Chapter 3

"What do you mean you know how to wake her up?" Andrew exclaimed. What was Dr. James talking about? Andrew tried wrapping his head around this but just ended up shaking his head, as he sat down on one of the chairs in Dr. James' office. He looked at the man standing in front of him, waiting for an answer.

"I mean that there is a way for us to go inside her head and bring her back." Dr. James paused. "We can wake her up...with the help of a few people." Andrew gave Dr. James an incredulous look. He didn't believe it. Any of it.

"Is this some type of joke? I don't think you realise this, but we can't exactly crack open her head and just jump inside, can we?" cried Andrew, standing up. This was hard enough for him. He didn't need anyone giving him any false hope.

The doctor deeply sighed, shaking his head. "I don't mean going inside her head per se. I mean her subconscious. You see, being comatose is basically like being in some sort of sleep paralysis state. Right now, Lydia's mind is awake, but her body isn't. If someone can go into her mind and find a way to wake her, then she'll come back to us.

Andrew sat back down and put his head in his hands. Dr. James moved closer to him and then kneeled to his level and in a low voice, said "This is not a joke, Drew. This is real. What happened to Lydia wasn't normal. You know that. As far as I know, this is the only way to wake her up. It sounds stupid, but it can work. You have to trust me."

"How? How are we even meant to get into her head?" Andrew questioned. He wanted Lydia back. He really did, but he was still uncertain about all of this. This seemed like something out of a movie. Like fiction. But this was real life.

"I'll explain later, but first, do you want to do this?" Andrew hesitated. Did he really want to do this? But he slowly nodded nonetheless.

It felt like he didn't have any other choice. He knew he was being selfish, but part of the reason he wanted Lydia awake was so that he didn't have to face things alone. He didn't want to be alone. Waking up his sister was the only way he wouldn't be. He'd do anything to wake her, even if none of it made any sense.

"Ok. Tomorrow afternoon, meet me at my house. We'll tell Kevin about this and discuss the rest." Dr. James stood up and Andrew mirrored his actions, before walking towards the door. Andrew opened the door and was about to walk out when Dr. James called out, "Oh, and Andrew, I heard your cousin, Lea, is visiting. Tomorrow, bring her too."

Andrew looked sceptical and just silently mumbled an "Ok." before walking out of Dr. James' office.

~ ~ ~

5 years ago:

***"So, if you could put anything on your grave, what would it be?" Lydia asked one day, out of the blue. She was studying for a test, with Drew and Kevin, but was tired. She put down her pen and looked up at the two boys expectantly, with weary eyes.

"And how is this relevant to calculus?" Drew asked, putting his pen in his mouth and tapping it against his teeth. He was trying very hard not to chew on the end. Bad habit. He was sitting by Lydia's window seat and had his books in his lap.

"It isn't. But I can only do so much math. Come on! Can we please take a break?" Lydia hated begging, especially when it came to Drew. She rolled her eyes when he took almost five minutes to answer with a simple, "Fine."

Lydia smiled brightly, "Great." She turned to Kevin, who was sitting by her desk, "Kev, you good with that?"

He wasn't even listening, let alone studying, but was instead surfing the internet, his fingers tapping away on the keyboard. Kevin had a short attention span. He was easily distracted and usually never listened to people's meaningless conversations. Although he became a good listener as soon as you came to him with a problem. He was weird like that.

"Hello!? Kev. Kevin." Lydia said, trying to pull Kevin away from his laptop. She kicked the chair he was sitting on, but still nothing. So, Lydia stood up, from her position on the bed, walked towards her best friend and tipped his chair sideways, causing him to fall off the chair and onto his butt. He landed on the floor with a loud yelp.

"Ouch!" He cried, then stood up, rubbing his right shoulder with one hand and his back with another. "What was that for?" He asked not realizing that he had zoned out. He straightened out his clothes, and when he finally looked back up, he saw Lydia staring at him, incredulous.

"Kevin Marie Winnifred James!" Andrew snickered. Lydia ignored him and went on, "You zoned out again! I've been screaming for a while now." While Kevin just muttered under his breath, "Damn. I should have never told her my middle name."

Kevin moved to sit on the bed, then let out a loud groan when he did.

"Owww..." He howled. "I think you broke my butt." Kevin stated nonchalantly, like what came out of his mouth was completely normal.

Lydia sighed exasperatedly, while Drew's shoulders shook with laughter. Soon after, the silence became unbearable, and the three of them stared at each other, before bursting into fits of laughter. Once their laughter had calmed down, Kevin turned to Lydia and asked, "So, what was the question, again?"

Lydia breathed in deeply and held her aching stomach. As she wiped the tears in her eyes, from laughing too much, she replied, "If you could put anything on your grave, what would it be?

Kevin's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would you ask that?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Just answer the question."

"Okay. Gimme a sec to think about this." He said, grabbing Lydia's red and black glasses and putting them on, just so he could look smart and studious. But he quickly took them off, while exclaiming, "Woah. You are blind!"

Lydia deadpanned, "Well if I can see how stupid you are, I must not be that blind."

Kevin dramatically gasped, "I am enthralled by your attitude."

"Enthralled?" questioned Lydia, in covert glee.

"Yes, enthralled. How dare you?!" Kevin put a hand on his heart. Lydia ran her tongue over her teeth and pointed to him, trying hard to keep a straight face, "So, you're fascinated...by my attitude?"

"What?! No! I-" Kevin scrunched up his face in confusion.

Andrew, who was watching this entire encounter in amusement, reached over towards Kevin, and whispered to him, "I think you meant appalled, buddy." Drew patted his shoulder and waited for them to continue. Kevin's mouth shaped an 'o' but turned into a sheepish smile.

Brushing it off, he continued, "Whatever. I am hurt, you hurt me. It is done. We are no longer friends."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Well then, it's a good thing we're more than just friends." It took Lydia a while to realize her mistake and she quickly tried to cover it up, "Wait, no. That came out wrong. I meant –"

Kevin cut her off, "Are you finally gonna confess your undying love for me?"

Lydia grabbed a pillow and chucked it at her best friend, who was grinning like a mad-man, then grabbed another from her bed, hid her face in it, and screamed a muffled "NO!" into it.

"Oh, come on! We all know you want me. I mean, who could say no to this?" He stated, gesturing to himself.

Lydia put down the pillow and shifted on the bed, so she was facing Kevin. She rolled her eyes again. She did that a lot around Kevin.

"I just did. Now can you please just answer the goddamn question!"

But Kevin wasn't paying attention. No, he was rattling off all the reasons Lydia wouldn't date him and why she wasn't his type. "You're clearly into those jock-type, bad boys, so cliché by the way, and everyone knows I'm no bad boy –" He just kept going on and on. Lydia turned to her brother, whose eyes beamed at her, while he tried to control his laughter by putting a fist to his mouth.

"You're enjoying this way too much." She stated, annoyed.

"What can I say? All of this is so stupidly hilarious." Unable to hide his laughter, Drew threw his head back and barked out a loud laugh. Though he stopped once he saw the look his sister was giving him.

Tired of his ranting, Lydia slapped her best friend, upside the head to make him stop. "Oww! Liquorice, what the hell?!"

"UGH! That nickname!" She groaned. "You know what? I'm done with you." Lydia turned to Drew. "Andrew, you answer the question."

It took him a moment to realize he was being talked to. He blinked and said, "Huh? Oh, right. Sorry." He paused, and was about to answer the question, but said something else instead, "Wait. Why do want us to answer the question so bad?"

Lydia looked torn between answering the question or evading it, and that moment of hesitation had not gone unnoticed. Before anyone could say anything, she spoke, "I don't know. I'm just curious." She finished quite quickly.

Being the best friend and the older brother, meant that both Kevin and Andrew knew Lydia pretty well. And that meant they had both seen her hesitation and knew that if they pushed, she would probably push back. Harder. So, they shared a suspicious glance, eyed her sceptically, and let it go.

Lydia watched their entire exchange of brief glances and scepticism, and when she realized they weren't going to interrogate her about her weird question, she relaxed. Shaking out of her previous nervousness, she asked again, "So, Drew?" She motioned for him to answer and gulped at how much time he took to answer.

Drew still wasn't sure about the way Lydia looked, nervous, but expectant. Nonetheless, he complied, still unsure, "Um. Uh...If I could have anything on my gravestone, it would probably be something, I don't know, fancy or inspirational. Like," He thought for a second, "'I think therefore I am.'"

"Hmm," Lydia cocked an eyebrow, "Do you even know what that means? Or who even said that?" She asked simply to be polite, but she already knew his answer.

"No. But it sounds philosophical, so..." He trailed off, biting his pen again.

Lydia and Kevin grinned from ear to ear, trying not to laugh. "And you call yourself smart." Kevin said, shaking his head. Drew scowled, "Do either of you know what it means?"

Kevin smirked, "No," Lydia went to point out that she knew what it meant, but thought better. Kevin went on, "But we aren't the ones who want it on our grave."

Drew began his defence but instead tried for a subject change, "Whatever. So, Lyds?" Lydia turned to face her brother, "What about you?"

Behind him, Kevin rolled his eyes, "Nice subject change."

Lydia shook her head at their antics and pretended to think about it. She already had an answer. She had thought about it quite a lot. "Light could not exist without darkness, so what is good without evil?" She looked at the pair, who were...startled.

Andrew tried voicing out his thoughts, but Kevin beat him to it. "Wow! That was...dark." Both boys visibly shuddered.

"Who said that?" Drew wondered out loud, a half-smile playing on his lips.

Lydia's eyes flickered, momentarily, all around the room, before finally landing on Drew. "I did." She rested her head on both her hands, watching the boys watch her. Their smiles had fallen, and Drew's eyes went to her tense shoulders. He had noticed her brief reluctance in answering the question and wondered what was going on in her head.

Minutes had passed in silence, before Lydia finally cleared her throat and looked to Kevin, signalling him to answer as well. The boys looked unwilling to change the subject, but they didn't push any further, giving in.

"Um." Kevin shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. When she realized they weren't going to further than that, Lydia let out a breath of relief, which made Andrew more curious than before.

"It would probably be like a joke or something." Kevin continued. Immediately what happened only minutes ago was forgotten, as the sibling stared at him, not believing what he just said.

"A joke?!" Lydia exclaimed.

Kevin seemed confused. To him, putting a joke on his gravestone made all the sense in the world. So, he nodded.

"Dude. A joke in a cemetery. A place where they have funerals and bury people. It's filled with bodies." Drew added on. *How much weirder is this kid going to get?* Drew thought.

Kevin finally understood why they thought that was a bad idea. He explained, "That's the point. It's a sad place. So, if a joke on my grave can make a sad person laugh, then why not. People will be happy on a day when they really need it."

The sibling stared at him in awe. Then they began clapping, Andrew going so far as to even give Kevin a standing ovation. But Lydia seemed upset again. Her smile didn't reach her eyes; it was barely a smile.

"I'm impressed. You sound like a motivational speaker." Lydia said, her voice too happy. "And that my friend, is why you are a better person than I am." She finished, while Andrew and Kevin looked at each other, appalled.

Once she had finished speaking, Lydia went back to calculus, like the last 20 minutes hadn't happened at all.***

~ ~ ~

Andrew woke up with a start because it wasn't a dream but a memory. He turned his head to the right and looked over to the clock on his bedside table. It read 3:46 am. Sighing, he got up and went to the bathroom. He went to the sink, splashing his face with water, to wake him.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he felt guilty. Guilty for not doing anything about Lydia's behaviour, or even talking to her about it. It wasn't just that one day, it was so many more. He should've paid more attention.

Drew felt like screaming. For as long as he could remember, Lydia was always there for him. He could always talk to her. What's funny is that he thought he was there for her too. Ironically, whenever they spoke about something even relatively serious, they never seemed to talk about her life, Drew realized. She never wanted to.

*I guess listening was more her thing, so she decided to stop talking altogether*, Drew thought, darkly.

He rubbed his eyes, then leaned against the sink, his hands clenched tightly around the edges. Frustration shone in his eyes when he looked in the mirror again. Suddenly, he slammed his hands on the sink, hard enough to make it – and the mirror – shake.

His breath was shaky and he was angry. At himself. For not seeing past his sister's façade. For not asking or pushing. I should have known, Drew chastised himself. But now he did. And now he might have a chance to tell her. This time, he wouldn't let her down.

Shutting his eyes tightly, he let out a deep breath, before opening them again and staring at his reflection. He had bags under his eyes, and they looked hollow, while his face seemed pale with worry. On top of that, he had a killer headache.

"God, I need to sleep." He grunted out, running a hand over his face. "I look like death."

Falling back asleep was hard. Drew was worrying because he had a much bigger problem to face in the morning. One more dangerous than jumping into your comatose sister's head.

He had to convince Lea to come with him.

~ ~ ~

Lea lay awake in her bed, aware of her cousin's butler calling for breakfast. It was 8 am, Sunday morning, and she didn't sleep in. Which was odd considering it was one her favourite things to do. But she was still thinking about what happened the day before.

*Why'd he have to go so suddenly?* She wondered. *Did something happen with Lydia? And why didn't he come back?* Her head was overflowing with questions. She didn't like it.

Grunting, she got up and out of her bed. She decided that she would ask Drew if he was back. If he wasn't, then her questions would have to wait. Or maybe she'd have to wait for him to tell her. Either way, she was going to find out. Constantly worrying about things was not something Lea did.

After freshening up, she made her way downstairs. Grabbing an apple from the kitchen, she checked her phone for messages.

CHATS

0 new messages

*Wow*, Lea thought, disappointed, *Not even one from Mom*. She wasn't as popular as she thought she was. Or well, she knew she wasn't, but she really wanted to be. It would be the only thing she would have in common with her cousins.

Shaking off her thoughts, she looked for Andrew. After searching for about five minutes, she found him in their library. Of course, he would be there.

*I should have looked here first*. Lea smacked her forehead with her hand.

She went up to him, sitting down in front of him. He had his head bent over a book and he didn't notice Lea at all, up until she snatched his book from him and threw it behind her.

Drew startled and upset, yelled, "Hey! I was reading that!"

Lea just smirked and said, "I know." Then she really looked at him and was surprised at what was sitting in front of her. The usually freshly shaven face of Andrew Marshall was now no longer itself. He looked like –

"You look like death." She stated. The corners of Drew's mouth turned upwards and he nodded. "I know."

Realizing something, Lea asked, "Were you drinking last night? Is that why you were late last night? I didn't hear you."

Drew looking sheepish, replied, "Yeah, I came in quite late. And I only had one drink last night." Lea raised her eyebrows, then coughed and under her breath, said, "Lightweight."

Andrew rolled his eyes, "Get to the point, Lea." He stressed. "Why are you here?" Lea opened her mouth to say something, but Drew interrupted, "And don't you dare make the 'when a mommy and daddy love each other' joke."

Lea scoffed, "I wasn't going to say that." Drew gave her a pointed stare.

"Okay, maybe I was." She said quickly and then continued. "What happened yesterday? Is something wrong with Lydia? Or...?" Trailing off, she waited as Drew furrowed his eyebrows, as he tried to think of a sensible answer. Or maybe he was stalling.

Eventually, he gave up trying and just went for it. "Dr. James knows how to wake up Lydia."

"I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you right." Lea had her eyes wide open and she was in shock. She had to make sure she heard correct. "Now, say that again. But this time, just a little slower. 'Kay?"

"Okay...um," Andrew took a breath, "Dr. James, knows how to wake up Lydia." This time he went slower, pausing a little between words. He waited for a reaction – any reaction – from Lea, but it seemed as though none of it had sunk in yet.

Finally, she reacted. "Oh my gosh. That's great, that's amazing." She wasn't incredibly enthusiastic, but it was something. After a few seconds, it was like something clicked in her brain. She had this concerned, yet questioning look on her face and Drew watched her in anticipation, waiting for her to blow.

"OMG! Seriously!? Do your parents know?! When is she going to wake up?! What are they going to do?! Are you gonna be there when they wake her?!" Lea was very odd, at times. She went through a lot of mood swings and could never just pick one. It was like she was PMSing 24/7.

Drew smiled, waiting for her to finish. Then he answered all the questions, respectively. "Yes, seriously. No, my parents do not know and they aren't going to find out until it's confirmed. I don't know when she's going to wake up and I don't know what they're going to do. And yeah, I probably am. Satisfied?"

Lea smirked, "Not even close." She had stood up while ranting her questions and she sat back down again, this time pushing her chair closer to Drew's. "Wait, so really don't know how they're going to wake her up?"

"Well, that's not entirely true. Dr. James told me to come to his house today. He's going to fill me in there, with Kevin." Drew paused. "And, I was hoping...you?"

Lea raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her cousin. "Me? Why do I have to be there?"

"I want you to be. Listen, you and I have our issues, but we get along a whole lot better than you and Lydia. I think it'll be good for you. Both of you." He hesitated, unsure of whether he wanted to tell her the next part. "Plus, Dr. James wants you to be there too..." He trailed off, watching as the expressions on Lea's face morphed from confused to shocked to confused again. Before she could speak, he rambled on, "You don't have to go if you don't want to. It's just he asked me to bring you along. And you know, the first thing too. Plus, Kevin's going to be there." In his head, he muttered a quick apology to Kevin, I'm sorry buddy.

"You know, I didn't believe your first reason, but I definitely believed your second one." Lea scoffed, shaking her head. "Stupid family", she muttered under her breath.

Drew, slowly, asked her, "Is that a yes?"

After a moment's – okay, longer than just one moment's – hesitation, she replied, "Yeah. Yeah, okay." Drew grinned brightly for the first time, in what felt like months. Lea didn't smile and instead gave him a look – one that said, 'I hope you know what you're doing.'

She wanted to help, in whatever way she could. Even though Lea held a lot of anger towards Lydia, she was still her family. And so, she asked her last question – for the time being at least – standing up as she did. "So, when do we leave?"

~ ~ ~

They arrived at the James' house at around one in the afternoon. Kevin was waiting for them on the porch, tapping his foot against the ground, impatient; worried.

"What the hell took you so long?!" Kevin exclaimed as Drew and Lea approached the house. Kevin hadn't realized that Lea was here too, so she took it upon herself to make him notice.

"Hey, buttercup. Calm your balls. We're here now." She yelled – sort of – in reply. When he finally met her eyes, his eyes widened in surprise. He stumbled backwards and began to stutter. "L-Lea, you're, uh, here?!"

Lea let out a laugh, "Yeah, I'm here." While Kevin was tripping over his words, Lea was too busy checking him out. As usual, his bright clothes stood out against his dark Jamaican skin, and his muscles bulged from under his shirt. The guy was ripped and gorgeous. Although she joked around about only wanting to sleep with him, that wasn't the whole truth. Lea really liked him. *Liked* him, liked him. It didn't matter though. He hated her. And all because of her relationship with Lydia.

"What are you," He paused, glancing at Drew, "doing here?"

"Drew asked me to come, said it would be good for Lydia and I's relationship."

"Really?" Kevin asked, in disbelief. He looked to Drew for confirmation and Drew just went ahead and walked into the house, avoiding the question.

"Did he really ask you to come?" Kevin asked again. She suddenly became very interested in her shoes, but shook the feeling off, and answered, "You think he would've?" She scoffed, "He only asked me to come because your dad wanted me to come. I came." Lea put her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and shrugged.

Kevin studied carefully. "You seem different. What happened to you?"

"By different, you mean nicer?" Kevin gave a slight, embarrassed nod. Lea sighed, "Well when I realized that to get rich, I actually had to be smart and work, I figured a change would be for the better. It's so hard though. I'm always tired." Kevin smiled at her exaggeration but nodded in understanding. Lea went on, "Anyways, I wasn't as smart as you freaks, back in high school – I'm still not – so I wasn't capable of much either. Towards the end, I just wanted to get into a good school. So, I tried, and I made it."

"Hey! Don't look at me. I'm still at university. Unlike the freak back in there." Kevin gestured to the door with his head. Lea grinned. "Guess we have that in common."

"You really have changed, Lea" Kevin repeated.

She shrugged, "Eh, I was actually always like this, but when you try to fit in, you can change. I guess no one noticed what I was trying to do. They probably didn't even care." She shook her head. "Plus, I'm not that different. I can still be a bitch sometimes."

"Well, I'm sorry, I couldn't see it sooner, but I like this version." They smiled at each other. Lea felt like squealing. Just then, the front opened, revealing Drew behind it.

He smirked, and narrowed his eyes, annoyed yet amused. "Can you guys stop flirting and get in here. Kinda important, remember?"

The pair both blushed furiously, and Lea rushed to get inside, while Kevin stood around awkwardly, before finally running inside, as well. Andrew chuckled, as he watched them go. He shook his head and tried preparing himself for what was about to happen.

*I must be crazy*, he thought.

Maybe he was, but he had to try. It was his sister, and family is important, after all.