I'm Only Mostly Dead

 She blinked her eyes. "OUCH!" she said wincing as she raised her head off the steering wheel. What happened? Oh that's right. The tire blew out. She looked out the windshield. In front of her stood a large oak tree. Her car had hit it, buckling the hood and cracking the windshield. "Why didn't my airbag deploy?" she said to herself. She reached for her cell phone. I need to call a tow truck, she thought. In the back of her mind she thought she heard sirens blowing, the kind you hear when there's a really bad car accident. Maybe someone called about me, she thought, but no one came. ''I must have hit my head really hard. ''    She called the number she had saved in her phone for AAA and told them she needed a tow. It wasn't long before a tow truck arrived. She had them tow her to the nearest garage where she called her husband to let him know what happened and asked him to pick her up on his way home from work. It was nearly 5pm anyway. He agreed. "Excuse me." she said to the receptionist. "Yes?" "May I wait here for my husband to pick me up? It won't be long." she explained. "Sure," the receptionist answered before returning to her work. She sat down and picked up a magazine to leaf through while she waited. There were the usual adds and articles, but then something caught her attention. It was a plane black page with white letters that said WAKE UP. She looked closer at the page to see who had placed the advertisement. The back of the page was a blank black page. She couldn't find anything that explained who had placed the add. Well, it gets your attention but who placed it, she thought. Just then her husband came through the door. "Oh Julie, are you sure you are ok?" he asked walking through the door and immediately examining the bump on her head. "Yes Jack, I'm fine," she answered. "Let's just go home." They walked out to the car, got in and drove home. After dinner Julie felt exhausted. "I'm going to bed early Jack," she announced. "OK," he replied, "Be right up." She dressed for bed and crawled under the covers. What a day, she thought. I wonder how long it will be until I get my car back. As she drifted off to sleep she started dreaming. In the distance she heard a baby crying. Then she heard doctors shouting. "She's crashing! Code blue!" The sound of the alarms in her dream were so loud it woke her up! She was slightly shaken by her dream for she had been the one on the ER table who the alarms were going off for. She decided trying to go back to sleep right away would not be a good idea, so she decided to get out of bed and head downstairs. A cup of chamomile tea might help, she thought. She walked to the cupboard and opened the door. All of the writing on all the packages seemed blurry. She blinked her eyes a few times thinking she must have hit her head harder than she thought. Oh well, the tea she wanted was the only one in a green box, so she took it out and made herself a cup of hot tea. Maybe it was good I couldn't sleep, she thought, ''I might have a concussion. ''    She sat at the kitchen nook sipping her tea feeling the calming effects slowly begin to work. Ah, that's better, she thought. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall just above the kitchen sink. The lettering was too blurry to read. She did still have a monster headache and her neck still hurt as well, maybe she should have Jack take her into the er to be seen. She went upstairs to the bedroom to get Jack, but she couldn't get into the bedroom. The door was locked. She knocked on the door and called, "Jack, I must have somehow locked myself out. Can you open the door for me?" No answer. "Jack this isn't funny. I need to go to the er. I can't read anything. Everything is blurry." No answer. Suddenly, she had a searing pain on the right side of her head. She grabbed her head and screamed. When she pulled her hand away, there was a mixture of blood and fluid covering it. "Oh my God!" she yelled. Pounding on the door even harder she screamed, "Jack I need you wake up!" From inside she could hear talking. "Who's in there with you? Jack!" Suddenly the door swung open. It was pitch black, no light at all could be seen. From deep inside the darkness she heard someone call her name. '''"JULIE" '''    She screamed, turned and ran down the stairs. She ran as fast as she could to the front door. When she swung it open, she saw a group of people there all covered with blood and gore walking toward her. They were chanting to her. "Wake up Julie. Wake up Julie." She slammed the door shut immediately. What was happening? Why was this happening? What was she going to do? She could hear the people outside, still calling to her. What did they mean wake up? she thought. She was terrified, as terrified as she had ever been. Her mind raced. ''The basement! ''the thought. She ran to the basement door. Her hand trembled as she reached for the doorknob. What if there is something down there? She thought. Now the people outside were pounding on the front door. It seemed she had no choice. Do it like a band aide, she thought. ''Just swing the door open and go. ''    As she swung the door open, a huge distorted face appeared out of the darkness. It Had no nose or mouth, just folds of flesh where the nose and mouth should have been. It's one eye was large, protruding and seemed to glow with an evil light. It somehow talked even with no mouth. It said, "It's time to wake up." She tried to scream, "NO!" but nothing would come out. She recoiled in disgust and tried to scream again. This time a small whimper came out even though she was trying with all her might to scream. Suddenly she was gagging and coughing and she realized she wasn't in her house at her basement door anymore. "Oh my God, She's awake!" she heard Jack say excitedly. She tried to talk, but all she could do was gag on the hose that was down her throat. She blinked her eyes. They burned and felt like sandpaper. A nurse rushed into the room and removed the hose from her throat. What a relief, she thought. "You've been asleep so long," Jack said sounding relieved. "How long?" Julie asked with a voice that reflected how dry and sore her throat was from the hose. Just then a little girl with golden curls and green eyes just like her own walked over and said, "Hi mommy" Mommy? Julie thought. Her mind raced. ''What happened to me? How long have I been in this bed?'' she thought. "How old are you sweetie?" Julie asked the little girl in a raspy voice. "You missed a lot of my birthdays mommy," the little girl said ,"I'm seven years old"