Gen One- Chapter Ten

I don't know where I am.

I thought I had been following the road that led north out of Berrybrook. With the rest of the borders hitting the sea, it was my only way out of the city. However, there was no way for me to tell which direction I was heading anymore. I didn't have the strength to look up. My head hung as my body steadily drooped closer and closer to the ground. White snow was all I could see. Even my feet were lost to me with the deep snow easily suffocating my poor slippers. Part of me began to wonder if I was moving at all. Every inch of a step I took made it feel like I was walking through nearly hardened cement. The trees never appeared to move. There was no way for me to know if I was making any progress because my sight was so blurry it was if I had water dancing in my eyes.

Frustratingly, what hindered my progress more was the coughing. I couldn't stop. My breaths were wheezes and heaves, and I could actually feel all the swelling in my lungs because of the cold air going in and out of them. The mucus I hacked up was turning bloody again. I was forced to pause every thirty seconds or so to have a fit and deal with trying to getting my body to breathe after it was done. My hope had been to get out of the city fast, but it was looking like I was going to have to find a place to rest for a while. I was at least confident I was far enough away from the hospital for Eden and the doctors to not find me. Staring at the snow, I wished I was white again. Then I could lay in it, take a nap, and no one would notice me. Being green against all the snow made me stick out in a bad way that I didn't need at that moment.

I managed to lift my head high enough to see the bottom of the tree trunks. There were enough of them around. It didn't seem like it would be all that hard to find one to hide behind. Yes, finding one wasn't the hard part. Getting to it would be the difficult half of the task. Just lifting my head sent me spiraling into another coughing fit. My eyes watered further as I desperately tried to control it. All the air my lungs were expulsing sent my head spinning. My heart raced as tinges of black decorated the corners of my vision. I couldn't pass out here! Someone would surely find me!

I would have cried out in alarm had my lungs allowed it when I cracked open my eyes to find that there was someone right in front of me! I pitifully squeaked out the last of my coughs and went rigid with fear when I spotted that familiar shade of skin and narrow face. It was Ms. Yellow.

     "You have always been so troublesome," she spoke in rebuke, "I warned you a thousand times that you didn't belong in the normal world. You were created for The Company, and as such we are the only place where you can truly live without all this suffering. Just look at what being here has done to you. With us, you hardly ever got sick. Now you're just a pincushion for those doctors to stick all their antiquated medicine into."

     "Will you...take me back...then?" I heaved.

The pain of talking set my chest on fire.

     "I...made a mistake. I'll be...good now. I'll listen." I whispered.

     "You'll come back willingly?"

I nodded.

     "It's what you want the most?"

I nodded again. I then nearly collapsed as more coughing shook me. I wobbled on my feet doing everything I could to keep my balance. I buried my face into my sleeve as more bloody mucus slid up my throat. I nearly gagged on it. I spat what I could onto the ground. Ms. Yellow did nothing to help. She simply waited until the coughs began to quiet before speaking again.

     "You're lying to me," she began coldly, "I know you inside and out. I can tell quite easily that coming back to us is not what you want the most. You have a greater desire."

It was nearly impossible to think with my brain lacking oxygen. The only thing that made that good was that it took away my ability to pretend. I had no energy to lie. All I could manage was revealing the truth.

     "I just...want the pain...to stop. I...want to...be...able to breathe. I don't want to...be cold anymore. I want...to feel...normal again." I forced out.

Ms. Yellow sort of huffed at me.

     "That is what I thought," she scoffed, "Well, I suppose I already knew I would have to fix what this world did to mess you up."

She sighed in annoyance.

     "Come along with me. I'll take you someplace warm where we can straighten this all out."

She instantly turned on her feet and began walking away. In a panic, I rushed after her as best I could. It was a massive task considering I couldn't move any better through the snow than I had before.

     "Since...I'm coming back, will...you leave Eden alone?" I asked hopefully.

But Ms. Yellow did not respond. She merely kept walking.

     "Wait," I whispered after her, "I...need help."

Ms. Yellow paused for a moment, glanced back, and frowned.

     "Come on now. Hurry up." she rebuked me again.

     "The snow...is too deep." I tried to explain.

My voice was as loud as I could make it. Ms. Yellow surely was hearing me, but she was choosing to ignore my struggle. Perhaps she was angry at how much inconvenience my disappearance had caused her. I gritted my teeth and forced myself faster after her. However, my body put up a stronger protest. No sooner did I try to go faster did my legs give out on me. I shot face first into the snow. Like with Amaranth knocking me over during the snowball fight, my fall didn't hurt. My eyes burned with tears as Ms. Yellow still didn't stop or even bother to help me, but I realized I was actually rather comfortable with where I was. The snow was warm. It was soft like a nice bed. I was deep enough in it that I was relatively hidden. I began to think that it was actually possible for me to take a nap where I was. Then I would have the energy to follow Ms. Yellow.

Beginning to cushion my head again the snow, I raised it when another familiar voice rang out into the air. It was the voice, and the sight of his blue skin, that made my heart skip several beats when I heard it. Mr. Blue had shown up from out of nowhere. He approached Ms. Yellow angrily.

     "What do you think you're doing?" he asked her bitterly.

     "What do you mean?" she questioned in response.

     "Ethereal asked for your help, yet you are leaving her behind in the snow."

That surprised me. Was Mr. Blue actually caring about me for once?

     "I will not baby her. If she truly wants to come back, she will keep up on her own." Ms. Yellow shrugged him off.

     "You are too reckless. It was your lapse of judgment that caused you to miss the signs of that illness she caught before she escaped. Now you think you have the right to suffer her more damage? She is our ticket to millions and promotions. Don't act as if she is just something to throw away." he chastised harshly.

I frowned, but wasn't shocked. What had I been thinking? How had I forgotten? Of course Mr. Blue only "cared" about me because my use would eventually benefit him. I was simply a body and not a person in his eyes.

Mr. Blue made his way over to me. I willed myself to get up as much as I could on my own. He watched me as I fought with gravity and my embarrassingly weak body until I could do no more than rise to my knees. My breathing grew heavier. Mr. Blue bent over and offered me his hand. I eyed it warily.

     "Let me help you. You won't be able to make it on your own." he said.

My frown turned into a pout. I knew he was right. When I shakily placed my hand in his, that was when I decided that I would have to be alright with his selfish caring. Having a fake kind of love bestowed upon me would be better than having none. I was awed at how light I felt when Mr. Blue wrapped his big hand around my little one and easily got me standing again. Somehow just his touch made me feel worlds better. Breathing wasn't so difficult, the cold was seeping away, and I could move freely.

For the first time, I was glad to be around him. He kept his hold on my hand and led me over to Ms. Yellow. She sighed again, but she took my other hand and joined us in walking along. The more distance we covered, the giddier I felt. Every second took more of my pain away. I didn't know how on earth Mr. Blue and Ms. Yellow had the ability to get rid of my pneumonia so quickly, but it was pretty clearly proven they were involved with the creation of some rather remarkable chemicals and products of the sort. I merrily kicked up the snow and watched it float back down. That earned me a scowl from Ms. Yellow, but Mr. Blue actually laughed at my antics. Perhaps he realized that I needed fake love and encouragement too.

     "Meadow?"

The whisper of that name floated to me from everywhere. I glanced around. The sun on the snow was shining so brightly it was turning my vision entirely white. I couldn't see anyone.

     "Meadow!"

Again the name was called. I frowned once more. Somehow I knew the person was calling me, but my name was Ethereal. Why was he or she calling me something different?

     "Meadow!?"

The cry was substantially more panicked and louder. Mr. Blue and Ms. Yellow didn't seem like they had heard it, but I was so curious I let go of their hands to better turn around and look for the source of the voice.

Almost instantly all the pain that vanished slammed back into me. I regretted with everything I had letting go of the two scientists' hands. The torture my body was in, which must have made me collapse again seeing as I was lying in the snow once more, was unbearable. If I had had the strength to cry, I would have done so. My barely open eyes searched the little I could see for Mr. Blue and Ms. Yellow. They had both been right there, but now they were nowhere to be seen. Where had they gone? I still wanted to leave with them. Unfortunately, they really had disappeared. The only person around was the person with orange pants who was furiously running towards me.

He yanked me up out of the snow and into his arms. I cursed him in my head. That hadn't done anything to make me feel better. In fact, him holding me made me feel worse! All of the beautiful white I had just been seeing was replaced with blackness. It took a lot of effort I didn't want to waste to crack open my eyes again, but I had to see the idiot who was ruining everything. My thoughts became curious when I wearily studied his face. Didn't I know him? I think so. I began to recall that I even actually liked him.

     "What are you doing out here?!" he asked mostly to himself in that panicked voice again.

He pulled me closer, put his hand on my chest, and brought his ear really close to my face.

     "Shit!" he cursed.

The corners of my mouth would have curled into a smile had I had not been hurting so much. I had just always found swearing to be really funny for some reason. The orange man pulled something out of his coat pocket.

     "It's okay, Meadow baby. Just hang on," he said as he fiddled with it, "It'll be alright. It will be alright."

It felt like he was talking more to himself than he was to me. What he had done though was remind me by saying "Meadow" again that I was Meadow. That was my other name. I tried more eagerly to recall the man's name and how I knew him. I got my answer when he spoke on his phone to someone else. Fading in and out of the darkness again, I only caught snippets of the conversation.

     "I've found...daughter's friend...Meadow Yonder...snow...bacterial bronchial pneumonia...should be hospital...barely breathing...weak heartbeat..."

There was a longer pause where he didn't speak.

     "My name...Melon Glory...live across street..."

Ah. That was who he was. Mr. Glory. Sunset's dad. I stopped being annoyed with him. How could I have ever thought to be annoyed at him? He was always so nice. He cooked me good food, told me lots of ghost stories, had helped Blaze prepared Eden's party, and had made Eden's birthday sandwiches.

     "Take...friend's house...right nearby..." Mr. Glory continued, "Rose Charm...117 Flowering Street...get warm...call brother..."

I know Mr. Glory was trying to be gentle when he picked me up, but even the smallest movement sent waves of intense pain scattering to every inch of my body. And the pain kept on coming. Mr. Glory moved cautiously but rapidly to wherever he was taking me. Besides making me hate my frail state more and more, the pain also woke me up a bit. Mr. Glory finished his first call and dialed someone else while he walked. The person didn't pick up the first time. Or the second. On his third attempt, the person picked up immediately and yelled "WHAT!?" so loudly even I could hear it. I recognized the voice right away. It was Eden.

     "I have Meadow!" Mr. Glory answered back the second Eden's yell quieted.

Eden went off. I couldn't hear anything else he said, but boy was he talking fast. Mr. Glory had to speak over him to get him to quiet.

     "I found her in that small field on Granny Smith Avenue. Yes, she's alive, but she's in a bad condition. I've already called an ambulance. I'm taking her to Rose's house where they'll pick us up."

A pause. Eden talked more.

     "Where are you at now?" Mr. Glory asked and then waited for Eden's response, "You must have been running at super speed to cover that much distance so quickly. No, don't bother coming here. The ambulance will have us halfway to the hospital by the time you arrive. Just meet us there."

One more pause.

     "I really don't know, Eden. I write sports columns in the newspaper. I'm not a doctor. All I can say is that it looks like she's holding on, but that ambulance is going to need to get to Rose's place fast. It's a good thing the snow finally stopped. The roads are clear enough."

Eden asked more questions.

     "Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. It looked like she was heading in the direction of your house. Perhaps she just wanted to go home? Sunset did say when she visited last that Meadow was acting delirious. That's probably most of the reason as to why she left. She's that way now actually. As soon as I picked her out of the snow she started mumbling. Most of it is incoherent."

What? I hadn't been talking. Had I?

     "Not anything that I can make sense of. The only words I can catch are the ones she's repeating- blue, yellow, white, and company. Those ring any bells to you?"

A final pause.

     "I didn't think so. Look, Eden, I'm going to have to hang up. I'm all but right on top of Rose's house. I swear I'll take good care of Meadow until we get her to the hospital. Just keep your chin up until we get there, alright?"

Eden must have made the promise. Mr. Glory said goodbye and hung up. He did so just in time. He raced us across the street and banged loudly on the door he hurriedly approached.

The door was opened not more than several seconds later. I think Mr. Glory walked us right in before the person who opened the door could say anything. A cacophony of voices then pounded against my head. It was so loud that I had to ignore them, and I was more focused on the fact that the place I was in was now very warm anyway. I barely noticed that I was rushed through the house and placed in a bed. The lone thing I was aware of was that I was even warmer and more comfortable. I relaxed gratefully and focused once more on the talking now that the pain was subsiding.

     "She'll be alright?" an incredibly worried voice asked.

I recognized the voice as Allium's after pondering the sound. That helped me figure out where I was- in his house.

     "Yeah," Mr. Glory encouraged, "Look at how much better she appears already. Once we get her warmed up a bit, she might even wake up properly for us."

     "Mmm." Allium answered uncertainly.

The room was silent until another person entered. She ushered Mr. Glory and Allium away from where they had been.

     "Is it alright to be putting her hands in warm water? I didn't think to ask Eden how long she had been missing, but considering how far away from the hospital she got in her condition it had to have been a long while. After being out in these temperatures for that amount of time, isn't that warming her up too fast?" Mr. Glory questioned her hesitantly.

I was wondering what he was talking about until Ms. Charm took my hand and guided it into a shallow bowl of water. She gently trickled the water over it before dipping it lightly in and then rubbing it as she submerged my hand further.

     "It's not warm water. It's cold water."

     "Why are you putting her hand in cold water? Won't that make things worse?" Allium asked.

     "One would think so, but that's not true in this case. She is so freezing that this water will feel hot to her, and it'll encourage the blood to flow better without doing any damage." Ms. Charm explained.

And she was right. That water felt absolutely marvelous! I hadn't been able to feel my hand seconds ago, but now it felt almost normal in the water that seemed perfectly hot to me. She switched to my left hand when she was done with my right. Then she dabbed my burning forehead. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had all but forgotten about my desire to escape Berrybrook so I could save Eden from me. Sleep was all I could think about. Finally being snuggly warm and comfortable made that quite an easy task. My eyes, which had been just barely open, closed. However, that led to me getting slightly annoyed at Mr. Glory again.

     "Meadow? Meadow honey?" he shook me softly, "You can't fall asleep right now. You have to keep your eyes open, okay? Hey. Look at me. You really need to stay awake. Meadow?"

I didn't care what he wanted. I wanted to sleep.

And that's exactly what I did despite his increased shaking and his calls for me getting louder. They disappeared into nothingness as I fell into unconsciousness.

The dark and the quiet was where I remained for the longest time. My sleep was deep and peaceful- almost to the point where it felt as if I didn't exist. I was in no hurry to wake up. Being awake was excruciating. Being asleep was wonderful. I think the only reason for me bothering to find my way to consciousness at all was because of the pressure on my hand. In fact, it was probably the only reason I didn't give in to the even deeper rolls of sleep that beckoned me. That pressure never let up. It was the tether which pulled and pulled on me until it lead me far enough to the point where sound and sight entered my world again. There was sobbing. There was Eden, dark and distorted in my vision as he was. On some level I knew his destroyed emotional state was because of me, but I wasn't able at that point to react in any way or form to his crying and words of despair. I was still too far gone for that. All I could do was dimly watch and listen to his voice of his that echoed softly from afar pour out his heart.

     "Damn you, Ethereal. Just...damn you!" Eden sobbed.

The pressure disappeared from my hand. 

     "You promised! You promised you wouldn't go off on your own again! I thought I had made it perfectly clear how much it terrifies me!"

Eden sniffled and struggled to keep his composure.

     "But you were being even more stupid than just going off by yourself, weren't you? What Mel said you were saying- you were trying to go back to The Company. I know that's what you were doing! How could you even think that would solve anything? Did you really think I would be able to handle knowing you had gone to that place? Because I wouldn't be able to handle it! It would absolutely destroy me!"

He buried his face in his hands as his crying intensified.

     "It seems you don't understand anything though! But I don't know how else I can say I love you and would do anything for you and get the point across! I just- I love you! I love you! You're the only reason I even bother to just fucking care anymore! Do you want to know why I got the idea to become a psychology professor? I thought if I could figure out why people thought what they thought that I could understand why no one ever wanted me. I believed I would be able to understand why no one was willing to give me any of what I would have given back to them a hundred times over! I don't need that stupid job anymore though."

It was Eden's turn to struggle for breath.

     "You came along. You were screaming the place down the first time we met. You wouldn't shut up. Yet, when I held you, you stopped crying right away. You smiled at me. I was the only one you allowed to comfort you from then on. I was the only one you wanted. I don't think you can ever understand how that made me feel. You finally gave me the love that was all I ever dreamed of. Not even Blaze and Coal were good enough. They went back to their parents every night. They didn't get what it was like to have no one. However, you understood. You understood what it was like to only have me just like I understood how it felt to only have you. That's why going home each day, leaving you at that horrible place, it broke me down. I willingly got myself ensnared in a web I didn't want to touch so I could rescue both of us. And now...you nearly just ruined everything."

His voice went quiet.

     "Hearing that you stopped breathing and that Mel and Rose had to give you CPR, sitting here unable to do anything as I've watched you fight for your life- it's sheer torture. And if you really had gone ahead and died, on my goddamn birthday, I seriously don't think there would have been anything that could have stopped me from going up to the roof and just jumping off. I can't be without you."

Eden sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair. He didn't say anything for the longest time. It was when he held my hand again and gently stroked my head that he resumed speaking.

     "I don't know why I've said any of this. You've finally opened your eyes again, but it's far too obvious that you don't understand a thing that's going on. I wonder if you can understand me. I wonder if you even know what you did. You were delusional after all."

Eden sighed once more. He placed a lingering kiss on my forehead. What happened after that, I can't recall.

As it was, I couldn't recall much of anything that had happened when I woke up for real. I felt more exhausted than ever despite sleeping for so long. A hollow feeling in my chest told me that something big had happened, but I couldn't figure out what. I was too distracted watching Amaranth to try and guess. He had just thrown out the wrappings from what looked like a packaged lunch. He went over to the sink and washed his hands. And he washed them. And he washed them. Amaranth was cleaning his hands for so long I wondered if he was trying to scrub away his red coloring. I think I might have laughed a little, which is what caused him to suddenly turn around and stare at me.

Amaranth hardly bothered to dry his hands before he rushed over.

     "Meadow!" he exclaimed in excitement, "You're awake!"

     "Yeah." I whispered.

Amaranth opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped when he saw the expression on my face. It was so difficult to tell what my body was doing I was still so out of it, but I must have been wearing a goofy look.

     "What?" he questioned in amusement.

     "You were washing your hands for a long time. What exactly were you trying to do?"

     "Oh," Amaranth laughed, "That's one of the rules all of us have to follow in order to be allowed to stay with you. I thought the doctors were being strict with all the visiting rules before, but they've bumped them up now that you're even more at risk."

     "More at risk? Why?"

Amaranth tilted his head in confusion.

     "Do you not remember? You snuck out of the hospital. You nearly died, Meadow."

My heart sunk.

     "I remember watching Eden leave for his party. I remember he came back. I sort of remember getting out of bed, but that part is fuzzy. It feels more like it's part of a dream." I admitted.

     "That's what we thought," Amaranth sighed, "The doctors told us your fever soared right back up to 104 after Eden left. They assumed the rapid rise was what caused you to become so wacky. You actually got out of bed several times and wandered about before Eden came back, which was why he came back so soon."

     "Why was I left alone then? I do remember being alone. How was I able to sneak out?"

Amaranth laughed again.

     "Those were exactly the same questions Eden asked when we discovered you were gone. Well, he asked them in a much louder way. He really went crazy when they found out in the security camera footage that you had left the building. He was screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs at everyone he came across. Even the poor janitor. It was terrifying at the time, but now that I think back on it it's kind of amusing. I didn't know Eden could be like that."

     "Mmm."

I felt really guilty. Somehow, I could almost imagine that I had witnessed Eden's panic myself.

     "Speaking of Eden, let me go get him. He told me to alert him the second you woke up. Blaze finally convinced him to freshen up and get a bit of rest."

     "Alright." I mumbled in agreement.

The truth was that I didn't actually want to see Eden. I felt too awful about everything. The memories of what I did were gone. I had no idea how much of my actions had been controlled by me and how much had been controlled by my illness. Still, it was all too possible for Eden to place the blame on me. It wasn't being punished that I was afraid of. It was the thought of seeing how I had hurt him that frightened me. That was why I curled up on my side and pretended to be asleep when I heard him coming. I cursed the monitor machine I was hooked up to. It made it impossible to hide how rapidly my nervous heart beat. I prayed Eden assumed it was simply the fever causing the beeps, and I froze when he sat down on the bed next to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder before laughing.

     "Ethereal, don't even bother," he chuckled, "I know that you're awake. You're far too tense to be unconscious."

I refused to move. Maybe Eden wasn't sure if I was awake or not and was trying to find out by bluffing. I didn't relax myself. That would have made it obvious that I was listening. I simply kept laying there.

     "If you're afraid I'm going to yell at you, don't be," Eden continued before sighing lightly, "In case Am didn't tell you, you've pretty much slept a full 24 hours. Everything happened yesterday. I've had the time to calm down and get most of the stress out of my system."

His prodding didn't change anything. I was continuing my ruse whether he whether he liked it or not. Eden attempted to wait me out. He sat there shifting and making noises just annoyingly enough to the point where I could barely stand it. Then there was more coughing I was having trouble suppressing. Thankfully, I suppose, Eden forced me to "wake up."

     "Alright. I guess you did fall back asleep that quickly." he said too suspiciously.

I tried not to flinch when he bent over, but he merely kissed me on the forehead. I thought that was that until Eden unexpectedly, but gently, used his thumb to open my left eye. So stunned by the obtrusion, I flailed as I pitifully swatted him away. He laughed again.

     "Yeah. Someone was really sleeping that deeply, I see." he teased sarcastically.

It didn't take him long to realize that I wasn't in a laughing mood. He might have gotten over what had happened, but I hadn't. It was true I couldn't remember most of it, but the feelings were still there. Eden's laughter stopped the instant I yanked the covers over my head to hide myself. We fought quietly with them as Eden tried to pull them away and I tried to keep them there. Eden won that battle rather easily. I lay still, avoided his gaze, and did my best not to cry.

     "I'm really sorry." I squeaked out.

He sighed even heavier. He slid his hand into mine, gave it a squeeze, and kissed me on the forehead again.

     "It's alright. Really, it is." he comforted.

     "But I-"

     "Yes, you did something very terrible. However, an hour before you disappeared you were walking around sneaking into all the empty rooms flipping all the couch cushions upside down because you wanted to free the dust bunnies living underneath. Your poor mental state then is mostly to blame for your lapse in judgment."

     "Nuh-uh," I frowned, "You're making that up. There's no way I did that."

     "I took video of it. Want to see?" Eden grinned wickedly.

     "No."

     "Pity."

Eden chuckled, but quickly turned serious again.

     "If you want to talk about you almost dying, I guess we'll have to talk about it. Honestly though, I just want to forget it ever happened. It's all over and done with. You're alive, you're safe, and you're going to get better in the end. That's all I care about. Thinking about what could have happened...it's not something I really want to imagine."

     "Then we'll let it go. I feel the same way."

     "Good." Eden said with relief.

     "Since we're letting it go, does that mean I'm getting out of a punishment that should be three times worse than normal?" I asked mischievously.

     "Well, since you brought it up," Eden began, "You are getting punished in a way. I had made plans with the doctors to bring you home for Christmas. Unfortunately, due to your little escape session you've undone almost all of the progress you had made so far. It's too risky to let you leave now, so the two of us will be spending the holiday here."

     "Yaaay." I groaned with fake enthusiasm.

Eden ruffled my hair.

I would have felt almost completely better had there not been one thing left in my mind which was bugging me. Though I contemplated forgetting it, I knew it was something I would never be able to leave alone.

     "So, I was pretty delirious, huh?" I asked.

     "Yup. You were doing some pretty silly stuff. Drove the doctors and nurses crazy. I got lots of good, embarrassing footage." Eden smirked.

     "If I was that out of it, I wonder...if I was imagining it or not..." I mumbled.

     "What was it you saw?" Eden now asked curiously.

     "That conversation you had with that man. He was joking about you being old, and you talked about how you wouldn't be able to be a professor or get married."

The light-hearted expression on Eden's face quickly sunk. He glanced around in panic, running his hand through his hair nervously.

     "That did happen then." I confirmed.

     "Shit," Eden cursed quietly- a testament to how unsettled he was since he was doing it in front of me, "How...how much of that did you hear? And tell the truth. Did you see the man? I thought you were fast asleep. The medicine the nurse gave you knocked you right out!"

     "I wasn't awake for very long. Even then I was still delirious. The man was actually entirely invisible to me. My vision was so blurry. I think even if he was there I would have only been able to make out you." I explained.

     "We dodged a bullet there. Now, what did you hear?" Eden pressed again.

     "Mostly what I said. You not being able to be a professor. You not wanting to drag a woman into our mess. But, I...also heard..."

     "Heard what?"

My eyes filled with tears again. Eden's tense gaze softened.

     "Is it true that if The Company is exposed that you'll go to jail?" I whispered.

Eden glanced away for a moment, but he settled his focus on me, held my hand tighter, and embraced me as best he could.

     "I understand why you were trying to run away now. I didn't intend for you to hear that stuff. I'm sure you thought it was your fault that I've had to put some of my life on hold. Learning that, yes, I could face jail time if we bring out the truth couldn't have helped. Let me tell you this though. Me and my friends are working on a way to keep me out of trouble if what I've done gets out. I only did what I did so The Company would trust me and allow me to stay close to you. That doesn't change my actions, and I will face the consequences of those actions willingly if I have to. However, I will repeat what I said yesterday. Doing The Company's orders, delaying my career, not having a relationship- those were my choices that you have no right to feel guilty about. I don't have one single regret. When it comes down to it, I will always pick you over everything else. It wouldn't matter if I were jobless and single for the rest of my life. If I was able to be with you you, I would be happy. Got it?"

I nodded, wiping my eyes.

     "Got it," I sniffled, "I love you, Eden."

Eden smiled. He then proceeded to squish me with the goofy hug he gave me before making the source of my tears the tickling he did. When I couldn't control my laughs was when he stopped and gave me yet another kiss.

     "Love ya too, kiddo. Now hurry up and get better. I want to get you home."

     "Got it." I giggled.

I spent a lot of time being poked, prodded, and reprimanded by the nurses and doctors after that. They called my survival miraculous, especially considering I came in with only a moderate case of hypothermia and slight signs of frostnip instead of full blown frostbite. Both were easily remedied. I was put on bed rest for the next two days. During that time, the doctors also tried something new with me. The old, normal medicine they were giving me for my pneumonia just wasn't doing what they wanted. They got Eden's permission to give me a new, experimental drug. I was told not to expect much from it. I wanted it to work, but I didn't care too much one way or the other. To everyone's surprise, I finally began to get better- and get better quickly. It took mere days for the new medicine to do what the old had done in a week. Even though I was still pretty sick, I felt fine to the point where I was able to get up and actually do stuff. I did my best at acting normal and messing around with Allium when he was able to visit. He had come over with his mom and Mr. Glory. Those two acted like how they normally acted, but Allium was the saddest I had ever seen him. He even looked like he wanted to cry when he first came in. I naturally couldn't remember being brought to his house, but it was all too easy for me to figure out how badly the situation had frightened him. Thankfully, he cheered up quickly when he did see that I would be alright.

When the medicine was proven to make me better at a rapid pace, I kept my hopes up. I really wanted to go home, even if only for Christmas day. I would often leave my bed and stare out one of the windows. I was beginning to hate seeing the exact same scenery everyday. The small mountain hill coated entirely in white snow blocked me from seeing the town part of Berrybrook- the place where my home was. I missed my bed. I missed the smell of the house. I missed Button. Heck, I even missed doing my schoolwork. I had planned to work all through what should have been a winter vacation to keep catching up to where I should be. That plan had been dashed. It was only now that I had enough energy and concentration for me to do a few of the lessons Eden brought in on his laptop.

I got the idea that Eden wasn't telling me about us going home for the holiday because he wanted to surprise me with the revelation. I prayed every time before I fell asleep that that was what he was doing. I just wanted one celebration to go normally without anything happening. Amaranth's birthday party, my birthday party, and Thanksgiving had all gone badly. The last thing I wanted was for the same to happen on my first Christmas. Unfortunately, the bad news had to come. I went ahead and asked Eden on Christmas Eve if we would be able to leave the hospital. He revealed, with no hint of secrecy, that the doctors were still adamant about keeping me under their watch. The six days that had passed, though they had done a lot for me, hadn't done enough to allow me the reprieve I wanted. Eden did his best to cheer me up by saying that he was doing what he could to make sure the day would be fun anyway. Though my heart sunk with disappointment, I forced myself to be optimistic.

I was going to survive an illness that had nearly taken my life. I could survive spending Christmas in the hospital.