, sweetie. If you don't open that door tonight, if you let this night pass... it's locked forever."
"Why?" asked Young Ariana.
"Because it is," said Older Ariana. "If you don't open it now... you'll die. You'll never leave this room, Ari. Please, open the door. We don't have to die in here."
"Dad won't let us die," said Young Ariana. "He loves us. He'll protect us."
"He's the one that's going to kill you," said Older Ariana. "He's going to walk through that door, more drunk than you've ever seen him. He'll have one of his guns with him. He's going to rape you, like he does every day... and then he's going to kill you. But it doesn't have to happen this way. Just open that door and you'll be free. He won't be able to hurt you and you'll finally be home, right where you belong."
"I am where I belong," Young Ariana insisted. When Older Ariana spoke again, it was easy to tell that she was terribly angry.
"You are going to open that door," she hissed fiercely. "Get up!" It was as though an unseen force lifted Ariana to her feet. She felt someone she couldn't see gripping her tightly.
"It would have been so easy, Ariana," said Older Ariana. She sounded incredibly sad. "We could have gone back and everything would have been perfect... if you could have simply been brave. But no... you're doing what you always do. You've chosen to be a coward. So now... now, we have to do it the hard way. I'm sorry, but this is going to be very difficult for you. Just remember... it has to be you that opens the door." The force pushed Ariana toward the door. She crashed into it and it swung open. Then she was falling, falling... surrounded by darkness. And then, her eyes fluttered open.
The room she found herself in was dark and cool. She felt immensely heavy, as though she had gained hundreds of pounds. Or perhaps gravity had increased its pull by the power of ten. She tried to sit up, but found that her muscles did not want to respond. She attempted to move her head and her arms, but it took tremendous effort to make even the tiniest movements.
It was then, as she lay there trying desperately to move her frail body, that she realized something so terrible, so unbelievably frightening that she would have screamed out loud if her vocal cords would have let her. Unfortunately, she also discovered that, try as she might; she could not make a sound.
After what felt like years, she managed to tilt her head from side to side. She looked around and saw Kayla, fast asleep in the chair beside her bed. She opened her mouth and tried to call out to her, but only managed to make the smallest of sounds. She was very scared as she found the remote for the bed and rapped it against the metal frame around the bed. Kayla awoke slowly, looking around for the source of the noise.
It took her a moment, but her eyes eventually settled on Ariana's face. She stared for the longest time, perhaps unable to believe what she was seeing. Slowly she stood, still staring blankly at Ariana.
"Ari...?" she said quietly. "Ari, you're... you're..." Her face broke into the biggest smile ever and she dashed over to the bed, swooping down and capturing Ariana's lips in the most passionate kiss the two had ever shared. "Oh, Ari... let... let me get a nurse!" She rushed from the room and returned quickly with a nurse at her heels. Ariana stared up at them, an expression of immense confusion on her face.
"Wh.... wh..." Ariana tried speaking again, managing to choke out a few sounds.
"Shh, Ari," said Kayla softly. "It's okay. You'll have trouble speaking; the doctors said you might when you woke up." Kayla reached for her hand, but Ariana pulled away. She shook her head violently. She choked again, trying desperately to force out words that wouldn't come.
"Who... who... are... you?" she managed to say at last, staring up at Kayla with complete confusion. Her eyes were wide with fear. "Who... are you? More importantly... who am I?"593Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohpT50ieef
