Paradise With You

“Katherine, wait for me!” I ran faster as Markus followed me around the park, on my heels.

“You’ll have to catch me!” I shouted playfully over my shoulder, just as I tripped on my own feet, landing in a big pile of snow, sending snow flying everywhere.

“I guess running from me is easier said than done,” Markus laughed as he helped me up.

“Haha, very funny. It’s not my fault I’m a klutz.” I bent over to grab my toque, which came off my head when I fell. “Remember how we met?”

“I’ll never forget that day. For more than one reason.” We both stood there for a minute, remembering that day. It was art class, the last block of the day, and I was getting paint. The next thing I knew, I slipped, falling on the floor and the paint was all over me and Markus, who was standing behind me.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?” His question jolted me out of my thoughts as he gently brushed a strand of dark hair out of my eyes.

“yes actually. About ten times a day,” I said, smiling. We were just about to kiss when there was a loud crash. I turned around to see a car smashed against a tree, the front end squished together like an accordion. Suddenly I was running towards the accident, oblivious to the world around me, oblivious when Markus began sprinting behind me, screaming my name. I stood still on the road, for a second before Markus shoved me off the road, onto the sidewalk, where I hit my head on something hard and everything went black before I could feel the pain.

***

“Katherine, you’re awake!” I opened my eyes to see my mom sitting in a chair next to my bed, tears slipping down her cheeks. I was in a typical hospital room with plain, boring grey walls.

“Mom, what am I doing here? What happened? What’s wrong?” I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t move my arms or legs.

“Calm down, Sweetie,” she began, tears in her eyes, “You hit your head really hard on a lamppost. There’s some brain damage which means you’ll never walk again. Due to your uncommon blood type, you wouldn’t survive the surgery needed to walk or even keep living. I’m just lucky the doctors could keep you living long enough for me to say goodbye.” She finished and put her face in her hands and sobbed.

This is all a dream. A horrible nightmare. I’m not dying, I just can’t, I have a whole life to live, with Markus. Markus and I.

“Wait, Mom, where’s Markus?”

She lifted her tearstained face and began her story, pausing every few seconds to cry, each time harder and louder, “he pushed you off the road, because another car slipped on the ice and it was going to hit you but, it, it hit him. He died instantly. I’m so sorry.” I felt like I’ve been punched. It’s all my fault. If only I had stayed where I was safe, in the park, we would both be alive. But no, I had to run on the road and Markus had to push me out of the way.

Suddenly, the world began slipping away. I reached for my mom’s hand with all my strength, and whispered “goodbye,” before taking one last breath, leaving my mom to cry harder than I ever thought possible.

***

I was in a field with a forest behind me and a lake to the side. It was so picturesque, I didn’t want to move, but that all changed when I saw a silhouette of someone sitting on an old fashioned bench, shaded by a tree.

“Markus!” I ran to the bench as fast as I could. The person got up and sprinted to me. I could see his face now and was overjoyed that it really was Markus.

We were in each others arms once again, except this time we didn’t have to let go.