5. Lush Greenery

I was in my room, just enjoying a lazy summer evening. While listening to music, I was reading my latest updated comics. My most recent love, Star-Crossed Lovers!

I received a call, I was offered a part-time job while I am back from college for the summer. I could not keep the smile off my face and I jumped for joy. My mom heard the ruckus I was making and asked, well screamed actually, "What the hell was wrong with you?!" Saying things like, I needed to keep it down and that I was an adult now and still needed mom to remind me to be quiet late at night, blah, blah, blah, then ending with "How shameful!"

I just rolled my eyes when I heard that and yelled back, "Mom, you are much louder now. Try to keep it down."

I could hear her laugh from the other room then, just to have the final word, "Ungrateful child, go to bed." she happily admonished. After she and Tony got married during my second year of college, I felt she can finally let go of the past and can really be happy.

Days passed by really quickly and I was almost coming to the end of my assignment.

I was loving my boss, Carol. She was brilliant and charismatic, she treasured her staff and treated them like family.

On the 15th floor, the view really was amazing! Even though I was just her part-time assistant, she gave me a desk overlooking the park. It was so wonderful being able to stare off into the green lushness of the rolling hills behind me. It was breathtaking each time I looked out.

Every so often, I would see a guy come by to meet Carol for lunch or picked her up after work. He was dreamy, and I had gotten much better at hiding my admiration these passing weeks. Neither of them have caught me staring at him since that first day.

On my first day on the job, the company received a major project. Long Sing the major entertainment company wanted to collaborate and create a video game, first for the PC and then eventually across all platforms. The game serves as a promotion product, it will be related to the up and coming blockbuster that will be released in June of next year. Our company only had nine months to plan, propose, demonstrate, market test the product.

Carol had decided to take on the project regardless of the time constraints because if they succeeded, it would elevate the reputation of the company to worldwide status.

Our group was meeting in the conference room, discussing how to implement and how much man power will be needed for the project. I, as the assistant was just there to serve refreshments and take notes.

Carol was showing the group a preliminary promo of the film and with the copy of storyline obtained from Long Sing, they were hoping to draft out the plan of action for the game development.

A figure walked past the frosted glass window in front of the meeting room, I quietly got up to greet the person, hoping not to interrupt the rest of the group as they were watching and discussing ideas. Opening it slowly I was met with a scent of sweet berries. Looking at the basket in front of me I saw all sorts of colorful berries. Lifting up my head to see the person that was delivering it and thinking he needed my signature for the delivery. My hand instinctively pulled the pen I had tucked behind my ear preparing for signing the invoice. He maneuvered around me and walked right in. In trying to stop him, I grabbed at his arm. "I'm sorry, but you can't come in. We are having a meeting right now."

He looked down at where I had grabbed him and we both noticed the long blue pen mark on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Nick, come on in." Carol got up from her seat and greeted him.

Embarrassment must have been written all over my face. He smirked and asked, "Can I go in now?" I let go and he walked into the room. After giving Carol a kiss on the cheek, he placed the basket on the side table and sat down in the chair beside Carol.

Carol continued the meeting like nothing happened at all. I quickly returned to the back of the room, and continued taking notes.

He turned around and when he caught my attention, pointed to his shirt.

I clasped my hands together and bowed a bit to silently apologize.

He rubbed his fingers together to gesture that I pay him for a replacement.

I shook my head to say no.

Then he made a scooping gesture to his mouth to say, then treat him to a meal.

Again I shook my head.

Carol knocked on the table and gave me a cautionary look, and pointed to the laptop. I quietly apologized and quickly refocused on what was being said. Carol looked over at Nick and glared at him. He just gave her his innocent smile and shrugged his shoulders.

While we were all focusing on the meeting, I heard a voice, his voice, I looked up at him and noticed his lips were not moving but I kept on hearing his voice calling me.

I shook my head and everything blurred for a moment but it refocused. The voice stopped calling me.

Damn it, am I getting sick?! Maybe I am not getting enough sleep. My head started to throb, I wasn't even able to keep good notes. I kept on rubbing my temples and massaging the bridge of my nose. As the meeting ended I was the last to exit, tidying up the room for the next meeting.

Nick walked into the room again and stretched out his clenched hand, with the palm facing up. My eyes couldn't help trail from his face to his outstretched arm, landing my gaze on his clenched fist. He opened it and inside were two small round pills. He then lifted his other arm and handed me a bottle of water. He gestured for me to take the pills as well.

I asked, "What is this?"

He answered, "Something for your headache."

How did he know? I didn't make a sound nor had I said anything to anyone about it. Had he been observing me the whole time?

I took the pills from his hand, held on to them while I twisted open the bottle of water.

Popped the pills with a head tilt and just sat down on the nearest chair.

I looked up and Nick had already walked in front of me. I looked up and he smiled as he pulled a chair to sit directly in front of me. He raised his hands, and asked, "May I?" Not really knowing what his intentions were but I still nodded.

He raised his hands a little higher and placed his thumb on my forehead and his forefinger on my temples and slowly started making a circular motion. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the massage and before I knew it, I had let out a tiny moan of pleasure.

Startled that I had just done that, I tilted my head out of his grasp and covered my mouth. He seemed to have frozen in position, surprised from my sudden movement. He lowered his hands and coyly smiled at me. I lowered my head, because I didn't want him to see that I was beet red.

I very softly said, "Thank you, I feel much better now!"

I got up and practically ran out of the conference room. Carol stood in the doorway with a knowing smile, as Nicholas smiled back and once again shrugged his shoulders.

I was practically panting when I got to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror, oh I was so red! I splashed some water on my face and then I heard a voice talking again, a female, my mom! "Sweetheart, you have slept for two weeks, it is about time you woke up." she pleaded.

Startled by the voice and what she said, my heart raced and my vision suddenly got blurry and everything around me went dark.

I wanted to feel around but I could not move, I couldn't even open my eyes. I was confused. I was just standing in a bathroom a moment ago but now it felt like I was lying down and the scariest part was I had no control over my body, it wouldn't move.

Someone reached out and kissed my forehead and gently hugged me. Panicked that I didn't know who it was, I remembered before everything went dark I had heard my mom's voice, "Mom? Mom!" I tried so hard to get the words out, I was screaming in my head, but wasn't able to make even a peep.

When I heard her again, I calmed down a little. Mom started to tell a story, "On the day of the accident, another car was going too fast and it lost control and it hit on the left side, so Nicholas was hurt badly."

It hit me like a ton of bricks, it all came rushing back to me. Yes, I was in a car accident and I must still be in the hospital now! Shit, everything I just experienced was a dream? Damnit, how could it be that a dream felt so real?! I felt I was actually living that life.

Mom's voice disrupted my train of thought and she continued, "The paramedics that had arrived on scene said that Nicholas didn't seem to care that he was also badly hurt himself. He leaned over her and was continuously calling her name, trying to wake her."

Someone else was in the room. I heard another voice say, "I am sure he tried his best to protect her." Mom continued telling the story, "Even though he tried to avoid the accident by swerving and took most of the impact on his side, the car was pushed to the sidewalk and impacted with the street light."

Mom continued talking to the others and said that it had been weeks since the accident and Nicholas' parents had already taken him home to recover. Though he broke some bones and had lacerations all over his left side and back, those were not life threatening, so after three days and still in a cast, he was already discharged.

I was happy to hear that he was okay, but as she continued to speak, her voice sounded further and further away. The last thing I heard her say was that I had just finished another session of the AVR treatment and had no seizures for days now. Then everything went silent.