I, Jessica Reynolds, fell asleep at exactly five o’clock. My pink and black blankets surrounding me with an over sized bear in my hands.

The bear was given to me by Ian last year. He won it for me at the fair. He had wanted to win me something, but every time he tried to win a game he couldn’t. He ended up having to bribe the guy that ran the hammer game. It took a while but he finally did it. He had to pay 50 dollars though. Then he walked over to me and he had handed it to me saying “Here I won this for you.”I told him that he had won it by bribing the person running the game.

Then when I woke up, I was in a room surrounded by white. And I was no longer wrapped in pink, but I was wrapped in a white sheet. My bear was still in my arms.

My older sister was sitting next to me, tears streaming down her face.She must’ve gotten back from orientation at Harvard.

And my parents were walking in the doors. Why were they back so early? I wondered. They were supposed to be on a boat headed to the Bahamas for their wedding anniversary.

After they sat down and a white haired guy walked in. I could tell he was a doctor. He showed absolutely no emotion on his face. He had a long white coat on as well.

My father looked up at the doctor and said “What happened?”

“I am very sorry to tell you this but your daughter has passed away from carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“But how could she? Nobody else had any problems. In fact she didn’t even have any symptoms.” Actually I had gone to bed really early and I had been vomiting all day but didn’t tell them because I didn’t want them to not go on the trip. It was the only trip they had ever gone on by themselves without Emily and me.

“How long was she at the house by herself?”

“For about two days.” My sister told the doctor.

“Well is it possible that she had the symptoms but that she didn’t tell you?”

“Well, yeah.” My sister said back to the doctor.

“Okay, now I am going to let you say your goodbyes. And I’m very sorry for your loss.” Then the doctor turned around and left. My sister got up and followed him out the door. Both of my parents pulled their chairs up closer to my bed and almost repeated the same thing that the other one said.

Then they kissed me on the forehead and left, both of them crying hard.

A few minute later my sister walked in. It was her good-bye that I remembered the most.

“Hey little sis. I shouldn’t have left you there all by yourself. D id you have anything wrong with you when you talked to me today? If you did, why didn’t you say anything to me? I want you to know that I love you and I’ll never forget you. Do you remember how I used to call Cessa? When you got in seventh grade you told me that it was embarrassing and not to call you it anymore. Cessa I miss you. Now I won’t have anyone to complain to about mom and dad.

The nurse is at the door telling me I have to leave, so I’ll wrap this up quick. Ian said to tell you he loves you and will never forget you. I promise I will publish a book of the things you wrote. My first CD will be dedicated to you. Well Cessa I have to go.” And then she got up to leave and kissed me on the forehead. I could feel her tears hitting my forehead.

Thirty years later they kept their promises. Mom and dad are up here with me. Emily has had four CDs all of them dedicated to me. Two years ago she got my book of poems and stories published under the name Cessa Reynolds. Ian still has my picture framed on his wall. Every time one of his kids, grandkids anybody asks about me he tells them what happened. His wife doesn’t care. Her boyfriend from when she was fifteen died from a car accident and she says that she understands what he is going through.