Chapter 110

Andy POV

I woke up slowly, feeling confused and stiff and really weak.

Part of my body was numb, like it had fallen asleep the way my foot sometimes did when I sat for too long.

The rest of it…

Oh, it really hurt!

Had I fallen down a hill or something??

Every part of my body that I could feel was achy and felt bruised.

I remembered falling off the slide at the park one time, from pretty high up. I had been sore the next day, sort of like this.

Except this was like that times a hundred.

Maybe there had been a car accident?

I waited to wake up a little more, trying to think.

Where had I been, and what had happened?

The last thing I remembered was being out in the woods for some reason, laying on the ground.

I knew I had been laying down, because I remembered the rain pouring down, hitting me in the face.

It had been so cold, and I was shivering and soaked all the way through.

And…I remembered a terrible pressure in my chest.

My hand twitched, then moved, trying to touch my chest.

But I couldn’t. There was too much padding in the way.

Why would there be padding? That’s the sort of thing you put around someone’s wound. And it also meant they had a very serious injury.

Feeling a little scared, I finally realized where I was.

I was in the hospital!

Why??

Was I really hurt, or had I been really sick?

And then over in the corner I heard voices.

Familiar voices.

It was Dad, standing with Claire on the other side of the room.

Just knowing they were there made me feel better right away. I started to breathe easier, and my heart didn’t feel like it was going to explode.

So I laid back and let myself wake up a little more, watching Dad and Claire.

They were in the corner of the room, speaking softly to each other.

Then I blinked.

And Claire was in Dad’s arms!

That alone was really surprising, but when I saw Dad kiss Claire’s forehead I was totally stunned.

I had seen Dad kiss Claire’s cheek once or twice, and he sometimes put his arm around her shoulders the same way he did to me.

But this was different somehow.

And watching it, I decided it made me feel…warm.

Happy, even.

“Ssh, it’s alright, Claire,” Dad said to Claire as he held her, swaying them back and forth a little bit.

“Andy’s going to be alright. Everything’s going to be okay now.”

Claire shook her head, fisting her hands in Dad’s shirt.

“I know, that’s why I’m finally able to fall apart. I couldn’t before, not when…”

When what?, I wondered.

“I was so scared, Nathan. I was so afraid we wouldn’t get to him in time!”

Claire lowered her head to Dad’s chest, and I could tell she was crying.

The sound hurt to hear. I wished I could give her a hug too, and help her stop being sad.

“She hurt him. She nearly killed him! God, she nearly killed our baby!”

I wondered what she meant by “our baby,” and why she was so upset that she was crying like that.

But then more of what happened began coming back to me.

Short, choppy memories almost like scenes from a movie.

I remembered running through the woods, tripping every once and a while over exposed tree roots, or getting slapped in the face by low hanging branches.

And I remember all of my senses humming, feeling like I could see and feel, hear and smell everything at once…

Including the person behind me. The person I was running from.

And suddenly that came back to me too.

Sabrina!

The beautiful princess I had dreamed might one day be my mother.

The woman who turned out to be a false princess.

And a very bad person.

It was Sabrina who had chased me through the woods, in the dark.

Sabrina, slashing at me with a knife.

I remembered dodging her for a long time, but then eventually I fell. Or…she tackled me?

The next memory I had was laying alone in a clearing, the rain cold and hard on my face.

I remembered thinking I was dying, and that Sabrina had been right.

I really wouldn’t ever see Dad or Claire again.

Except she hadn’t said that, had she?

What had she said?

I closed my eyes and thought as hard as I could. It wasn’t easy, since I’d been so scared. My mind just wanted to slide away from the terrifying memories.

But I focused, and eventually remembered.

“You’ll never see your father or your precious mommy ever again.”

Yes! That’s what she said!

And I had known, in that moment, that she really meant Dad and Claire. It was only now I realized Sabrina calling Claire my “mommy” didn’t make sense.

I closed my eyes again, trying to put more of it all together.

I was laying in the field, feeling all alone and scared. And then suddenly Dad and Claire were there, looking down at me.

And I could remember the exact moment Claire put her hands out over my body, sending all that healing warmth down into me.

It had felt like she was filling me with a warm golden light.

And that light had been so safe and secure. I had felt so…

I searched inside myself, trying to find the right word to describe that feeling.

And then I found it.

I had felt so loved in that moment.

A love I decided could only come from a mother. Surely no one else could have made me feel like that.

And then, my eyes flashing open in amazement, I realized the truth.

A truth that had been right in front of me for my entire life.

I sat up in bed, struggling with the blankets tucked around me, wincing at the pains and aches that still lingered in my body.

Pains and aches I knew came from being healed by someone who was giving me all the strength and love they had to give.

My mother.

“Claire!” I cried, staring at her in amazement.

“Are you my mother??”

She and Dad both jumped at the sound of my voice, and looked over at me in shock, still in each other’s arms.

They exchanged a look between the two of them, one I didn’t know how to read.

But it only lasted for a second. Then they both hurried over to my bed.

“Is it true??” I cried, feeling tears fill my eyes.

I didn’t know why I was crying, especially when I was suddenly so happy and not sad, but I couldn’t seem to stop it from happening.

“I felt something when you healed me,” I told Claire. “It was like I was a part of you, and you were a part of me.

So is it true? Are you really my mom??”

And Claire, tears on her face too, brushed my hair back from my forehead and nodded.

“Yes, darling. It’s true.”

She laughed, and I thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

“I’m your mother, Andy.”