She is nowhere, neither there nor here.

There was a little girl with long red hair streaming behind her as she ran quickly up the street. In her hand she carried sunflowers to give to someone special. The little girl was missing her two front teeth, but that didn't stop her from beaming ear to ear.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The Healer glances at his checklist and flips the page. His next patient is one of his long term ones. He carefully looks at his young Apprentice who is checking the blood pressure and talking easily with their current patient. The Apprentice, feeling eyes on him, slowly turns his head to the Healer, knowing already what he is going to say.

"I'm going," he says firmly. He gives a smile at the young lady that he had just examined and puts away some of the medical instruments he had used. He walks over to the Healer.

The Healer feels a lump in his throat. That response is what his Apprentice says each time they make their routine checks, and each time it absolutely breaks his heart. However, he still tries to reason with him.

"Just because you are my apprentice doesn't mean-"

He gets cut off. "It does. I'm going."

He tries one last time, knowing in his heart that it isn't healthy for the young man.

"Healers don't have to examine their family members. It's very hard-"

"I know. But I have to do it."

The Healer gives a shaky nod, still not wanting his Apprentice to come, but knowing that he can do nothing to stop him. "Well, let's go," he falters and quickly walks out of the room, hearing the young man's footsteps behind him. It is a few seconds later that the Healer realizes what day it was, how significant this exact day would be for them, for everybody, and he quickly looks at the Apprentice. The expression on his young Apprentice's face makes him see that the Apprentice knows what day it is too.

"I know," is all he says to his superior. He does know. He had been dreading this day since she was first admitted to the hospital, since she first became unconscious.

She had been there for one year.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

She is swimming through water. It is slow going and her arms and legs are tired, oh so tired, but she doesn't stop. She could never stop. She has promised herself and she had promised someone she loves. Each time her arm moves forward to pull her closer to wherever she is going, she has to repeat to herself that she will never rest. It becomes harder to keep going as time passes, if time is indeed passing.

Wherever she is there is no up and no down. No left or right, no truth or lies. It is just darkness and her. The darkness encompasses her in a blanket, smothering out everything; she can hardly feel any emotion. When emotions come, they slowly bubble to the surface, hover for a few moments, before they sink back away, already not important. The only thing she feels is her promise. It is this tiny thin thread of a vague, but meaningful memory hidden in the back of her mind. It's basically the only thing she has and knows to be true. There is only a little nudging in the back of her mind that is reminding her of it.

She doesn't know who she is, she doesn't know where she is, and she does't know how long she has been here. It is her promise that is guiding her forever forward through the water where time seems to stand still, and she doesn't want to break that promise. It i simportant to her; it is something with a hint of truth in this world of nothing.

There is no safe or dangerous, there is no right or wrong. She is just a speck in the vast volume of the water; insignificant, unnoticeable, small.

When they come, she remembers she does have one thing: visions.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The Healer and his Apprentice get closer and closer to the door. Despite how sad and scared the Apprentice is, he never lets anything show on his face. He has to be strong for her, and has to hold himself together for the people he knows are inside, waiting.

It is the day that everyone feared to mark on their calendars and that everyone was dreading. The decision isn't going to be made until later that afternoon so he knows that only a few people are in the room currently.

The Healer pushes the door open slowly and the four people in the room look up wordlessly: the parents, the best friend, and the love.

They all look tired and mentally drained. The past months have been very hard on everyone, especially on the young blonde man sitting beside the bed. On his face grows a beard for he doesn't shave. He honestly doesn't care how unkempt he looks, he only cares about her. He has not left the hospital since his love was brought here, hoping every day that she would wake up, keeping hope that she just needed time. Every day he held her hand while he read to her, talked to her, and stayed with her. He will never give up on her and the Healer and the Apprentice are worried about how this day will go for him.

He has bloodshot eyes and glares incessantly at the Healer who flinches unsubtly under his gaze as he draws closer. No, the blonde man will not make this day easy at all.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

It is a continuous loop. Over and over the visions appear to her as if trying to tell her something. She can't control what she could see the same way she can't control her surroundings. She doesn't know what they mean, or who is in them. But they come again and again. Before, there were vast periods of darkness before a vision would come. But they seem to be speeding up for there is less darkness between them. She isn't sure if she had seen the continuous loop ten times, or one hundred, or one million. They were so spaced out in the beginning she hadn't been able to connect them.

The only thing she knows now is that she is watching a red-headed girl grow up. It seems to be the life of the girl in pictures, colours, feelings, and sound.

The girl was three and had gotten bit by a dog on her arm.

The swimmer could see the pain and terror in the girl's eyes when the dog's teeth clamped down on her arm; she could see the helplessness in them when faced against a bigger, stronger adversary. It wasn't a big bite, for the winter coat had protected most of the girls arm, but the dog's teeth still reached skin.

The one thing that stood out most in the vision was the colour of the girl's thick red blood against the stark contrast of the glittering white snow outside. The second thing that stood out was the mum's comforting words as she held her daughter close and whispered to her, telling her everything would be alright and to be strong.

The next vision was one of the little girl and her dad. He was throwing her up in the air as she gleefully laughed, asking him to do it again, and again. Her red hair billowed out around her with each throw and the feeling of pure happiness radiated from their faces.

The swimmer smileds as she sees and feels the love of the small family. The grin on the dad's face and the laughter of the mum fill her mind with brief contentment as she continues to swim forward in the water, never stopping. If it wasn't for the promise she made, she would be swimming to keep seeing these visions over and over. The visions keep her sane, keep her looking forward to something; they make her feel something in the brief wisps of time they are there. They power her, in ways she would sorely miss if they were to ever disappear.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"You should just leave," the blonde man says to the newest members in the room, "it isn't happening and it never will."

The parents look over at him with sympathy in their eyes, the husband squeezing his wife's shoulders for strength and to give her his support. They too want to say the same thing, their hearts screaming for them to, but they both know that they can't hold on forever. It will destroy them both to make the decision but if they don't make it soon, no one will ever find peace. It kills them, it utterly kills them to see their daughter lying there on that bed, with very little activity in her brain and to hear the constant thud of the heartbeat that doesn't quicken or slow: just an empty shell of what she used to be.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

The red-headed girl was in a school and sitting at a desk. She had her long hair up in a ponytail, giving it a swish here and there. The teacher was talking and all the students were faced forward, trying to listen, but getting restless as the teacher droned on and on. The little girl was doodling on the corner of the paper, drawing sunflowers. She wasn't paying attention to the other kids in the room and so she didn't immediately notice when the girl behind her cut off her long hair with scissors.

Only hearing a weird sound, the little girl turned her head to look where it came from. Her new short hair gently hit against her face. It didn't register in her mind that her ponytail had just been cut off until she saw her long red hair in the hands of the surprised girl behind her. The two were speechless as they looked at each other. Shock was on both of their faces.

The next vision is from when the little girl had just entered a new school; the swimmer feels the red-headed girl's apprehension and excitement as she gets boated across the water towards a large and majestic castle.

The swimmer didn't quite understand why the excitement was draining away from the red-headed girl's face. Paler and paler her face turned while her freckles stood out more than previously. The little girl must have been worried, and perhaps a bit scared. Perhaps she feared rejection, as each kid went forward to sit on a stool and get a large hat put on their heads. They were all getting sorted to different tables. Already seeing it a few times, the swimmer's eyes traveled to a different girl, a nervous girl with dark wiry hair.

The red-headed girl's face stopped turning pale when she recognized a name being called and was woken from her worries. Her face turned a bit red: it was the same girl who had cut off her hair when she was younger. Surprised that that girl was at the castle, she watched the sorting extremely closely. She groaned when the girl went to go join a table, but she didn't focus on it for long. It was her turn to go up.

There was lots of cheering after the hat told her where to go. The red-headed girl was so proud and happy. The relief was apparent of her face and she tried to keep it there as she walked towards the same table as the hair-cutter. Making a split decision, she decided to swallow her pride. She sat right beside that dark-haired girl.

The swimmer's legs and arms keep moving. Almost immediately after she sees the visions everything is forgotten again as she is faced with the darkness around her. She struggles to hold on to them, to taste the girl's emotions from the past and live in the happiness of the rich life she had, the only colour in her dark world. When the visions come to her, she could remember them all, but as soon as they were gone, they slip from her mind like melted water from ice.

She has to keep moving though, she can't think too long about the visions for she usually slows down when she tries to trap them in her present. If she stops moving then she is afraid that she would never start again.

Before, there was nothing; no light, no dark; no up, no down. She feels something new start up in her head at that moment, sitting beside that promise: it's a nagging. Then she hears a quiet thump thump of her heart. She has never heard a heartbeat before, in the darkness, but she knows it must be important.

Before, the time was infinite, but now, now it occurs to her that she needs to find out what these visions are trying to tell her before she sinks. Contrary to her belief, there might actually be a bottom.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The best friend sits on the floor at the end of the bed, utterly defeated. She is blankly regarding her friend with the wires connected to her scalp and chest, and the intravenous tubes up her nose and in her arms. The breathing mask is the most dominant piece on her. The only sound in the room is the beeping of the heart monitor and the breaths supplied by the breathing apparatus.

The best friend is thinking of nothing but everything at the same time: thinking of how her friend is the most beautiful person in the world even though all her hair had been shaved off, thinking that she never got to say good-bye to her friend, and thank her for befriending her on the first day of school when she was eleven, thinking that in the springtime she would plant a full field of bright yellow sunflowers, just for her, in her memory. She is thinking how she will have no chance to say good-bye after today, for today everything would end.

It had been a long year. Extremely long. So long most of it blurred together. There were months full of ridiculously complicated medical terms, months full of stress as they waited each day for news, but never got any, and months of arguments about what to do.

She vaguely watches the Healer and his Apprentice cautiously approach her best friend and check her vitals, read her brain activity, and gently pull the covers back over her after they have finished. She admires the Apprentice and his courage to be the one to take down his sister's information. Out of all the people in the room, only he and the Healer truly understood what is going on with her best friend. She doesn't understand where the Apprentice gets the determination and endurance to do what he does every day. She can barely visit her friend a few times a week, and her comatose best friend's brother subjects himself to it every day.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

It has been a few times now that the visions have rolled by again, with the same quick speed and not much darkness between. The persistent nagging in her mind hasn't gone away. Move faster, kick harder she whispers to herself, but she is no longer sure if kicking is what she should be doing.

Like all the visions, the swimmer notices how the red-headed girl is older in each one until the end where all the extra fragments come together in a mashing of colour, sound, and emotion.

The red-headed girl and her brother were playing in the yard, climbing trees and running around. The brother climbed high up in the tree and called at his sister to look, for he had found a hive nestled between some branches. The red-headed girl's face got worried, she called at her brother to come down, but he was too curious and poked at the hive.

A few wasps flew out and stung him. He started yelling and swatted at them. A few more flew out. The brother let go of the branch and fell to the ground, crying and trying to hit away the wasps that were still coming after him. The red-headed girl didn't hesitate; she picked him up and started sprinting for their house. They made it inside and she killed the few lingering wasps. Patiently and gently, she took care of his bites and bruises, soothing him and leaving hers for after she helped him.

The next vision is when they were older. Both the little girl and her brother seemed to have shot up like weeds. The red-headed girl was sad and anxious; it was clearly written on her expressive face. She hadn't been able to find her beloved cat for a long time. She waited and waited and called and called for her cat, but he never showed up. When she was little, he had slept curled up at the end of her bed each night, he had followed her around all the time, and he had caught mice and left them by her shoes. The cat was very special to her, but he still didn't show up after a few weeks.

Even though she was older than him, her brother calmed her and told her that her cat had probably just found himself a pair of boots and went off to explore the world, like the book they read when they were younger. She knew better but she held that story close to her heart and believed it to really be true. She hugged her brother and he held her tight as she cried into his shoulder. It wasn't the end for the cat, perhaps it was just the beginning of some grand adventure, for sometimes miracles can come true.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The brother looks at his sister, really looks at her. He had always looked up to her, his whole life, and she means everything to him.

The sun is shining through the window and he feels like that is too cheerful for the mood in the room. It reminds him of the sun one year ago, when everything happened. The sun seems fake, unreal. It's unwanted. There should be a storm going on, a storm as wild and as passionate as his sister was.

He had cast aside his Apprentice robes after he checked her information. The Healer was right in one way: he needs to be there as a brother, and not as a medic. He wonders what she would do, if the places were reversed. He knows that he would want her to make that decision, that incredibly hard decision. Would she have had the power to though? Did he have the power to do it?

The brother fears that he might make the wrong choice today, but he doesn't know if not doing anything would be worse than doing something. How many years are too many, how much time is too much?

Time passes and slowly family members start coming into the room. Some had said their good-bye's the previous few days but others are waiting until the last possible minute, holding out hope a little longer.

When they see his sister lying on the bed still, with no changes, and look at the dead and sad eyes of his parents and his sister's best friend, their own eyes begin to mirror them. They sadly touch her hand, give her a kiss on her forehead, and lay a sunflower on her bed.

Yes, he is prepared to say good-bye, to take that final leap, but the blonde man is not. The blonde man can't even look up at all the people who are coming to say good-bye to his love. He tightly holds her hand and keeps his head in his arms: savouring her, remembering her, believing in her.

The brother admires him and the strength he had throughout the whole year. He wishes he could be like that too, but it was hard to be so sturdy and infallible in his mind when he himself checked her every day and saw no changes in her health whatsoever. He hopes one day he can love another like that blonde man loves his sister.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

They started out as friends. It only took them a fall down the stairs and some licorice for their comradeship to start in the beginning. As the blonde-haired boy had just returned from a candy shop one weekend, he had oodles of goodies that he was eager to dive into.

Fate would have it however, that some boys who had detentions and missed the trip would find him ripping open his pack of licorice as he climbed up the stairs to his dormitory. The boys accosted him and stole the candy right out of his hands.

It was her though, that saw it happen from behind a suit of armour as she had been the previous target of those greedy boys before finding sanctuary in the shadows. Finding comfort in strength of numbers and wanting to feel the thrill of adventure she ran out and grabbed the pack of licorice, telling the blonde boy to run.

One of the greedy boys caught the boy before he got very far though. The girl then immediately stopped running and turned around to help, jumping on the larger boy to let the blonde boy go. They all got in a scuffle and she felt the licorice being ripped out of her hands as she lost her balance. She grabbed the closest person to her, which was the blonde boy she was trying to help, and together they tumbled down the stairs. It was when they landed in a heap at the bottom that the boy held up his licorice proudly as he had managed to snatch it out of the other boy's hands before they fell. Laughing loudly, they ran off together.

The next vision was when the red-headed girl and her stairs-tumbling-and-licorice-grabbing-friend had their first kiss when they were both older. It was after he had dared her to jump in the lake outside of the castle. With the way they were sneaking around, it was obvious they were breaking some rules. It was nighttime and they had snuck out on a full moon, trying to make it as scary as possible.

After howling lto the moon ike a wolf she dived in, slicing through the water effortlessly. As she splashed around in the warm water, she tried to make him come in with her but to no avail. The red-headed girl decided to play a trick on him. As he repeated no and no to her pleading, she sunk her head under the water and held her breath, waiting.

It only took sixteen seconds for him to jump in and another eight for him to grab her, dragging her to the shore as she laughed gleefully, coughing up some water. What took her by surprise was that he kissed her thoroughly after he had dragged her onto the land; it was a kiss of fright and hidden love.

What took him by surprise was that he found her responding with the same amount of force, her body molding the two of them together. She was so happy that night, so incredibly happy. He made her promise then and there though, that she would never disappear again like that, never go under the water and stay there. Never scare him like that.

She promised him.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Two new Healers enter the room and look around solemnly. Despite all the family members that had come and gone in the past hours, it is just the five original people who are left for the patient: her parents, her brother, her best friend and her love.

Her love still doesn't look up, his head buried in his arms on the bed. He could have been asleep for all anyone knew but they all know he isn't. He doesn't move at all as he holds onto her hand like it was his lifeline.

A Healer clears her throat, "what would you like to do?" she asks quietly. This is the part of her job that she hates the most, decisions like these.

It was the parents that spoke after a few agonizing minutes. "It's been long enough. I think it is time."

The Healer nods, looking at everyone else in the room. The best friend is still sitting on the floor in front of the bed, hands wrapped loosely around her knees. She gives a vacant nod, almost imperceptible.

The brother, he stares at his sister intensely. Seconds passed. . . a minute. . . two. . .

"It's time."

The brother's answer makes the blonde man bolt upright and everyone can finally see his face. Tears fall loosely from his eyes; white tracks already stained his cheeks from the previous hours. His voice is hoarse as he says, "you can't. She is everything to me. I will never give up. Don't give up hope."

Tears start to fall from the mother's eyes and she moans, "please don't do this. It's hard enough already."

He angrily stands up and spits out, "it's only been one year. Give it time. She promised, she promised."

The Healers feel a little tense but they came prepared. "We have some calming drafts here for those who want to control their emotions better during this time."

The father takes one, and so does the best friend. The blonde man stands up and knocks the potion out of the Healers hands as soon as they come close with it.

"I will not take anything to control me," he says furiously.

The Healers hesitate and look at each other.

The female Healer spoke, "would you kindly step out of the room then. If you won't take the draft and won't control your temper then it would be best if you leave for a moment to cool down."

The distraught on the blonde man's face is killing the brother. He knows what the Healers will have to do if the blonde man doesn't leave the room peacefully. It will not be pretty.

More tears fall down the blonde man's face and he stands strong and miserable beside his love, looking down at her as he whispers, "I will not leave her. Not now, not ever."

The Healer reaches into his coat and grabs his wand, whispering an incantation under his breath. The blonde man looks up in surprise as he feels his body start to float in the air. His face turns from incredulous to desolation as he is slowly moved away from his love. He frantically tries to reach her hand, her leg, anything, but he is too far away now.

"No, no, no, NO!" he cries, begging. "You can't do this to me. You can't take me out of here!"

The Healers, trained for situations like these don't respond as they levitate the kicking and crying man from the room. The room falls in an awkward silence, everything suddenly becoming very real too fast.

The best friend is looking at the rest of the people in the room. "There has to be something we can do. This just feels wrong. She wouldn't want this."

The brother nods. "I will talk to him."

He quickly leaves the room.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

It is that promise in her visions that the swimmer puzzles over. She feels she has a promise that is very similar, the chords seem the same in her mind, but before she could ponder more over it, the next few visions come.

It is the big mesh of snippets of the red-headed girl's life, no long stories, just quick flashes of sensations and pictures.

The feeling of dizziness as the girl was twirling and twirling and twirling in her bright dress.

The bright blue of the sea and the sound of the crashing waves as her and her brother made sand castles on an excursion to the beach.

The colour of white as she gazed at fluffy white clouds, pointing out different animals.

Spitting a dark drink all over her dark-haired friend as the two erupted in laughter.

A secret glee when she coloured on the blonde boy's face with marker as he was sleeping.

The first time she felt the sensation of too much heat when she went jumping on rocks that had been sitting in the hot midday sun.

The feeling of complete love and contentment as she and her blonde love fall asleep in the hammock by his house.

The sound of laughter, intense gut-splitting laughter as she sits under a tree with friends.

The feeling of utter trust with her family when they crowd around the table for a family supper.

Sadness, after a long fight with her love, but then peace and felicity when they reconcile.

The bright yellow of her bedroom walls as she lays in her bed before turning out the light to go to sleep.

The sensation of warm metal on her finger: the shape of the small but perfect molten gold ring, the clear colour of the sparkling diamond as she accepts the promise ring from her love.

The smell of strawberries and sunflowers in the sun.

Then the last one, the sensation of falling in the bright sun, the grass rushing closer and closer before -

The visions start from the beginning again.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

The brother heads out in the hallway and to the room where he knows the blonde man is going to be. He can vaguely hear his yells and screams from down the hallway and he feels as if the blonde man has a hand on his heart and is squeezing it tight. It isn't right for someone to be in so much agony.

The Healers look exasperated with the blonde man as they try to talk to him, whispering comforting words. He won't have any of it though. He is thrashing like a crazy person and ignoring what they are saying.

The brother indicates to the Healers to leave the room and he pulls up a chair to sit in front of the blonde man. The brother just stares at him as he lets him cool down. It isn't too long before the blonde man is staring back with those bloodshot eyes.

"You are betraying her. You can't do this. . ." he begs.

The brother takes a deep sigh and runs a hand through his hair. "It's killing the family," he says, immediately regretting his choice of words.

"You're killing her."

The brother shakes his head and says angrily, "and what is this right now? This isn't alive. She can't run, jump, cry or smile. She hasn't been responding to the best medical treatment available, there is nothing for her." He then stands up and walks closer to the blonde man. He puts his hands on his shoulders and lowers his face, as he needs the blonde man to understand this. "What would she want? If she was standing next to you, or able to talk to you, what would she want?"

"She wouldn't want us to give up on her. . . I know she wouldn't."

"Are you absolutely sure on that? She would want you to spend the next months, years even! not leaving the hospital, staying beside her, and wasting away? You can't hold on forever, you need to let go. It's hard, it's extremely hard, but somewhere in you is the strength to do it. I know it."

Those indecipherable bloodshot eyes look steadily at him.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

With the visions coming almost one after another now, there is no more darkness to take away the emotions she gets from then. No darkness at all between them. She can retain the true essence of them. She keeps the happiness, the sadness, the hope, the trust, the bravery, the friendship and everything else. They don't disappear for brief moments of time.

She realizes her pace was slowing down a bit and she quickens it. Not feeling the darkness she almost forgets to keep her legs pumping. The little nagging in her head is telling her to stop. She feels like stopping, but tries to banish that thought out of her head and tell the nagging to go away. She can't stop. She doesn't even know what would happen if she stopped, and she is scared; scared of the unknown, scared of losing the visions of the red-headed girl. That blanket of darkness isn't there to take away her fear. She is faced with it full force for the first time.

She wishes she had a family, a best friend, and a blonde-headed love of her own. She doesn't know what to do.

She is almost at a crossroad as she brings her hand forward again to continue swimming.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"Why is it so hard?" the blonde man whispers. He is tired of waiting, tired of living, tired of having to look at his love with wires attached everywhere. He is tired of being tired. He looks up at the brother, hoping he would have an answer but the brother just shakes his shoulders.

"Life is never easy."

The blonde man feels desperate, he stands up and grabs the brother's shirt. "Tell me; just tell me if there is a chance, any chance at all? Please. . ."

The brother and the blonde man stand eye to eye. The blonde man feels the brother hesitate and his eyes widen.

"No. . ." he exclaims.

The brother makes a face and says, "just one so small it almost isn't one at all."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

She slows down a lot. Then starts again. Uncertainties plague her. She isn't sure, she isn't sure, she isn't sure. She still doesn't know what is up and what is down. Are the visions a lie? Is life a lie? She doesn't know what she is anymore.

The nagging persists. What did it mean? What about her promise?

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

"What is it? Why are you only telling me now," the blonde man says frantically, a small spark finally appearing in his eyes.

The brother hesitates. "Because. . . if it doesn't work. . . Then there is no going back. . . no second chances. . . ever. . ."

"Oh. . ." the blonde man's expression instantly drops, "you mean. . ."

"Yes, she would really be gone."

"What are the chances of her. . . waking up?"

"Too low, but not as low as them waking naturally without the spell. That's why we never tell family members and patients."

The blonde man stars hard at the Apprentice. Very hard. Dare he hope for that sliver of a chance that the spell would work? Did she actually have a chance?

*.*.*.*.*.*.

She decides to keep swimming, and ignore the nagging. It is what she had done for so long, why stop now? But she is still so uncertain, and it terrifies her.

As the visions pass again she tries to look for different things, tries to find some clues interwoven into their vividness.

She focuses on the brown dot in the girls eyes, and the many freckles on her hands, the blonde-haired boy's wind swept hair, the bees buzzing, the scissors used to cut hair were green with purple dots, the trees had no leaves on them, and then the leaves were green, and then they were coloured red, orange, and yellow, the blonde-haired boy favoured shirts with collars, the blonde-haired boy had a small scar on his lip, the dog was midnight black, the girl had a scar on her shoulder from a bee sting, the reflection of the moon on the lake . . .

*.*.*.*.*.*

Time is frozen for him. The blonde man looks at the brother and notices how tired his eyes look, with bags under him. He is sure the brother has lost weight in the past year. But who is he to judge? He looks no better. He can barely change his clothes on a daily basis, barely brush his teeth, barely eat food. Not with his love stuck in her eternal slumber.

He nods slowly to the brother. They have to try; he isn't ready to give her up yet. She is too young. He is too young. He loves her too much.

The return to the room is the second longest walk of his life. The first longest walk was when he received the news about his love having fallen. The hallways seem to expand before him. Every step is one closer to her, his beautiful love.

The room is so very quiet when he walks in. He isn't the only one crying, the mother and the best friend are both wiping at their eyes. The mother is holding her daughters hand tightly. The blonde man takes up his usual position in his chair and holds his love's other hand and squeezes lightly. As always, some small part of him hopes that she will squeeze back. But nothing has changed in the past year: she doesn't squeeze back.

He watches her chest go up and down, up and down.

*.*.*.*.*.

. . . the brother had as many freckles as her, or perhaps more, the best friend was almost as tall as the red-headed girl, the beach had sand so white it hurt the eyes to look at, the mice the cat caught were brown, the shoes were bright orange, the dog was drooling, the water the girl dived in was dark and sombre, the blonde boy had large hands, each table in the hall was colour themed , the mum had curly hair, curlier than the daughter, the dad had the most addictive laugh. . .

*.*.*.*.*

The Healers come back into the room and talk quickly with the brother. They then come towards the woman in the bed.

"Okay. We will begin," they tell the room and then look specifically at the blonde man's face, seeing if he would react again. He only stares steadily forward with his jaw clenched; he doesn't meet the Healers' face.

Every step the Healer makes closer to his love, the blonde man feels his heart rate increase, he feels how goose pimples rise on his arms, he feels his hands become sweaty.

She has to wake up, she has to.

She is too full of life, too loved in this world to leave him and her family. She is still young! Nobody deserves her fate, nobody deserves to have the years stripped off of them while they lay powerless in their body. It isn't fair, why did it have to happen to them? To her?

She has to, she has to, she has to.

The Healer reaches the machine beside the bed and with a final look around and a large breath, he stops the machine that is giving her air and food.

His love's chest immediately falls with no more oxygen getting pumped in.

"Come on, come on, come on," the blonde man mutters, his wild eyes looking at her.

*.*.*.*.

The visions stop abruptly.

But the blanket isn't encompassing her anymore or smothering everything out. She can feel everything from the visions still. The darkness is lightening, bit by bit.

.*.*.*.

One of the Healers step forward and gently runs his wand over the blonde man's love. Her body is bathed in a soft blue light, then it turns black and seems to rise off of her.

The Healer frowns but doesn't say anything, just returns the blue light and leaves it floating, entombing her.

"Come on, come on, come on . . ."

*.*.*.

It gets so light that she could make out her hands finally. They were pale . . . and she could just make out a few freckles . . .

She has freckles on her hands! But that couldn't possibly mean –

The darkness around her is getting lighter and lighter too quickly. Much too quickly. She feels a heavy pressure on her, like her chest is caving in. But she can't stop swimming, she can't. Even though the pressure is overpowering, she manages to kick her legs.

Freckles . . . it couldn't be !

The visions start again faintly in her mind, but the darkness isn't there. It is so light now it is hurting her eyes. She didn't realize her eyes were open, or perhaps it is so light it is burning through her closed eyelids.

The visions sweep by her again, blurring together.

Freckles are too much of a coincidence . . . no chance . . . it couldn't . . .

Along with the overpowering crushing feeling, the nagging in her brain is yelling – no screaming at her to stop swimming.

But, her promise . . .

.*.*.

There is silence, and there is silence. This silence in the room is a creepy ugly thing. It creeps from under the doors and through the window. It creeps into the hearts of everyone. The silence is so great and ugly that no one dares to breath it in.

The one sound that could break the silence, and that everyone wants desperately to hear, is the sound of breathing from the daughter, the friend, the sister, the love.

They need to hear it.

"Rose . . . don't leave me . . ." he whispers

*.*.

The visions are fading. WHY are they fading. They seemed to be going down, down, down. There is a DOWN?

The swimmer's worldview is changing more rapidly than she could comprehend. She hasn't even figured out if she is the red-headed girl in the visions . . . or are they memories?

She has the promise, but there is life in the visions. She wants the life the girl has, if it is her or not. She wants to follow. But she also has a promise in her mind, that tiny powerful thread that she was keeping true to, is keeping true to. She keeps swimming because she wants to go see him, she promised she wouldn't leave him. She's held onto that promise for so long already, why should she stop now?

She promised, she promised, she promised.

The visions are fading, they get farther and farther away.

She has a choice to make, should she stop and join them, to wherever they may lead, or should she keep swimming to keep her promise. She has a feeling the darkness would come back if she keeps swimming, and she doesn't like the encompassing darkness.

The pressure is almost overwhelming, blackness is started to encroach around her eyes in the light.

She has moments to decide . . . she looks at her freckled hand again and makes a choice.

*.*

The clouds cover up the sun at that moment, leaving the room feeling colder than it had. The brother takes his wish back that the sun would go away. They need the sun, they need the warmth and the hope it brings.

The ugly silence remains.

Her hand is held so tightly.

It is held so tightly, that when it twitches, the blonde man doesn't notice.

Everyone's eyes are on her chest, waiting, just waiting for it to rise again.

La fin.