Mastered: Year 6, Day 1

“You have to stop!” Delia shouted, pounding on the glass.

The doctor looked at her questioningly but stopped the electro-therapy. Later, when Ash was stable, he asked, “That was the last chance to bring him out of his coma. He’s been there for far too long. Insurance is out.”
“I know.” Delia replied, hands in her lap. Though they had stopped hours ago, the tear marks were on her face. She knew what was coming next.
“I don’t want to give you hope, just to take it away but, there is a minute chance that pulling him off life support will wake him.”
“Okay. I just know that he wouldn’t want to live in anywhere he couldn’t move. I know you were doing your best doctor.”
“Do you want to call any friends over to be with you while we try one last time? Or would you prefer to be alone with him?”
“I’ll just be alone with him,” she said.

The doctor left while she said goodbye to Ash. His body had deteriorated while he lay in the bed for so long. His hair was matted. Tubes ran in and out of his body. She had hoped so much that this would be different from her husband. “Oh Ash,” she said, stroking his hair. “I love you so much. I’m so proud of you, no matter what.” She sat in the bed next to him where she had spent so much of her time over the last years. She sobbed quietly until the doctor came back in.

“Delia, are you ready?”

She nodded.

The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor slowed and then nearly stopped. And  then Ash opened his eyes. For the third time in the last five years he opened his eyes.

“Mom?”
“Ash? Honey?”
“Where am I? Where’s Pikachu?”  Ash looked around wildly.
“Baby? What who’s that. What’s that?” Tears of joy streamed down her face.

Ash was so confused. There was no way that everything could have been explained to him in that moment. But enough was. He remembered everything that had happened and realized. All the hope and pain and hurt were worthless. His dream had been so fantastical. The care he had spent on the people and Pokémon was all wasted. Realizing that the only real thing he had experienced in the last five years were those two dreams crushed him.

His heart left him.

“I’m so sorry mom. I love you so much.” He said, hardly able to meet her eyes. Tears freely flowed.
“Ash it’s okay. Its okay, you’re here now.”
“No mom, I can’t. I can’t. I’m sorry, I can’t.”
“Baby, its okay its okay. You’re safe now.”
“No mom.”

And he grabbed her hand. The heart monitor slowed again and she understood. She held his hand, even as he let go of life.

But spring is the most beautiful time of the year. The deaths we die give way to new life, for, how can a seed be born unless it dies?

Mastered: Year 1, Day 6

“Delia?” A man with a walrus mustache came into the room. His dress shoes clacked on the metal floors. As he reached the end of the bed, he picked up a chart at the end of Ash’s bed.
“Yes doctor? Is my son okay?”
“He is stable and there is brain activity, there’s hope, but the chances of him getting out of himself by himself are slim.”

A tear slid down her cheek. She hadn’t rested well since the accident. Some years ago, when Ash was five, his father died in the line of duty. Though they had emerged victorious, it had taken a huge toll on the men and women lost in battle. She had struggled financially ever since.

“What can we do?”

Photo Credit by Erika Bachiochi