As a child, Mariel DePortia was a social, kind girl that got along with everyone in school. As years went on, and high school came along, she was definitely one to bring everyone’s day up. Her grades were good; she made the right choices, and hung around with just the right people. This was her child life, and after graduating from high school, things began to change with her. After a week of enjoying the time getting out with friends, celebrating the end of high school, she came home to lie down in bed, to finally get some rest.
“Mariel…” someone called out in her dream.
“Crystal, is that you?” Mariel called back.
“Mariel, I’ve missed you so much,” Crystal had said. Mariel just stared at her, with a tear running down her cheek. Standing there stiff and still, Crystal repeats it while blood drips from her eyes and ears, beginning to look like she’d been killed. Fast images, dark and evil images, ran through Mariel’s mind so quickly, causing her to wake up screaming.
Her mother woke up and ran into Mariel’s room as quickly as she could.
“Mariel! What’s going on? What’s wrong?” her mother cried, wrapping her arms around her.
Mariel was silent for a few minutes, and calmed down. Then she began to explain to her mom what was wrong.
“Mom…” Mariel paused.
“Yes, honey. Tell me.”
“Remember…” she began to continue. “Remember Crystal Thomas?”
“Of… of course I do sweetie. What about her?” her mom asked.
“She came to visit me in a dream. It…” she began to sob before she could continue. Sobbing and just speaking the words out, she continued, “It all reminded me of her murderer. The blood dripping down her face…” she stopped and just began to cry again.
“Mariel, come here.” her mom said, hugging her tight, calming her down. Her mother was always a supportive mother, and was always there for her. As they sat there for the rest of the night, on Mariel’s bed trying to settle down, Mariel was almost completely scared to go back to sleep.
15 Years Later!
It’s been 15 years since Mariel had that dream about her best friend who was murdered, and it’s slowly drifting away from her thoughts. She’s the same happy person again, working at a real estate agency. She had blue eyes, and brown hair with red streaks that goes down a little below her shoulders. She was about five feet, six inches. With two kids, Cheyenne who is fourteen, and Brooke who is nine, they live in a big house in Palm Beach, Florida. Mariel’s husband Michael is a meteorologist on television. Believe it or not, they both have time for their kids. Their kids, who are just as successful as Mariel was as a child. On a Wednesday, Michael was just coming home from work. As he walked in the door, his kids ran to him happy to see him home.
“Hey girls. Mmmm, I smell dinner.”
“Mommy’s making meatloaf and mashed potatoes.” Brooke said.
“Sounds delicious.” Michael replies.
“Dinner’s re… you’re just in time! The kids were gettin’ jumpy.” Mariel said as she walked up to her husband, giving him a hug and a kiss. The kids sat at the table, watching them. Brooke was chuckling a bit. Mariel looked at her kids feeling a bit awkward, with a smile on her face.
“Okay, shall we eat? Bring your plates up, girls.” Mariel said, getting ready to serve the dinner.
As they sat down, they had their normal family conversation that they have every night at dinner.
“So girls, how was school?”
“Well umm…” Cheyenne started. “Mom. Dad. I have something I want to share with you.” Cheyenne continued. Her mom and dad looked at her with a questioning look on their faces as if they were gonna crack a joke.
“Well, there’s this boy I like.” Cheyenne said with a giggle.
“Oh,” her mom and dad chuckled. “So what’s his name?”
“Well, his name is Ben, and he’s really nice. And really sweet. And he likes me too”, Cheyenne said.
“Somebody likes you? I always thought that wouldn’t be possible knowing the way you treat Me,” Brooke said, not knowing completely what she’s saying. Cheyenne gave her a look.
“Well, we’d like to meet him sometime.” Mariel said.
“Would tomorrow be okay for him to come home on the bus with me? We have a science test to study for.”, Cheyenne nervously said.
“That won’t be a problem.” Mariel and Michael said. Cheyenne smiled.
“So what’s the weather gonna be like this week?” Cheyenne asked her dad.
“Well, it’ll be sunny but a chance for a storm this Friday. Oh and for you, a 75% chance of love,” Michael laughed, joking around with her.
“Is there gonna be lightening?” Brooke asked. They all laughed, because Brooke is always the little hoot at the table.
As they finished their dinner and then put the girls to bed, Mariel and Michael went to bed shortly after. The night ended well as every other night would.
*** *** *** *** ***
The next morning, Michael takes the kids to school after eating breakfast, before he goes to work. Mariel was off of work that day, but she didn’t have to be in for a couple hours. So she went to go visit Michael at work, where she’d hadn’t been in a while. As she walked in about an hour after Michael had walked in, she immediately went in front of the green screen they show the weather on.
“There’s a high pressure system over Florida,” Mariel shouted as she slaps and rubs the green screen.
“Okay, let’s not annoy the workers here,” Michael said, as he pulls her away from the green screen, giggling at her.
“Psh, settle down. Everybody does it,” Mariel said.
*** *** *** *** ***
At school, Brooke had come across someone as she was walking to art class with her friend. Out the window, was someone who seemed as if they just got beat up. She had a small drop of blood dripping from her lip, and a bruised face. Brooke spaced out.
“I don’t see anything,” her friend responded. “C’mon. Let’s go to art.”
Brooke had asked to go to the bathroom as soon as she got to class. As she walked in the hallway, the woman she saw out the window stood in the bathroom doorway, just standing there.
“You’re the woman I saw outside that window over there,” Brooke said.
As blood dripped from her mouth, the woman quoted, “Don’t be frightened. You’re the only one who can see me.”
“What are you talking about?” Brooke asked.
“My name is Cryst…” she paused as a teacher was walking up.
“Brooke?” the teacher called in the hallway. Brooke turned to look at her, and turned back to the woman, though she wasn’t there anymore.
“Sorry. I… think I’m just a little lost right now,” she answered, sprinting back to art class.
*** *** *** *** ***
That night, everyone came home from school and work. Cheyenne brought Ben over to meet her parents.
“Hey Ben. Welcome. I’m Mrs. DePortia,” Mariel said.
“I’m the father,” Michael said, shaking hands with him.
“Nice to meet you sir,” Ben said.
“Sir… we don’t usually use that term around here,” Michael said with a small chuckle.
“Now Michael, be nice,” Mariel said. “Take a seat at the table, Ben. Dinner will be done shortly.”
They all sat down at the dinner table, having a great conversation getting to know Ben. Brooke was the only one that didn’t talk.
“Brooke, how was school, sweetie?” Mariel asked. Brooke dropped her fork and ran to her room, frightened. Everyone was silent for a few seconds.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Mariel walked to Brooke’s room.
Mariel opened the door of Brooke’s room. “What’s the matter, Brooke?” Mariel asked.
“Mom, I saw something today,” Brooke said, with a small tear.
“What was it, honey?” at this moment, as Mariel asked that, there was the memory that flashed in her head, back to the time when Marie’s mom came rushing in her room after Mariel woke up from that terrible dream.
“I saw, this man at school today. He was in a deer costume, and he told me I was the only one who would see him…” she paused there, and then stuttered. “H-h-h… Th-Then he disappeared, and I got scared,” Brooke continued. “I think I saw a ghost.”
Mariel looked at her, and gave her a hug. “It’s okay Brooke. You know, when I was younger, I had this dream that really frightened me. It seemed so real too. My mom just told me that I had a very, active imagination. Maybe it’s just running in the family. Maybe you have an imaginary friend.” Brooke calmed down and felt better after she was convinced that maybe this person was just an imaginary friend. “If you don’t mind me asking, what did she say to you?”
“Well, she said I was the only one that could see her, which I was confused about. Then she told me her name,”
“What was her name?” Mariel asked her, with a long voice.
“She said… her name was Crystal,” Brooke said, with a slight stutter. Mariel’s mouth dropped for a couple seconds and she looked shocked. “Mommy? Are you okay? You look scared,” Brooke continued, looking at Mariel’s face.
“No I’m fine sweetie. See? It might just be an imaginary friend that wants to talk to you. Let’s go finish dinner now, okay?”
As they all sat and finished dinner together, Ben had left.
“He was a pretty nice guy, Cheyenne,” Michael said. Mariel nodded her head and made a sound of agreement.
“I know, isn’t he just great?” Cheyenne said.
After cleaning up, they watched TV together and then headed to bed. Another great day, yet things got just a tad bit strange on Brooke’s part. Everyone was then asleep by 11:30PM.
“Mariel…” someone called out in her dream.
“Crystal, is that you?” Mariel called back.
“Mariel, I’ve missed you so much”, Crystal had said, repeating it with blood running down her face. Mariel looked at the ground, freaked out at the blood that was dripping all over the place.
As the blood drip had created a line leading to a dark door, Mariel knocked on it. A man, sort of short, brownish-grey hair, with a goatee, opened the door. Mariel saw in the background, a room with a table in it, with just a knife sitting there.
“Hello. Peter Mellar here. How may I be service to you today?” the man asked with a slight smile on his face.
Mariel woke up with a huge gasp, waking Michael up as well.
“What’s the matter?” Michael asked.
“That dream about Crystal. It’s back. Only continued,” Mariel answered.
“What happened?” Michael asked.
“I don’t think I even wanna start to talk about it,” Mariel answered.
“Well, it’s morning now, so that’s a good thing. You have a meeting with people at that house in a few hours, so just go there, and when that’s all finished, call me and we’ll meet somewhere to eat before we pick up the girls from school,” Michael said.
“Hoping that’ll take my mind off things,” Mariel said.
“It will. If it doesn’t, well, then, we could plan some other things that could replace those bad thoughts,” Michael said casually.
Mariel stared at him. “Hardy har har,” Mariel answered, getting out of bed, ready to take a shower.
“What? I was just trying to spice up the moment,” Michael said.
“What a shocker,” Mariel said, joking around.
“Hey, I’ll get breakfast ready and take the girls to school. You take your time and just take it step by step today,” Michael said before Mariel got in the bathroom.
“I owe ya one,” Mariel said. “Love ya,” she continued, giving him a kiss before she got in the shower.
That afternoon, when she was leaving for a meeting with a couple interested in a house a few blocks away, that dream kept rattling around in her head. She was also thinking about what her daughter told her she had seen by her school bathroom. She tried her best to just keep it off of her mind. When she arrived at the house, the couple was already there, ready to have the meeting. She got out of her silver Chevy Cobalt, and walked up slowly with a slight pain in her head, to the doorstep where the couple stood.
“Hi guys. Sorry I’m a couple minutes late. I’m Mariel DePortia,” Mariel chuckled.
“No need to apologize,” the woman said. “Tracey,” she continued, shaking her hand introducing herself. Then Mariel turned to the man.
“Hi. Peter Mellar.” Mariel shook his hand staring at him, as if he looked familiar. Dark, evil images passed quickly through her mind. Within two seconds, she passed out on the ground.
“Mariel…” someone called out in her dream.
“Crystal, is that you?” Mariel called back.
“Mariel, I’ve missed you so much”, Crystal had said, repeating it with blood running down her face. Mariel looked at the ground, freaked out at the blood that was dripping all over the place.
“What the heck is going on?” Mariel asked, in an angry voice.
“Why do you sound so angry? You aren’t mad at me, are you?” asked Crystal.
“I’ll tell you what I…”
“You have a task, that needs to be done,” Crystal interrupted. “Wake up.”
Mariel wakes up, in a hospital bed. “Hey, you’re awake,” Michael said, sitting next to her bed. “You’ve been unconscious for a couple hours. You passed out in front of that house you were selling.”
“What’s going on here,” Mariel asked, in a scared voice.
“Mariel, have you been okay lately? You seem a little… frightened about something,” Michael asked.
“It’s these dreams. I don’t know what to do with them. I don’t know how to shake them off, or make them go away,” Mariel responded, tearing.
“I’m here for you Mar. Just tell me what you want.”
“I just want to be normal,” Mariel cried in a slightly loud tone.
“Look, the doctors will be here in a little bit to come up with a conclusion to these dreams you’ve been having. To think of a way for you to get a good night sleep again,” Michael said to her, holding her hand. Mariel calmed down, continuously sobbing. She couldn’t help but go back to sleep. She was so stressed she was just out of it.
“Mariel…” someone called out in her dream.
“Crystal, is that you?” Mariel called back.
“Mariel, I’ve missed you so much”, Crystal had said, repeating it with blood running down her face. Mariel looked at the ground, freaked out at the blood that was dripping all over the place.
“What the heck is going on?” Mariel asked, in an angry voice.
“Why do you sound so angry? You aren’t mad at me, are you?” asked Crystal.
“I’ll tell you what I…”
“You have a task, that needs to be done,” Crystal interrupted. “You want to be normal, again.”
“Why me?” she asked. “Why is this happening to me? How can I get this over with?”
“The man who killed me, Peter Mellar, is out there again, to kill. You’re the only one who can stop it. You’re the only one who knows who is killing these people now,” Crystal said. “It’s simple. All you have to do, is finish dreaming these dreams, until this man is caught.”
“What… I’m not gonna h…” Mariel couldn’t speak.
“He’s out there. You met Tracey. She’s dead. Peter killed her about three hours ago. He’s still out there, and he means to kill again. He means to kill again,” she said, disappearing into the light.
Mariel woke up in her hospital bed that night, knowing she had to get something done in order to make these dreams go away, and to be normal again. She got up out of the hospital bed, and walked out of the building. As she was driving home thinking, she was developing a bad headache.
As Mariel walked in the front door of her home, Michael was sitting in the living room.
“Mariel, what the heck going
on?” he asked.
“What do you m…” she replied, as Michael interrupted her.
“The hospital called me, saying you were missing from your room and that you were nowhere to be found. I tried calling your cell and no answer. I was worried sick.”
“How could you not reach my cell?” she said, looking through her purse for her phone. It didn’t seem to be in there. “Where’s my cell phone?”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re here and I can converse with you now. If your work needs you, they’ll call the home phone if it’s urgent,” Michael replied.
“Why do you sound like you’re angry with me?”
“Because, Mariel! You are sick. You escaped the hospital when you were supposed to be there, being taken care of. You are unconscious of what you are doing.”
“It’s a headache! It will pass,” Mariel yelled.
“No, this headache has been making your mind unconscious of everything,” Michael shouted back. “I’m not gonna sit here and watch you let yourself suffer like this.
“I don’t wanna have this discussion right now. I’m gonna go, pick up the girls and then go to bed,” Mariel said.
“Go lay down. I’ll take care of the girls. You need your rest. I’ll get dinner ready for them and put them to bed tonight. Just go take a nap,” Michael said, in a calming voice.
“Thank you,” Mariel said, heading to her bedroom to lie down.
Mariel’s next dream began. It was dark, and nearby was a canyon. There was a sign down the road that said Welcome to Blank Valley. Peter Mellar opened the trunk of his tan Buick. As he took a big black duffel bag out, he dragged it towards a cliff. Blood dripping from the zipper, he picked it up, and threw it right off the cliff. THUMP, the duffel bag made a loud noise as it hit the bottom of the cliff. Mariel jumped up from the dream immediately, as the phone was ringing.
“Hello?” Mariel answered the phone, sobbing from her dream.
“Mariel, are you okay? Did I wake you,” her husband asked.
“No you didn’t wake me; it’s only 8:00 at night. Where are you?” Mariel asked.
“I just took the girls out for a bit. You sound like your crying,” Michael said.
“I’m fine, when are you gonna be home?” Mariel asked.
“We’re on our way right now, I was just checking in on you to make sure you’re okay,” Michael said.
“I’m fine, I’ll see you in a bit,” Mariel replied, hanging up the phone. She got up to get a drink. She found mail on the kitchen table that she had brought in earlier that day. There was a card there, with a return address of Peter Mellar, the man she’s been dreaming about for days now. She read,
Mariel,
It’s me. The man of your dreams. You can’t stop what I’m doing. Stop seeing what you are seeing or I will be sure the world won’t be seeing you.
~Peter
She dropped the letter in the garbage, and started taking deep breaths. She feared more and more about what was going on. She didn’t know what she could do to catch him, because the only way the dreams will stop, is if Peter is either captured or dead. She went straight back to bed, but she didn’t go to sleep. She lied there, crying all night. Michael came home with the girls and put them to bed. He sat beside Mariel, just to be there for her.
The next morning, Mariel was getting ready for a meeting she had on the other side of town. She gathered all her papers and work materials, as her friend was picking her up so they could go to the meeting together.
“Alright I’ll be back by around two o’clock,” Mariel said, walking out the door.
On the way to the meeting, Mariel and her friend were discussing exactly what the meeting was about.
“So where is this meeting?” Mariel asked.
“Oh, somewhere on the other side of town, I’m not sure,” her friend said. “We’re almost there.”
“Good, I just hope th…” Mariel paused as she saw a sign. She read, Welcome to Blank Valley. “Oh my god,” she whispered out loud. She was shocked she had come across this place that she saw in her dream.
“What’s the matter?” her friend asked, looking very confused.
“Hold on. Stop the car,” Mariel said, getting her phone out.
“Why?” her friend asked, making a stop at the side of the road.
“Just, wait,” Mariel said.
The police answered the phone.
“Palm Beach Police Department. How may we help you?”
“I’m by the Blank Valley Bridge and I have reason to believe that there is a dead body at the bottom of the cliff,” she explained.
“Alright, we’re gonna send people out there immediately,” the officer said. Mariel hung up the phone.
Within just five minutes, four police cars showed up. They questioned Mariel for her name and information, as they had people down at the bottom of the cliff, searching. They had already found a duffel bag, and in it was a body. They continued the search for the next couple hours, and Mariel and her friend were late for their meeting. They had made it though.
When the police were nearly done searching, they had found a card in the duffel bag. One of the officers read:
Mariel,
It’s me. The man of your dreams. I warned you. Now you better watch every direction around you, everyday, at every time. Because you never know when I just might pop up.
~Peter
When Mariel’s meeting ended, Mariel and her friend were driving back. A cop was waiting at the side of the road, on the way back. He asked them to stop the car.
“Hello again ladies. Mariel, we’re gonna need you to lead us to your house,” he said.
“Why? What’s going on?” Mariel asked.
“We’ll explain when we get there, but we need to get there immediately,” the officer replied.
They all arrived at Mariel’s house, as Mariel was wondering why there were so many police surrounding her house. The sheriff stood in her living room.
“So what’s going on here?” Mariel asked the sheriff.
“Read this,” the officer said, handing her the card Peter had wrote. She took it and read if with quite a long face. “We have cops surrounding your house 24/7 until we find this maniac.”
“I don’t understand. Where did you find this?” Mariel asked.
“We found it in the duffel bag of the dead body. We don’t know how he could have known that you were the one that called, but unfortunately, he’s after you and your family now,” the cop said.
“Where are the kids?” She asked Michael.
“There in their rooms, doing homework,” Michael answered.
“I’m sorry to tell you that none of you can leave this house until this man is caught,” the officer said.
Mariel looked upset, and went in her bedroom to rest. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep. Her dream began.
“Mariel,” Crystal called in her dream.
“What now? What am I supposed to do? There is a professional killer, out there for my family,” Mariel said.
“I know. You have no choice but to trap this man. You will come across him again. Spray him. That’s all I’m gonna tell you. Aim for the eyes,” Crystal said.
Mariel woke up from her dream, and her headache was getting even worse. She got out of bed and was walking to the living room. The cop in front of her had just gotten out of the bathroom, and a can had fallen off his belt. The doorbell rang.
“Your groceries are here,” the officer said.
“Fantastic,” Mariel said, opening the door. The men walked in.
“Michael can you take care of the groceries? I gotta go to the bathroom,” Mariel said.
“Sure thing,” Michael responded.
As Mariel walked into the bathroom, there was a horn looking object by the bathtub, with the curtain half open. The bathtub was filled with water. As soon as she shut the door with her in the bathroom, a man opened the rest of the curtain.
“Hey Mariel,” the man said. Mariel screamed loudly.
It’s about time I get this close to you,” Peter had said. Mariel continued to scream. Peter grabbed her as the poisoned smoke was beginning to exit the horn looking object in the bathtub. He grabbed her head and tried downing her in the bathtub. As soon as he dropped her in there, he jumped out the bathroom window. The cops ran in and pulled her out as quickly as possible.
“Come here,” Michael said, holding her. “Are you okay?” he asked, as Mariel was grasping for air.
That night was a mess. Mariel lied in bed all night, crying because she had never been so frightened in her whole entire life. Eventually, she fell asleep.
*** *** *** *** ***
The next morning, Mariel woke up as she was asked to go down to the police station for a couple questions. When they arrived there, she was looking very pale, and her head was hurting even more.
“Ma’am, we’ll be with you in a bit,” an officer said.
“Okay,” Mariel said. As she was waiting, she looked at one of the files on the table. It was Peter Mullar’s file. As she looked at a recent picture of him, she began to have a vision. She saw Peter by the cliff again, sitting there waiting for someone. She saw him pull out his cell phone, and it said Friday, July 17, 2010. The time she saw on the phone was 10:14 PM. She heard a drop of a paper clip, so that’s all she could get out of her vision. She got up immediately and went to the sheriff who was there with her. She told him what she saw.
“I found him. He’s gonn…” she paused, holding her head because of her headache. “He’s gonna be at the Blank Valley Bridge tonight at 10:14 PM.
“I’m sorry, how did you come to know th…” he paused, looking at her, then continued, “Mariel, your nose is… bleeding,” the sheriff said. As Mariel wiped off a drop of blood, she passed out right on the ground.
It was 2:00 in the morning, the next day. Mariel woke up in a hospital bed.
“Mariel. Good. You’re awake. I gotta tell you something,” Michael said.
“What is it? How long have I been here?” Mariel asked?
“You’ve been here for about 15 hours now. But listen. Good news. Before you passed out, the sheriff took your information you told him. They went to Blank Valley Bridge at around 10:15, and found him,” Michael explained.
“That’s amazing,” Mariel said.
“Yeah, you’re a hero Mariel. He’s behind bars now. But there is something else,” Michael said, with the face as if this is something serious.
“What is it?” Mariel asked.
“They ran some tests when they got you here. They found something in the x-rays.”
“Oh no. No, no no,” Mariel was saying to herself, beginning to breathe heavily.
Before Michael could begin to speak, the doctor walked in.
“Hello Mariel, my name is doctor Dontés,” the woman said. “Listen, Mariel. We found something in your x-rays. As we looked through the results of the tests we ran, these headaches have been being caused by a brain tumor,” the doctor said. Mariel looked at her, scared, as she continued. “We need to do a surgical procedure right away. I was hoping we could do this at about 6:00 this morning?”
“Whatever you have to do to get this done with, I’m fine with it,” Mariel said.
“Okay, we’ll be prepping you in a couple hours,” the doctor said.
Michael was making her comfortable and calming her down. There’s no possibility she could go through with this by herself. As she was lying there, she slowly fell asleep as her husband went home to check on the girls. Because of the family situation that was going on, he decided to take them to their aunts house for them to stay there, so they didn’t have to be around everything that was going on. It was rather too much for them to handle at their age. When he left, Mariel was having another dream. In her dream, she saw the cell Peter was in. A couple of the bars were broken, and he had broken out. There was a card on the floor, and it was an address to a hotel. She heard Crystal’s voice.
“Do what you have to do, Mariel… End him.”
She woke up from her dream, and looked at the clock. It’s only 30 minutes before doctors are to prep Mariel for surgery.
About an hour later, Michael was receiving a phone call from the doctor.
“Hello,” Michael answered his phone.
“Michael DePortia?” a voice over the phone said.
“Yes, this is he.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but we were just about to prep Mariel for surgery,” the doctor said.
“Great, is she doing okay?” Michael asked.
“That’s just the thing…” the doctor paused. “She didn’t happen to be in her room, when we went in there. And we had people looking around the hospital, and she’s simply nowhere to be found,” the doctor said.
“Wha… no one saw her walk out?”
“I’m sorry, sir. But we do have people being questioned if they’ve seen her walking around somewhere.”
“Alright, I’m coming back there,” Michael said, hanging up the phone. As he started driving back to the hospital, he tried calling Mariel. There was no answer. He drove faster trying to get there within the next two minutes.
When Michael arrived at the hospital, Mariel was just arriving back at the hospital in an ambulance. They rushed her in the hospital in a gurney, and started prepping for surgery immediately. Michael was right behind them.
“Sir,” the woman said at the front counter. “Sir, you need to sign in here.”
“My wife is…” Michael started.
“Sir, I need you to sign in first.”
“Okay,” Michael said, taking a deep breath, walking up the counter.
“Now we can’t have people in the room when their doing surgery, so I’m gonna need you to wait out here,” the woman at the counter said. “Sir, everything’s gonna be okay.”
“Okay, okay you’re right. I just need to calm down,” Michael said, trying to calm down.
Hours past, as an officer came to speak with Michael, who was in the waiting room.
“Are you Micha…” the officer asked.
“Yes, do you have any, any news on Mariel?” Michael jumped up and said, quickly.
“No, no news. A nurse will be out to speak with you shortly though. But listen, we found your wife in a hotel, and we don’t know exactly what she was doing. We think she was just unconscious of what she might have been doing. The good thing about her being there, is that she led us to the man that broke out of jail,” the officer took a breath as Michael just stared trying to make sense of everything. “Peter Mullar is dead now. I’d consider your wife a hero, Michael.”
“I know. I’m proud. I just want her to be okay.”
A nurse came up ready to give Michael some news.
“Michael?” the nurse called in the waiting room.
“Yes, yes what’s... how… is... how is she doing? Is she okay?” Michael said, stepping up to the nurse.
“Well, the tumor was benign, and we were able to remove it. It’s wasn’t cancerous or anything, so on that part, I think she’s pretty much okay, and will remain that way.”
“Good. Awesome. How long before she’ll be awake?” Michael said with relief.
“When they brought your wife here, she had a stroke. She waited a little too long to have surgery, and it became to be too much for her body to handle. I’m sorry, but we have no way of knowing when or if, she will be coming out of her coma,” the nurse explained.
After they talked for a while, Michael went home to talk to the girls about all this. It was hard for them all to process through their minds, but it was an important family matter that they all had to take in and fight through. When they all went to bed, they took deep breaths and thought to themselves that tomorrow would be a better day.
Mariel was still in her coma, yet she was still seeing things in a dream.
“Mariel,” Crystal started speaking in her dream. “You’ve done it. You’ve accomplished your task. Welcome back to the normal life. You’ve saved a lot of people, Mariel.” That was the end of the dream, but Mariel didn’t wake up.
A couple mornings later, Michael was on his way to work, after dropping the girls off at school. His cell phone rang.
“Hello?” Michael answered.
“Michael, this is doctor Dontés. We need you to come down here immediately,” she said, in a serious voice.
When Michael arrived at the hospital, the nurse led him into Mariel’s room. He walked in there, and then started sobbing. Then he was quiet for a while, just at her, and the monitor.
“How am I gonna tell my girls about this?” Michael asked, tearing.
“I don’t know, Michael. Just take it one step at a time. Gather all your family members, and have a small family meeting,” she said, feeling really sorry. She continued, crying, “I’m truly, deeply sorry for your loss, Mr. DePortia.”
Michael sat there, beside her bed, and continued staring. “Thank you, Dr. Dontés.” She walked out of the room a couple minutes later, and Michael stayed there for hours.
Later that night he went home and told the girls the news. It was hard for all of them. They dealt with it, though they were depressed for quite some time. For months, the girls went to school without socializing much with people, yet trying their best to do what they needed to get done in school. Michael took off of work for a while, as he just needed to stay home to get used to things being different around there.
*** *** *** *** ***
Years later, Michael was working in the weather center, making a lot of money for the family. The girls were successful, just as their mother would have wanted for them. Cheyenne was a real estate agent, and Brooke just started school to become a nurse. The tragic event that happened to their mother years ago, they tried their best to continue growing in strength and to just do what would have made their mom happy. They took things one step at a time. And all they could think about was that no matter what obstacles would jump in their way, they can fight through it.
