Dragons

The cold night drew on, the seat hard, the room as dark as death. I turned and looked at mother, her face grey and lips pursed. I hoped her dream was better than life. Outside, sunset, it was nine in the evening, but the sun was potent, lining the sky with orange. The hospital saw everything, our house, the mountains, the cities I had never been to. By the bedside, a heart monitor carried a steady beat, not daring to look otherwise I would see something bad.

She was dying. The truth was a reality check I didn't want to believe. When the doctor had told me, I cried for a long time. Dad was gone, for Mother to leave to would mean I was... I can't say it. But at that moment, the moment where the last magnificent stroke of sunlight left, I heard silence. The Heart monitor's long final beat, announcing death, was drowned out and I was looking outside, feeling each eye weep, tears falling onto the ground below.

It took a long time before I stopped, tears eternally falling until I saw one freeze. I watched as the tear turned cold, falling and hitting the ground, still hard. It took a moment to realize it wasn't a dream, I picked up the little tear with my thumb and finger, it's cold shell proving to be ice. I looked outside, the window shut, the only breeze coming from behind. I turned my head, almost choking as I saw Mother's arm lift. I almost screamed, if not so terrified. I saw it, the ice, a large rod of ice pushing underneath her hand, lifting it up, coming from the bed. How a large piece of ice had got there, I wasn't sure, but I could only watch as it began to engulf her. The ice grew, covering her hand, almost a clear liquid, running down her arm, freezing once touching her skin. It went over her torso, face, everything. I could hear the cracking as the ice froze, now a clear layer of icy skin over Mother.

After a minute, once slightly more relaxed, I got up, slowly moving towards her. I brushed one finger over her chest. Ice. Where I had touched my finger, the mark grew, growing across her chest, until it was the shape of a...... heart. A beating heart. I stared at the ice heart, beating, pumping, more ice flowing over her body and freezing up. A beeping filled the silence. The heart monitor. I turned, feeling my own heart jump as the heart monitor made a noise, a beat, giving information that was wrong. Or not. I looked back at Mother, wondering if this was true, could she come to life? I was waiting, hoping this was like a dream where right then she would open her eyes.

The beat kept going, the ice heart kept pumping, but nothing. Apart from her opening her eyes. I screamed out, falling backwards. My Mother was.... alive. I looked at her, watched as she lifted herself, the dead woman getting up from her sleep. The ice was thin, unnoticeable, but the heart kept beating, the ice holding it to her. I kept breathing, focused on the thing sitting up.

“Hey,” Mother smiled once her eyes saw me.

“Hi.”

“You look like you've seen a ghost,” Mother laughed, her face surprised.

“I have.”

Mother rolled her eyes, laying against the pillow, sleeping, her snores leaving her mouth. I stayed still, watching her sleep, the heart monitor skipping along. Then the room was dark, a long shadow covering everything. A woman stood at the corridor, wearing a completely white dress and a very long white cloak, her face pale but beautiful, eyes milk white and lips pure blue. She smiled at me, the angel that saved my Mother, blowing out a gust of snow from her mouth. She was an Ice Queen.