Chapter 49 49: The Narrow Path

Chapter 49 49: The Narrow Path
\[ R Y D E R \]

A couple of days had passed by, and Kara was still not waking up. They had moved her from the ICU to the general ward, which meant she could have visitors now.

Cole came by every day and I wouldn't leave the room whenever he was around. It was getting real pathetic. He stroked her hair and kissed her head in front of me, trying to make me jealous. Well, guess what, it fucking worked.

Meanwhile, Lacey and dad were always around as well. I barely got any alone time with Kara. So between 7 to 8 PM was always my favorite time of the day. That was when Lacey and dad would go out to get some food, and I could be alone with Kara.

I wasn't doing anything bad, I promise.

It wasn't like I could talk to her or anything, she was just asleep. Not trying to be a creep or whatever, but I liked watching her sleep. I liked speaking to her, even though she probably didn't hear a thing. I really wished she'd wake up soon. There were so many things I wanted to tell her in person.

So here I was, at 7.30 PM, sitting on this chair, alone, next to her bed. My hand instinctively went to touch her face, my fingers ran to caress her soft pale cheeks. A finger brushed past her lower lip and I gulped.

I wanted so much to kiss you, but I want you to be awake when I do.

I moved back and adjusted myself in my seat. Then I pulled out this thing that I had been reading her, the letters I wrote to her the past year, 'letters to K'.

"Dear K," I started, smiling down at her, wondering if she could hear me in there.

"Today is a Sunday. Do you remember that Sunday, the day when we first met? You and I were polar opposites. It was clear that we would be terrible for each other from day one. But K, you are everything I want because you are everything I'm not. And somehow, with the help of some beautiful prose and some fireworks magic, you met me somewhere in the middle. And I swear to you, the moment you decided to take a step towards me, that Fourth of July, it changed my entire life. Despite all my shortcomings, you decided to take a chance on me anyway. How the hell did I ever get so lucky?"

I paused for a moment to see her reaction. She wasn't reacting in any way. And so I continued.

"And speaking of Sunday, do you remember that one Sunday in late July? I sneaked into your room at night so we could make out, but then suddenly your mom came knocking, and I panicked, so I jumped out the window. I twisted my ankle and I couldn't surf for a week, but it was well worth it," I laughed at the memory, pausing for a second before continuing, "The only time I ever felt good falling was when I fell fast and hard for you. So I guess what I'm trying to say is... Sundays with you were the best days. I just thought you should know that. Love always, Ryder,"

And as soon as I had finished reading the letter, I heard the sound of hands clapping coming from the door.

"Well, wasn't that lovely?" I turned around and saw Cole standing there.

"What are you doing here?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm here to see my girlfriend," he said smugly, making his way to the other side of Kara's bed. He leaned down and planted a long kiss on her forehead, and my jaw clenched in response.

"Yeah, buddy, it's way past visiting hours," I said through gritted teeth.

"I could say the same thing to you,"

"Man, are we really doing this right now?"

"I saw Lacey and your dad on their way out. I can't possibly leave you here all alone with my girlfriend," It was like he was saying that word again on purpose, just to torment me.

"Don't get used to it. It might change as soon as she wakes up," I said, cocking my head to the side, taunting him.

A subtle grin appeared on his face as he said, "Oh come on, Ryder. We all know how this is gonna go. This isn't going to end well for you,"

"Oh really? Enlighten me, please,"

"She's going to choose me," he said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah? And why is that?"

"Let me ask you something, Ryder. What are you planning to do when she wakes up? Confess your undying love to her? Ask her to run away with you? Haven't we been there before?"

"Things are different now. Our parents know about us, we don't have to hide anymore,"

"So you don't have to sneak around like a bunch of high school kids anymore, great. But then what? Do you really think you can make her happy? What kind of a future will she have with you? One where she has to leave everything behind and go follow you roam around the world?"

"No, I won't ask her to do anything she doesn't want to do. I'll stay here if I have to,"

"And do what?"

"Do whatever, I don't care,"

"Oh, but you do. I don't think you could just give up your entire life to be here. Giving up surfing? You'd resent her for it someday. The same thing goes for her. She won't be able to give up her entire life here and go follow you around somewhere,"

Shit. This damned son of a bitch has a point.

I think he knew that his words got to me because he started shaking his head and a triumphant smile was plastered on his face. "You guys aren't eighteen anymore and this isn't some summer vacation in Hawaii. Face it, Ryder, you can't give her the life that she deserves. You're inconsistent and unstable. Now is that how Kara's supposed to live her life?"



\[ K A R A \]

I was just walking.

I had been walking for a while now. The last thing I remembered was running out of my apartment to get to the airport. But when I was crossing the street, I saw that a car was coming towards me, and then suddenly everything went dark.

When I opened my eyes next, I was in the woods. All around me were just tall green trees and this path of cobbled stone underneath my feet.

"I must be dreaming," I thought to myself.

I wasn't sure what was happening, and all I wanted to do was to get home. So I started walking on this straight path forward. There wasn't anyone around, and so I just kept on walking and walking, until suddenly the path split into two.

Do I go to the right or to the left?

One path was filled with tall green trees and flowers growing on the side. The road was smooth and leading upwards, to the lush green hills on the horizon. Meanwhile, the other path had all sorts of wild plants growing erratically on it, some of them were thorny and prickly. The road was beaten up and it was leading downwards, to some place I couldn't even see where.

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in New York City anymore...

How did I end up here again? And how was I supposed to get home?

"Magnificent, isn't it?" suddenly a voice called out to me.

I turned around and there was this middle-aged man with a white beard sitting on a wooden chair, perched on a tree-house on one of the tall trees. He was wearing a pink polo shirt and shorts, and he had a ukulele in his hand.

I was certain there was nothing and no one else around. How did I miss that?

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked.

"Surely you know who I am. You spoke a lot of me," he said as he strummed some happy tunes.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you not going to keep walking?"

"I... don't know where to go,"

"Where do you want to go?"

"I wanna go home,"

"So just pick a road and get going then,"

"But which one? I don't know which way to go,"

"Ah, but that's the secret. There is no right way to go. Whichever way you choose, you'll find your home,"

Okay... this is one crazy dream...

"This isn't real, right? I'm probably dreaming about this, aren't I? Like this place can't be real. And you're not real... wait, am I dead?" I was speaking mainly to myself.

"Not quite," he responded.

"Is this a dream?"

"Not exactly,"

"What? Am I... hallucinating things?"

"Maybe. They gave you quite the amount of painkillers,"

"Huh?"

"Huh what?"

"I really don't understand what you're saying,"

"Yeah, I get that a lot," he shrugged.

"Sir, you're not making much sense right now. Can you please tell me where I—"

"Where am I? Who am I? Why am I here? Oh, you young people and your existential crises," he cut me off, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"Alrighty, I'll just make this simple for you. You need to go back home, so just go,"

"That's exactly what I'm trying to do right now. But can you please tell me which way to go?"

"You can't ask me that, I can't tell you where to go. You'll know for yourself where you want to go,"

"But I don't,"

"But you do,"

He was being very persistent, motioning his fingers so that I'd turn around. I rolled my eyes at him and glanced back to look at those two roads once again.

Wait... Now that I looked at it again, actually, it was pretty clear which road I should take.

"Sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do with your heart is to play it safe," he said again suddenly.

What does that mean?

But when I turned around to see him again, he wasn't there anymore. The man just disappeared!

Okay... that was hella creepy. Apparently, I was stuck inside some bad 'Alice in Wonderland' rerun.

I guess all I could do now was to keep on going. So I took a deep breath and my feet stepped forward on one of the roads. But as soon as I took that step, suddenly everything crumbled away and I was being pulled down into this dark abyss.

I wanted to scream but I couldn't make a sound. I was scrambling, trying to hold onto anything, but I just kept on falling and falling, until...



I jerked my eyes open, and I was somehow lying on a... bed? And above me was this white fluorescent light, and below that were these figures of two... guys...

Wait... it’s Cole... and... Ryder!

I couldn’t hear a sound, but it looked like they were talking to each other. And suddenly, they both turned to look at me at the same time. Their eyes widened as soon as they saw me.

"Kara!" they shouted all at once.

What in the waffle's name is going on here? How is this even possible? And where the heck am I? Is this another dream?

Both of them were calling my name, trying to get my attention at the same time. So many questions were running through my head. I was still trying to process everything and all at once, my mind went blank. I could only stare at them, not being able to say anything in response.

Slowly, I began to realize that I was in a hospital. And I think I was having a panic attack since the heart monitor next to me started beeping excessively.

Thankfully, this nurse came in and she instructed them both to leave. They were reluctant to go, but she was being adamant. Once they had left, she went over to me and shone some light over my eyes, causing me to flinch a little.

"Hi, welcome back, Kara," she said with a relieved sigh.

Back? Was I ever gone?

I was trying to remember what had happened to me. I remembered the bright white lights before everything went dark, and after that, it was just all pain. My whole body was convulsing in pain. It hurt to even remember. My vision was getting blurry, so I closed my eyes and let my brain rest for a while.

"You went through a bit of an ordeal, you were in a car accident, but you're alright now," the nurse said reassuringly. "Now you may still feel some pain and discomfort, so try not to move too much and get some rest, okay?"

With all my remaining energy, I gave her a slight nod.

"Would you like me to call your family in for you? Or your boyfriend?"

Say what now? Family...? Boyfriend...? Oh, they're all here...

Holy poop.







\- - - - - To Be Continued - - - - -