Finally Waking up

The woman ran out of the private room and shouted to the top of her lungs. Her face was laced with fear and she was shaking. There was something wrong with her daughter. Her vitals were failing.

"Doctor! Nurse! I need—I need a doctor!"

"Please Doctor!"

Ashley's mother cried as she called for help. She only took her eyes away from her for seconds and this was what happened. It was horrifying. She started to feel afraid. What would happen if she wasn't there? Will her daughter die? The doctor said she should wake up soon, her brain injury wasn't even that severe though it was traumatic. It should take her at most a year to wake up.

She should be in a stable condition now. It's her eighth month here in the hospital. She was clear of the danger. But why was she suffering from this? She was like this for months, she wasn't improving. Why? It was like this from the beginning till now. Just why? The frustration started to build up as well as her paranoia of losing her.

Upon seeing her pleas the staff immediately rushed to her daughter's private room. There they checked her vitals and it was indeed turning for the worse. Her heart rate was starting to fail. They needed to revive her before it's too late.

Ashley's mother only watched from the sidelines as they tried to revive her. They were doing their best but there was no improvement. She was rigid and anxiety etched in her face. She prayed to God and begged him to spare her. She was too young to die.

The nurses took out the defibrillator and handed it to the doctor. The patient's heart was failing. They needed to execute CPR straight away. The doctor rubbed the device together and pressed it to her chest. The shock went straight to her chest making her body rise up.

'Thump', was the sound her body made, each time it hits the bed.

Each time the doctor shouted the word 'charge' the mother would always close her eyes and tighten her grip to her crossed arms. She was feeling cold. She never imagined this day would come. The doctor continued but their was no reaction depicted in the vitals monitor. This continued for a minute till they knew the outcome.

The nurses and the doctor only shook their heads as they looked at each other. A sound came from the vitals monitor.

"Beeeeepppppp....."

The line in the monitor became flat and a shrill cry came out from the patient's mother. The doctor looked at his watch.

"Time of death, 10:42 pm. Cause of death: Cardiac arrest."

The nurses immediately took the blanket and pulled it to cover Ashley's head portraying that she is now dead. The doctor declared her death, landing a big blow to her mom who collapsed on the floor.

But...

They didn't know that she wasn't. In fact, she was still alive. It was far from what they thought. She wasn't dead. Her soul was wandering. She was currently stuck in a pit of darkness. She was in between life and death. Her broken body and her altered soul were constantly trying to bind with each other in this dark realm where nothing seemed to exist. She herself didn't know where she was. She didn't have the time to find out.

Ashley was caught in a dilemma . She couldn't see anything nor feel anything. She didn't know if she was conscious or not. Oftentimes, she would fall asleep and grow numb. Sometimes, she would wake up for a split second and she started to feel only faint sensations. When she did, she wouldn't have enough time to think. She would just lose it all over again. It was weird, she wasn't sure if she was dead or not. It was like she was hanging on a loose thread, on the verge of splitting, miraculously strengthened again. It was like a cycle but the former happens longer and the latter passes quickly.

Inside that pit of darkness, she suddenly awoke. It was because she saw a streak of light. She wasn't sure what it was because she knew her eyes were closed. She started to feel and warmth enveloped her body. She didn't understand any of this though. She just knew her heart was beating again. She wasn't aware how long she was asleep. It was hard to endure but finally...

She seemed to have lived.

Her body and soul were now able to coexist and were now bound. However, her body was still completely broken. Only the soul remained, the broken body as the lifeless shell.

The nurse decided to remove the life support because the doctor motioned her to. The mother immediately rose up to stop her. While she was still weak, she forced herself and grabbed the nurse to her shoulders. The nurse wasn't shaken by her action. She only looked at her expressionless. It was best to remain professional. What was the purpose of it, if she was dead? It was hard to accept on the mother's part, but her daughter's heart wasn't clearly beating anymore. She already passed away.

The mother refused to believe despite the evidence in front of her eyes. Her daughter's pale hands and the bluish complexion of her nails, she only changed the direction of her gaze to avoid the sight.

The nurse removed her hands on her shoulders and reached out for the tube. Everything was in slow motion as the mother held her breath. It meant goodbye to her daughter forever.

"Beep..."

"Beep..."

"Beep..."

And so the sound continued, leaving all of them flabbergasted. The nurses turned to look at the doctor who was equally shocked.

The nurse stiffened and let out a sigh of relief. That was close. The tube was only an inch away from her hand. It was a good thing, the mother managed to stop her even though it was just for a short time. The consequences were unimaginable if she succeeded in pulling it off of her. She would be the reason for her death. It meant that she killed her.

The mother cried. It was tears of joy. God was really merciful! He seemed to have heard her prayers, the last minute. She was now very emotional. She felt like she fell from a great height but managed to stand on the ground from the fall. It was overall an emotional roller coaster. That didn't matter to her. The important thing was that she was still alive. Her daughter was still with her. She was very grateful.

Life was really full of surprises. Who knew that the daughter would come back from the dead. It was a miracle but also a mystery.

When they monitored her condition. There was no brain activity and her heartbeat wasn't stable. The doctor tried to find out what triggered her resurrection. They did different examinations. Sadly, there were none. They found nothing. That wasn't possible. Clearly there must be a cause for this right?

It was impossible for her to return from death just like that. It was like her dead heart started to beat on it's own.

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A/N: Defibrillators are devices that restore a normal heartbeat by sending an electric pulse or shock to the heart. They are used to prevent or correct an arrhythmia, a heartbeat that is uneven or that is too slow or too fast.