This is Annabelle’s story of survival.  She has been in an accident and the world almost lost her bright, bubbly personality.  Annabelle’s world has been turned upside down..  She is in a medically induced coma after she woke up from her own..  Now she is trying to wake up.  To get back to her little brother.  Annabelle needs to figure out how to get back her life before everyone finds out what happened that changed it forever. 

Things Just Keep Happening

“Just open your eyes.  You can fight this” I heard.  I know that voice but I can’t put it with a face.  The only reason I can’t put it with a face is because all I see is darkness.

“Where am I?” I questioned myself aloud

“You are in the In-Between” some voice said.  Just then all the darkness lifted.  I saw a beautiful lady standing just about five feet away from me.  Her back was facing towards me so I’m surprised that she knew I was here. She slowly turned around and smiled a very beautiful smile at me.

“The what?” I asked her

“The In-Between” She repeated “Most go to the In-Between if they are comatose, have a life threatening injury, or are put on life support.  Most cancer patients come to the In-Between when they go to sleep.  Others come to the In-Between when their minds are deciding to keep fighting or to give up.  In other words when they are deciding to keep living or give up and die. But the only thing is, is that no one remembers anything that happened while here.”

“Wait, that means I’m in a coma or I almost died, right?”

“Well, before I answer that what was the last thing you remember?”

“I was driving, and then all I saw was bright light.  WHAT HAPPENED?!”

“Well, as far as I know is that you were driving to the park with your little brother and you were T-Boned on the drivers side by a Jeep.”

“Yes, that’s what happened!  Wait, what happened to Parker?  Where is he?”

“Shh, Calm down.  I said you guys were hit on the DRIVERS side of the car.  Parker was sat behind the passengers seat.   You  absorbed most of the initial shock.  Parker’s fine, come here, look.

She walked over to a window that I hadn’t seen.  Through the window I saw Parker sitting with my aunt and my uncle that we almost never see anymore.  We don’t see them, or I don’t see them, because they blame us, or mostly me.  My aunt blames me for her sister, brother-in-law, and her father not being found.  So since they’ve been missing i have been Parker’s legal guardian for almost one year now. 
Parker is only “four and three quarters years” now as he tells me.  He is actually almost four and a half years-old, his birthday was just about six months ago. Yes, I am actually Parker’s legal guardian, most people think not.  I am only Parker’s guardian because my parents went to New York to visit my grandparents.  Then four days after, my parents and grandfather were reported missing.  
They were reported because my grandparents neighbor was checking in on my grandmother and found her dead, beaten, and battered in the middle of her living room.  My mom, dad, and grandfather were no where to be found and twenty-four hours later they were reported missing.  I haven’t told Parker yet and I don’t plan on it until they are pronounced dead or come back.  So now while I’m here he’s got no one. 
He has no one to look after him other than our aunt.  He looked up to me, he knew I was all he’s got for now.  What is he going to do? I can’t.  No I can’t, I can’t die.  If I die Parker’s got no one.  If I die he would have to move in with Uncle Phillip or Aunt Janet.  Uncle Phillip isn’t bad but he’s just not entirely stable. 
He had a brain injury a couple years ago, so he’s not entirely capable of doing most things on his own.  I mean he can feed himself, bathe himself, and dress himself but, he can’t do some other things, like he can’t drive.  Oh, I wonder why the state of Florida wouldn’t want to just give him a licence or trust him with a car.  He has seizures so why wouldn’t we want him behind the wheel of a car?  He has also developed some form of mental retardation.  Since he can’t drive he either walks or rides his bike everywhere.
Yeah, you know that guys that always walks around your neighborhood and creeps everyone out, yeah that’s my uncle.  He is so dependent on others that he lives with Aunt Janet.  Yeah, I’m pretty sure but not positive that thirty years ago she didn’t want her twin brother to live with her like she’s a babysitter.  But, as my parents said “That it was nice for Philip and Janet to get along.” 
Uncle Philip wouldn’t accuse me or say that it was my fault, but Aunt Janet is a different story, she always says that it was my fault that they went to New York.  According to her “If I didn’t tell my parents to go, they wouldn't be missing.”  So since she says it’s “my fault” she thinks I’m not fit to be Parker’s legal guardian.  I am perfectly fine to be his guardian.  I’m twenty-years-old and his SISTER for crying out loud
My parents told me before this happened that if anything happened to them that I would be his guardian.  So now that this happened I think about it.  I think that they knew something was going to happen to them in New York.  They only told me that before they left, they have never told me that before.  That they knew something was going to happen to grandma.  They knew.  Now that this happened almost two years ago every police man in New York AND Florida who was on the case was taken and put on another case.  So just about everyone who was looking for them gave up.  My parents case just went cold.

“How long have I been like this?” I asked the lady that I was in here with.

“Just over seven months” she said then turned and slowly disappeared, along with all the light.

Now, I’m alone and freaking out..  Seven months that means that it’s past Parkers fifth birthday, oh joy I bet that was fun for him.  I have been in a coma for seven months.  Parker’s been without me for seven months.  I’ve been on life-support for seven months.  They haven’t found mom, dad, and grandpa in seven months.  I slumped to the ground and started crying,  then in under a minute it was full out bawling.  Seven Months.  Parker’s been with Janet for seven months.  We’ve been paying for life-support for seven months. 
Over two and a half years ago I was a normal teenager, but now my life is nothing but normal.  I’m my younger brother’s guardian, both my parents and my grandfather are missing, and my grandmother is dead.  But now I’ve been almost dead for seven months and emotionally dead for over two years and seven months. 
But I suppose this is where my story should start.  Well, then hello.  You may know that I’m in a coma, short for comatose.  Yeah, all that I’ve been told is that, well, I’m in a coma. 
I keep periodically looking out the little window that I saw the waiting room out of.  But I’ve noticed something strange, the window keeps getting smaller and smaller by the hour.  It’s looking like it’s going to disappear sometime soon.  Oh, god please, please don’t let me die I can’t die, I can’t.  I can’t think about Parker living with someone else other than me or my parents. 
But, enough about that (for now, we all know that there’s going to be more of it) I’m Annabelle as you may or may not know, but I’m twenty-nope now I’m twenty one years old.  Also, my little brother is now basically my child.  As of almost three years ago my parents went to New York City to go visit my grandparents and four days after their plane landed were reported missing, and since that was almost three years ago their case went cold.  Me being only twenty and now having to be my brothers guardian is too much for me to handle.  I need to wake up, I need to I can’t die (see I told you there was going to be more).
As I might I started looking around the room and I saw about nine more windows all of which are really small.  The window to the waiting room is now about one inch by one inch, and about ten minutes ago Janet and Parker walked off to another part of the hospital.  Just as that happened another one of the windows got bigger than it was before.  As I walk over to it I see that it’s a hospital room with a  bloody body laying in the bed.  When I was finally in front of the window I saw that it wasn’t only a body laying in the bed, it was me.  I was the bloody mess laying on that what-used-to-be-white hospital bed.  Now it’s almost crimson red with blood.  As I looked closer I noticed that Parker was sitting by my bed, or almost on my bed, holding my hand.  Also if I listened very closely I could hear him talking to me.