Alison glanced down at the clock on her phone and it read 7:45pm. She was expected to be home by six for a dinner to meet her mom’s new boyfriend. She turned to her best friend who was still ogling a hot guy across the food court at the mall.

“Darn it, Sarah I’ve got to go!” she didn’t even pause to wait for Sarah’s response. She grabbed her shopping bags and ran toward the exit. She sprinted past a child sitting in a highchair throwing a tantrum over some scattered fries and dashed past a couple sitting on a bench making out like they haven’t seen each other in a year.

To the security guard slumped on a bench, Alison probably looked mighty suspicious running through the mall to the parking lot with multiple shopping bags swinging in her hands, but she didn’t have time to think about that now. She was too busy spouting profanities under her breath the whole way to the parking lot.

Alison got into her car, threw it in reverse and rushed out of the parking space. The light at the intersection was green.

“Thank God,” Alison breathed a sigh of relief. So many punishments flashed through her brain. She was dead meat. Apparently this new guy was the real deal. “Marriage material” her mom had called him. But that’s what her mom thought about every guy she brought home.

Rolling her eyes Alison pulled out into the intersection and that was when she saw the car swerving into her lane.

Bleary-eyed, Alison opened her eyes to a bright light streaming in from the window. Rolling over in bed, she looked at the alarm clock. It was six-thirty in the morning on a Saturday.

“What on earth am I doing up this early?” she thought out loud.

As she voiced the words a shiver ran down her back. Not the normal shiver that you get when you’re cold, but the abnormal kind that you get when you’re being watched.

It’s been two days since the car accident. A drunk driver had collided with her in the process of running a red light. Alison had made it out of the accident with barely a scratch on her. Her car wasn’t as fortunate. Everyone said she was lucky to have made it out alive because the drunk driver’s car had hit her on the driver’s side. She should have been crushed to death, but she hadn’t been. It was a miracle.

Alison’s mother, while extremely happy she was alright, had grounded her the second she found out Alison was going to live. Despite the fact that Alison had no injuries she felt like something had changed during that crash. She no longer felt alone. There was always someone, or something, watching her. Other times, when she was very quiet she could hear the faint sound of beeping that seemed to be coming from somewhere far away, but at the same time right beside her.

The first time she had heard it she had searched all over the house for anything that could be emitting the obnoxious noise. She came up short. She found no evidence of anything that could cause a sound like that in her house.

The doctors said it was from the accident. They brushed it off saying something about shock and it should go away in a few days. It never did.

Sighing she rolled out of bed and stumbled down the stairs in search of breakfast. She was on her own for that one. Her mom was working the early morning shift at the hospital. Alison hated when her mom worked in the mornings. She couldn’t cook worth crap and loved her mom’s chocolate chip blueberry pancakes. Her mouth salivated at the thought of them.

“Man, I would kill for some pancakes for breakfast,” Alison shuffled into the kitchen.

She opened the refrigerator in search of something edible. At the sight of the empty fridge her stomach let out a loud growl alerting her to how hungry she actually was.

Alison closed the fridge and shook her head in defeat. She looked past the kitchen counter wondering if there would be anything in the cabinets. Something on the counter caught her attention. Sitting next to a glass of orange juice and a vase of flowers was a plate of chocolate chip blueberry pancakes. Her mom must have made them for her. It must be a coincidence that she had been thinking of them and they were there waiting for her. She shrugged off the weird feeling and dug into her surprise breakfast.

After she had finished eating and clearing the table Alison stepped outside to get the mail. Squinting, Alison walked down the long, twisting driveway to the mailbox. Wind blew through the trees and puffy clouds glided through the sky. It was her favorite type of weather. Not too hot and not too cold. It was absolutely perfect.

Alison grabbed the mail and headed back up the driveway to the house. Once inside, she sifted through the mail out of habit. She never got anything in the mail but she was curious to what came for her mom.

The mail was normal today, just a few bills and a postcard from her aunt in Europe, nothing too exciting. About to toss the mail on the table, Alison noticed an envelope addressed to her. It was a letter from Harvard University. She had only dreamed that she would be accepted. She couldn’t believe that they would have gotten back to her so soon. Alison took her mail and retreated back to her bedroom skipping stairs as she went. Her hands shook just looking at the letter. Alison gulped as she started to open the letter. She made it halfway before she stopped. She sucked in a breath of air and opened it the whole way. Holding her breath she pulled the letter out of the envelope.

“Dear Miss Dodson, blah, blah, blah…,” Alison skimmed the letter. “You have been accepted!”

There was no way that this would be true. She reread the letter about ten more times to be sure. No one believed that she would make it in. Sure her mother had said she would make it in but you have to tell your kids things like that to make them feel good about themselves. Picking up the phone Alison dialed Sarah’s number. There was no way she could keep news like this to herself for long.

“Hello?” Sarah sang into the receiver.

“You will not believe what I have to tell you! I’ve been accepted into Harvard!” Alison said breathlessly.

Alison couldn’t help but relish the moment of silence. She had accomplished something no one else thought she could.

“No way! That’s, like, totally amazing!” Sarah congratulated. “Do you want to know what else is amazing? Jessica got kicked off the cheerleading squad! And you know what that means right? You’re the captain now!”

Alison couldn’t believe that this was happening to her. Her life was amazing now. Everything was going right for once and she was getting all of the things she ever wanted. Now all she had to do was get Johnny, the captain of the football team and major hottie, to ask her to prom. If only it were that easy. Alison and Sarah talked a few more minutes before hanging up. Sighing in content Alison flopped backwards onto her bed. She stared up at the ceiling and couldn’t keep from grinning.

Alison was startled awake when the doorbell rang. She must have fallen asleep a few minutes after lying on her bed. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and made her way down to answer the door.

She looked out the rose colored curtains before she opened the door. It was Johnny. The very same Johnny she had been thinking about not but a few hours earlier. She checked her reflection in the mirror beside the door to make sure she looked perfect for him. The doorbell rang two more times. Once Alison had fixed herself she opened the door with an award winning smile on her face.

Johnny leaned against one of the pillars on her porch. He was bathed in sunlight and the way the sun reflected off of his golden hair made him look like an angel. Alison melted at the sight of him but quickly composed herself.

“Hey Johnny,” she purred. “What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, just wanted to make sure you were ok. I heard about the accident and all,” Johnny replied sheepishly. His face turned a bright shade of red and pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. “And I brought these for you.”

The flowers were orchids. They were her favorite flowers. How did he know?

“Thank you but you didn’t have to come all the way out here,” she gushed as she took the flowers and breathed in the fresh floral scent.

Johnny opened his mouth like he had something to say but closed it again. He rubbed the back of his neck and then looked away staring off into the distance. He looked really interested in the cows in the pasture next to her house.

“I actually came to ask you something,” he said.

Alison’s heart fluttered.

“Alright, go ahead,” she said playing it cool.

“Well you see, I was just wondering if you would maybe want to be my date to prom?” Johnny asked. On the last part he turned and looked at her full on. His blue eyes alight with an intensity she had never seen before.

“Of course!” Alison blushed.

“Great,” he smiled. “It’s a date.”

“A date,” she repeated, still dumbfounded.

“Okay, well I’ll see you in school Monday,” Johnny backed away awkwardly. As if he wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“Yeah, see you,” Alison closed the door once he had left the porch. She couldn’t stop smiling. This really had just happened. Johnny had asked her to prom. All of this really was way too good to be true. Nothing happened like this. Nothing this good happened to anyone. Alison pushed away that thought. If good things like this were going to be happening to her from now on she wasn’t going to question it. “Hey, maybe I should try the lottery.”

Alison’s mother had called from the hospital saying that she wouldn’t be home until early the next morning. There had been an accident and the hospital was short staffed so she had to take another shift. That was ok with Alison; it meant she could lie around and do nothing for the rest of the day. She had intended on doing that anyway but then there would be no one around to judge her for it. Alison settled down on the couch with a bag of chips and the TV remote. She flipped through Netflix and finally decided on watching old episodes of Supernatural for the rest of the day.

Around twelve at night, Alison decided to head up to bed. Yawning, she shuffled up the stairs to her room, changed into her night clothes, and went to bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was fast asleep.

A few hours later, Alison was jolted from her sleep. There was someone with her. She couldn’t see anyone but she could feel them watching her.

“Alison,” her mother’s voice echoed in her head. She sounded like she had been crying. There was something wrong, her mother never cried. Her mother was the strongest person Alison knew.

She sat up straight in her bed letting the covers fall off of her. It was early in the morning. Her mother wouldn’t be home yet. She couldn’t be. Her mother’s second shift was barely over.

“Alison, I just want you to know that I love you,” her mother’s voice came again but more frantic. There was something definitely wrong. The only time Alison’s mother had sounded like that was when her father had died.

Alison inched towards the side of her bed where she kept a baseball bat. She kept it there for nights her mother worked. Nights like this one. She neared the edge of the bed but quickly decided against reaching out into the dark. A shiver ran down her spine and her blood ran cold. This couldn’t be her mother. Maybe she was just going crazy. Or it could be another side effect from the accident. Yes, that’s what it was.

“Keep talking. She can hear you,” said a new voice. One Alison didn’t recognize. That was it, Alison threw the covers over her head and curled up in a ball. She started shaking uncontrollably.

“I’m not crazy. I am not crazy,” Alison chanted. “It’s just a dream. It’s nothing but a dream.” Alison started humming and covered her head with her pillow to keep the voices out.

“I love you Alison,” her mother’s voice came for the last time.

***

Alison’s mother sat on the hard plastic chair beside Alison’s hospital bed. It’s been two days since the accident. The doctors have lost hope that she will ever regain consciousness. Alison had been crushed in the car wreck. Her mangled body had to be pried from the burning car. The drunk driver had been killed on impact. He took the easy way out. He got the easy way without pain. Unlike her daughter who laid lifeless in front of her.

The doctors said she’s dreaming. That she’s in a good place. That she’s in her own personal heaven. Where she had everything she could have ever dreamed of in life.

“Alison,” her voice cracked. Tears threatened to spill over. She reached over and gave one of Alison’s hands a squeeze. As if to make a point, that she was there for her.

“Alison, I just want you to know that I love you,” she smiled. She had to be strong for Alison. But most of all she had to be strong for herself.

“Keep talking. She can hear you,” a nurse had entered the room and stood behind her chair. The nurse put a hand on Alison’s mother’s shoulder offering some comfort. She nodded as if to tell her to try again.

“I love you, Alison,” her mother said.

Alison’s mother stood up, turned away from the bed and fell into the nurse’s embrace. They stood like that for a few minutes before the tremors died down.

“That girl hasn’t found a heart yet has she?” Alison’s mother asked even though she already knew the answer. The nurse looked uncomfortable for a minute. Like she felt it was too soon to discuss the topic.

“No. No, we haven’t found a match yet,” the nurse answered shifting her feet.

“Well, I…I think…I think I’m ready now. The doctors say there’s no chance she will ever wake up. Who am I to deny another mother’s child the right to live? Alison’s memory will live on through that girl,” Alison’s mother said through her heartfelt sobs.

The nurse moved over to the monitors and pressed the shut off button. The steady beeping from the life support machines slowly faded to silence. A few seconds later, Alison was gone.