november 25, 2019. 

Ever since Courtney awoke a few days ago she just wanted to stay asleep. It was easier to be unresponsive when you're out of it than have any knowledge of what was going on in the world, but pretending to sleep was much harder when you were aware of what was still going on. Her only solace were the quiet hours of the night when everyone else was either asleep or doing their own thing. There were no visitors besides the nurses to do their routine check, but other than that it was just her alone with her own thoughts. For once she was thrill for such a private VIP room and Courtney soon drifted off to sleep due to the medication after having a semi-decent dinner.

Courtney found herself in some dream-like world where she saw her past self writing in a purple diary. She couldn't recall ever having such a diary, but wondered what her teenage self could be writing. Courtney walked over to peer over her younger self's shoulder to see what she was writing.

~I don't like how things have to happen to fall a part so that other things can fall together. I hate how the happiness you once had is betrayed by some other force that spreads like a virus and destroys it all within seconds. I dislike how I have to feel all of this when everything was going so well. Oh so, perfectly well. I hate my life now. Now I have to say goodbye to it all and start all over again.~

Courtney wondered what the passage was pertaining to. Luckily the Teenage Courtney wasn't aware of her future self and so Courtney read further.

~I hate starting over because they always say a new start is good for the soul. But can a new start; a new beginning, really work out for the better? When in reality, you don't want to move on and wish with all of your heart that everything can just go back to the way it was before anything ever happened. I so desperately wished with all of my heart, soul, and mind that I could return. Return back to those times that I had ever held so dear to me. But, I know I cannot and that's why I'm stuck.~

Stuck? Courtney's brows furrowed before a solemn expression clouded her face. It was the realization that she held no real place on either side of her parents' life. Both of her parents re-married and had their own child with their respective spouse. Courtney learned that she was loved, but not the same as her half-siblings and never by her step-parents. Even the love from her own parents became minimal at best. The surrounding before her suddenly shifted into another familiar scene. She sees Teenage Courtney sitting on the balcony's railing of her mother's home. She vaguely remembered she had a heated argument with her step-father, Stanley, about his missing cigarettes.

She walked closer to Teenage Courtney and upon opening the glass door she could hear her younger self softly humming to a random tune. Her eyes lingered to the busy scene below. She was ten storeys high and not frightened of how high she was. It actually seemed quite welcoming. Courtney forgot how it felt to be up this high and having the cool breeze blow across her skin. It was quite comforting. For some reason Courtney joined Teenage Courtney on the railing feeling6 at peace while watching the sun sets ever so slowly, yet looking all the more mesmerizing.

She soon began to mimic her teenage self's movements. Both of their legs begin to dangle absent-mindedly, as they rocked back and forth in a slow and steady rhythm. They could feel a slow, shy, but real smile begin to form upon their faces. They couldn't recall the last time they'd smiled a real smile. It felt foreign, yet the smile stayed as they continued the rocking, the dangling, and the gazing of the beautiful and golden horizon before them. With the steady motion, the calming feeling, and the beautiful scenery before them they could feel themself slowly drifting away in a hypnotizing way.

The leaning forward too dangerously, then leaning backward too safely and all the while without a careful thought in mind. Courtney continued to mimic the Teenage Courtney as they began counting softly at the same time. With each count there's a rock. To and fro without any thought to what may or may not happen. The pair continued and like impulse, or maybe not, they let go of the railing. Their fingers releasing the bar and spreading out openly, freely. The air whooshing passed them letting them passed right on through with no hold backs. Both of the Courtneys smile dreamily and fell freely to blissfulness just as they could faintly hear someone loudly calling for their name.

"COURTNEY!"

Then everything suddenly went black and they faded into the nothingness. The real smile that they once had disappeared along with it.
 

november 26, 2019.

Courtney's eyes fluttered opened for a brief moment, but they closed soon after. She fell into another slumber and dreamt again of her past and in a way was re-living them again with Teenage Courtney.

Courtney once again observed her teenage self waking and adjusting to the brightness of the room. It wasn't her room she had at her mom's nor was it the one she had at her dad's. It was a hospital room with a heart monitor, IV drip stand, and everything else to track her current status. Courtney remembered it was at this moment that she realized that her world had changed once again and she would never ever be accepted by either of them. A knock sounded breaking both of them from their thoughts as they heard it open and a little over middle-aged woman entered.

"Dr. Yamaguchi?" Courtney says the woman name, but neither Teenage Courtney or the doctor heard her.

Courtney had completely forgotten about the therapist who had gotten her to open up bit by bit and talk about her life and worries. She wondered how she was doing now.

"Hello, Courtney. I'm Dr. Yamaguchi. " The woman introduced herself, but Teenage Courtney ignored her.

"You may call me Dr. Haru, if you'd like."

Teenage Courtney ignored her once again.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk."

Both Courtneys followed the movements of the doctor as she went about the room minding her own business and checked on the machinery. She wrote something on the clipboard she had with a neutral expression. Teenage Courtney continued to ignore the woman while Courtney made her way to the doctor to see what she had written. Before she could read the contents Courtney heard another female voice distract her.

"If you want to leave this place, then you need to wake up."

"What?"

Courtney was bewildered by the words spoken from the new voice as she looked about the room to see if another person was here beside the other two, but there was no other person. The voice came again, but this time with a different message.

"Are you ready to wake up?"

Courtney spun around, but saw no one else. It was still just Dr. Yamaguchi, Teenage Courtney, and herself in the room. They continued to flow with time without being disrupted. So was she hallucinating again? Or was she just in one of those medicated moments? Before she could ponder on it some more she heard another, but familiar voice calling her by a familiar nickname that no one else called her by.

"Hi, Queenie."

"Patricia?"

Courtney immediately whipped around in hopes to find her deceased friend, but was met with another woman dressed in a gothic-like black dress with burnt orange hair. She missed the part of the stranger's ability to float in mid-air.

"Who are you?"

The person turned out to be Grim Reaper Serena who cast Courtney a small smile not answering her current question just yet.

"It's time for you to wake up."

Courtney frowned as this person's voice sounded familiar, but couldn't think from where.

"Again, who are you?"

Grim Reaper Serena continued to smile not answering her question.

"It's time to wake up, Courtney Park."

november 27, 2019. 

Courtney's eyes shot opened and closed a second later forgetting that she was still in the hospital. She blinked a few times adjusting to the brightness before focusing them at the ceiling and figured that it must be morning and before breakfast due to the sunlight peeking through. She remembered eating dinner last night. Courtney closed her eyes again trying to recall what she had just dreamt about a moment ago. All she remembered was a younger version of herself and two voices, but just as she was recovering her dream it all vanished when she groaned as her body ached upon lifting herself into a sitting position.

"Oh, you're awake." A male voice greeted her and she turned to see that it was Nurse Mark.

She didn't respond, but Mark didn't mind.

"Would you like breakfast?"

"Yeah, that sounds great, actually."

Courtney forgot her previous thoughts and looked at the white board to see the info written for today and was confused by the information.

"It's already the twenty-seventh?"

Mark nodded.

"Yes. Nurse Taya informed me that you've been asleep for the last day and a half."

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope. Anyways, what would you like for breakfast this morning?"

"Forget my breakfast." Courtney dismissed and returned to the previous topic.

"Why was I knocked out again? This is the second time that's happened since I've been admitted and it never hapened before."

"Dr. Faivre doesn't know for sure and neither does Dr. Aguilar. They believed that your mind may be recovering or coping from shock."

Mark regarded her a bit.

"How are you feeling?"

Courtney sighed with a half-hearted shrug while thinking about it.

"The same as before, I guess."

She moved her body, but felt how stiff and aching it actually was.

"But sore. I ache all over. I thought resting would help me, not add more to it."

Mark chuckled, but didn't comment and instead wheeled the overbed table for her to use. He placed a bowl of sealed cereal, a carton of milk, a plastic wrapped spoon, and an orange onto the table.

"Eat up. I'll come back in two hours if you feel like getting some fresh air."

"Um, maybe." Courtney answered while wistfully looking towards the curtain closed window.

Mark followed her gaze before casting his eyes back onto Courtney.

"Just buzz if you need anything until then."

"Thanks."

"Welcome and make sure to eat this light breakfast. I heard that you barely ate your last meal the other day."

"It lacked flavor."

Mark chuckled in response, but cast Courtney one last smile before leaving. She glanced at the meager meal and one side of her lips quirked up as a slight feeling of nolstagia hit her. She opened the colorful and sugary goodiness while doing the same with the milk and dug into the taste of sweetness.

Courtney was in the middle of eating her macaroni salad when a knock sounded and she looked over to see her half-siblings entering.

"Happy early Thanksgiving, Corgi!"

Both Sophie and Jake happily greeted their older sister while bringing in small gifts.

"That's not until tomorrow," Courtney responded instead of greeting them in return, "Um, aren't you supposed to be in school though?"

"We know and we won't be here to actually celebrate it with you." They replied.

"Mom's taking me and Dad over to her side this weekend." Jake explained with a frown. "The cousins on that side are so boring. There's hardly anything to do in Kkamiya or in Indralia."

"I know the feeling." Sohpie agreed. "Dad wants to spend it with his side this year and Mom caved despite loving Blix Lumar due to the coastal line."

Courtney didn't comment on their family activities knowing she wouldn't be at either one to celebrate this week's Thanksgiving holiday break.

"I jumped the fence when Soph told me about us coming to visit you."

Jake spoke in a nonchalant manner while perching himself at the end of Courtney's bed with a mischievous smile.

"It was so easy to do."

"No, he didn't, but I know that he wished he did." Sophie replied while pulling the spare chair towards the bed and plopping a plastic bag filled with yummy treats from the cafe near her school on the overbed table.

"I asked them for a half day due to a family emergency which is you."

"Sheesh, Soph, you couldn't just let me be cool?"

"No can do, little bro."

Courtney suppressed a smile from popping up and controlled herself to shoot them a stoic expression.

"What kinda emergency and won't your parents be angry with you?"

"Forget them."

Both half-siblings dismissed not really caring about the consequences they'll face later when they returned home.

"I told them you were having a life-threatening surgery."

Sophie grinned as Courtney scoffed in good-nature upon the reason.

"What are you eating?" Jake asked peering at Courtney's half-eaten lunch. "Does it even taste good?"

"Um, I'm having omelette rice, macaroni salad, chicken soup, squid rings, some mixed fruit, and green tea." Sherryl answered.

She took another bite of the macaroni salad.

"And yes, it's quite good."

"I thought hospital food lacked flavor?"

"Nah. My current nurse spiced it up and gave me something else than the one that was recommended."

"Can I try?"

"Sure."

Courtney pushed the overbed table closer to Jake while Sophie reached a hand towards Courtney's and squeezed it.

"I..."

Courtney had a feeling what her sister wanted to say, but she didn't want to talk about it. Instead she changed the topic towards the plastic bag.

"So what did you get from Orbit?"

Sophie got the hint and went with the change of topic with a half-hearted smile.

"Well, they have this new flavor for a limited time and..."

Courtney listened to Sophie go about her story at what happened at the cafe while noticing Jake eating the rest of her lunch. She couldn't remember the last time she had hung out with her siblings like this and something within her felt at peace and she allowed herself to relax. Sure the only visitors she had so far were Claudine and Ciize due to telling them why she hadn't shown up for class. Luckily though their surprise visit came with good news on their art project which they score a perfect score. Other than that, that was it until her siblings came along.

"Alright, Ms. Park," Mark announced after he filled in the new information on the status board, "You're all set as Nurse Pamika will take care of you when I leave at eight."

Mark faced Courtney as she held out the same plastic bag from this afternoon towards him.

"This is for you."

"For me?"

He cocked his head as he walked closer to the female.

"My sister thought you were cute and wanted me to give you this when she left."

"Oh. That was nice of her."

Mark smiled as he reached out to take the treat, but Courtney moved it out of his way with a neutral look.

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

Courtney offered the treat once again almost a bit hesitant as she never really done this before or even for her sister. He cast her a kind smile and accepted the gift although she didn't notice his ears turning a bit red.

"Tell her thank you for me."

"Okay."

"So," Mark's voice came out in a little drawl, "Is there anything else that I can do for you?"

"Could you hook me up for another tasty meal tomorrow morning?"

He nodded with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I can. Anythi