Right. Rae didn’t know about the door. April found herself giggling at her cousin’s expression, though she had no idea why she found it so funny. Probably the pain meds.. “Mmhm,” she began, nodding her head as she spoke. “I was trapped in this backyard garden, and each time I tried to go inside the whole dream would snap me back to the middle of the yard.”
Managing a weak smile, she managed a little bit of her normal teasing. “Only kind of?” April began, blue eyes shining with an all too familiar impish look. “And what, you mean you sound confusing like me?” It wasn’t a secret that she sometimes had a way of talking or thinking that wasn’t linear and only made sense to her. Her small smile slipped into a frown when Rae said she had been out for too long. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I won’t do it again.”
Slumping back against the bed, she gave up on sitting up, not needing to be told twice to stay still. “Maybe, but not the woman who wanted to pull the plug on me.” That had felt like part of her dream, but something told her it hadn’t been – that it had been a thought that had filtered into her mind while she had been out.
“Like I said, I was in a backyard garden, and I was reading, but the book only had one phrase,” April began, recalling what that phrase had been. “It was a portion from Peter Pan, and it was oddly fitting.” Almost like her mind had been telling her that she wanted to live. “To live will be an awfully big adventure.” She repeated allude, figuring Rae would want to know what it had been. “And each time I read it I got this urge to go inside.”
Again April found herself frowning at that information. Had she really been that bad off? “Well, I’m awake now so they don’t need to be doubtful.” Dwelling on what could have happened just wasn’t her nature.
“Isn’t it? I’m the one who insisted on going,” she pointed out quietly. Brandon had told her she shouldn’t have been out there, and maybe he was right about that. “And no, I wouldn’t let you.” Because apologizing for this made no sense, and yet April still found herself wanting to apologize. “I guess,” she answered with a half smile. “But now you don’t have to worry about me.” She was going to be fine, plain and simple as that.
Although it hurt more than she would admit, April was grateful when Rae offered to help her sit up. Her body had that feeling of having remained in one position for too long, and sitting up didn’t make it better, but it was different and she needed different right now. “Thank you,” she thanked Rae softly. Words couldn’t really convey how relieved she was to have her cousin with her in this moment; it just confirmed that this wasn’t like before, wasn’t like the last time she had been injured.
“Are they going to poke and prod at me?” April asked, only half kidding.