“…when I close my eyes, you’ll be right by my side. If I could have just one request, stay with me girl, I confess, all my only dreams…”


For some reason the color of the sky was a brighter blue than she had ever noticed. It was bluer, and the clouds were whiter, and the sirens were redder as they had rushed towards her. And then all the vibrant colors disappeared. Marie felt her breath catch in her throat, followed by an increase of pressure in her chest. She wasn’t sure if she was really experiencing this, or just imagining it.

Sounds drowned into low hums of frantic yelling. Marie thought that if she could just speak, she could tell everyone where she hurt, but the pressure in her chest kept her from doing so. For a moment, she swore her eyes flicked open and saw the inside of an ambulance, which was then responded to as the paramedics scurried about the small cabin until her eyes shut again.

At one point behind closed eyelids, Marie saw a small baby floating in front of her. She imagined it was hers, which meant she’d never really have it at all. Then her heart began pounding heavier and heavier like it was trying to escape the cage her ribs had become. And sound, which had at one point been hushed as though she were underwater, was now surging out at the loudest volume. The sirens, paramedics, screeching breaks, and squeaky stretcher wheel all blended together until what she was hearing was just a mess of all the different noises.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in that dream-like state. It could’ve been minutes, or it could’ve been hours. But all she knew was that when she woke up, she was alone. The sterile room around her was the emptiest and loneliest space she could imagine. And when Marie bent her arm, an obnoxious ringing sounded though the room. She straightened her arm again and looked down at her forearm, noting the IV piercing skin. She followed the tube up to the bag on the IV stand and stared at its clear contents. It looked so refreshing. With a parched throat, she wanted nothing more than to tear the bag to shreds and drink the contents.

A moment later, Marie felt a tear stream down her face. She reached up with her IV-free hand and swiped it away. This definitely wasn’t a hospital she’d been to before. Which was good, because that meant her dad wouldn’t be meandering through the halls and find her. Chances were he was stowed away in his Tribeca loft.

Marie hoped that someone would come to save her soon. The silence was bearing down on her and she stared at the door as if that would make someone walk through it sooner.

Whether it was coincidence or divine providence, the burden was lifted as Marco ran through the door. And behind him, a doctor walked in much more calmly. One was the definition of professional and collected while the other was the epitome of a complete wreck. Marie started to cry and it was then she realized her head was strapped in place. She tried to move it, but something resisted, and Marco set his hand down on her head to get her to stop trying.

“You’re awake. That’s wonderful,” the doctor smiled and stood at the foot of the bed. “You lost consciousness in the ambulance, so I’m going to ask you some questions and just answer them to the best of your ability, okay?”

Marie clutched her hand around Marco’s as he offered it to her, while she kept her eyes locked on the doctor.

“Can you tell me your name?”

“Marie Thatcher,” she whispered, earning a slight squeeze from Marco.

“Where do you live?”

“With Marco… In Woodbury,”

The doctor smiled and nodded, “and what year is it?”

“2015… What happened?” She looked up at Marco, searching for some validation, but he looked equally as scared.

“A witness said another car swerved into your lane and rear ended you. Judging by your car window and the blood from your left ear, your head hit the glass pretty hard. Due to your loss of consciousness, I feel pretty confident in saying you have a grade three concussion. However, your MRI didn’t show any brain bleeding, so that’s good.”

“She was pregnant…” Marco gasped, and he pulled his hand away from Marie’s.

“And still is. I saw it in her medical file, and we had the on-call OB find the heartbeat on the Doppler. It was a little slower than normal, so we’ll keep her tonight for observation. She should be good to go tomorrow morning,” the doctor try to speak quietly so Marie wouldn’t overhear them too much. “I know you’re no stranger to concussions…”

“I’ve had a few,”

“So you know the drill… No TV, no reading, no stimulating activity. She needs a lot of rest. If her symptoms worsen in one to three days, bring her back here immediately. If not, I’ll see her in a week for a check up.” The doctor patted Marco’s arm and looked past him, back at Marie. “Alright Marie, it’s pretty late and you need as much sleep as possible. Me and the nurses are going to check on you throughout the night.”

Marie stared at him blankly and watched as he left the room. When it was just her and Marco again, she looked up at him and stared. “What happened,”

He looked back at her and did his best to hold back every ounce of emotion. But he hated to see her like this, but also knew that this would pass once she recovered. “You have a really bad concussion so you have to stay here tonight, but I’m gonna take you home tomorrow morning, okay?”

“A concussion?”

Marco nodded, “and you might be confused and forget things for a little while, but that’s okay because it’ll get better.”

She paused and looked around the room. Then slowly, she placed her hands over her stomach, “and the baby?”

“The baby’s okay,” he sat down on the edge of the bed and set his hand over her leg. They both just stared at each other, not really knowing what to say, until finally, Marie sucked in a deep breath.

“What happened?”

---

Marie walked into the apartment in front of Marco. It all seemed familiar, yet she still couldn’t really understand why she didn’t remember what had happened. It was like every time someone told her, it went through one ear and out the other. Unfortunately, Marco seemed to be growing frustrated with constantly having to remind her.

“One more time,” she asked, turning to look back at him as he shut the front door.

He stared at her, looking incredibly exhausted from the past hours. “You got in a car accident, you have a concussion, and you’re still pregnant.”

“Sorry,” she whispered and closed the gap between them.

“I just don’t like reliving it. I was terrified to get that message after the game, and I just… it’s hard because it could’ve been a lot worse.”

Marie looked down at her hands and shook her head. She already wanted these symptoms to disappear. It was already proving to be taxing on her relationship and she feared that if this kept up, there may not be a relationship by the end of it. “I’m gonna go lay down… Getting sort of dizzy,”

She took a step back and Marco reached forward, cupping his hand around the back of her neck, “I love you Marie.”

Tears were beginning to form in her eyes, and she blinked them away. She stood still, reciprocating as Marco kissed her softly, and she reached for his hand tugging it gently, “cuddle with me?”

He offered a tight-lipped smile and followed her into the bedroom, sticking closely to her side as they crawled into bed together. Marie turned and nestled into his side. She tucked her forehead against his chest, taking in a few slow, deep breaths. Not remembering the accident was both a blessing and a curse. While she didn’t remember it being traumatic, she could tell having to be constantly reminded was taxing on the people around her. It was like she was spreading around the pain.

Marco draped his arm over her hip and danced his fingertips over her spine. He could feel her relax beneath his touch, her body leaning on him, relying on its support. After pressing his lips to the top of her head, he buried his head into her shoulder and sighed.

“I have to get going to practice pretty soon,”

“No,” Marie moaned, elongating the word. She wrapped her arms around him tighter to get him to stay in place.

“When I’m gone, you have to stay in bed. No TV, no reading, nothing stimulating. Just sleep as much as you can… And no gluten, it causes inflammation.”

“Yes daddy,”

“And if you start to get a headache, you have to take Tylenol not Advil.”

“Yes daddy,”

He kissed her forehead before sitting up in bed. “I love you, my darling. Get some rest. I’ll be back with food in a few hours,”

“Marco!” Marie called out just as he was about to leave the room. When he turned back around, she grinned, “I should’ve had the concussion-proof helmet on.”

Being left alone turned out to not be as bad as she thought. Without Marco there, it was easy to concentrate on nothing but sleeping. He only served as a distraction, albeit a very pleasant distraction. It couldn’t have been very long before Marie had fallen asleep. The last thing she remembered was the neighbor’s dog barking, and then nothing.

The first part of her sleep was rather uneventful. In fact, if the second part hadn’t been so traumatic, she probably wouldn’t have even noticed that it was uneventful. The scary part was that the dream felt so real, so terrifying. Her dad was coming at her with a knife, eyes black and devoid of life. He lunged at her, sinking the blade into her abdomen and carved it through her skin. And he only disappeared after she was a bloody mess on the floor with her unborn child beside her.

Marie jolted up in bed, panting and shaking. Her forehead was lined with sweat, and she ran her hands over her face to wipe away the perspiration. Out the window, it was already dark outside, so she figured she’d slept longer than she thought. The clock only read eight, so it wasn’t yet late enough for Marco to join her in bed.

She scurried out of bed, still breathing pretty heavily, and padded out to the living room where Marco was perched in his leather chair. He had a book in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. When Marie appeared in the room, he looked up and smiled, placing the book on the small table beside him.

“I had a bad dream,” she whispered, sounding like a child that was unable to decipher the difference between reality and fantasy. She tiptoed up to him.

Marco held out his free hand to her and herded her onto his lap, “you want to talk about it?” He waited for her to curl up and get situated in his lap before resting his hand down on her knees.

She shook her head and set it against his chest, nestling in closer to him. “What were you reading?”

“A book my dad sent.” Marco moved to pick it up to show her the cover, “it’s a collection of Italian fables he used to read to my siblings and I… Wanted me to have it for our child,”

Marie flipped it open and found it was written entirely in Italian. She smiled and set it against her stomach, “you’ll have to read it before the baby arrives, so it can hear your voice. You know babies can hear when they’re still inside the womb,” she giggled at the way Marco’s nose scrunched up as she said that word. “So that means none of that awful house music,”

“I did know that. And I promise to keep all sounds limited to Italian fables and soft jazz,”

He leaned in and kissed her lips slowly, relishing in the way she tasted. And Marie did the same, curling her fingers around his ear gently, holding him still as she opened her mouth around his lips, nudging her tongue into his mouth.

“Is being aroused bad for my concussion,” she winked playfully.

Notes

"All My Only Dreams" by The Wonders (That Thing You Do!)