When she lay down the letter after reading it three times, it was tear-stained. She cried of astonishment, of joy and delight, of fear of the times that lay before them, of pain of the loss of their parents and of love. Of love to her brother, to her parents, and to a man, she didn't even know, but who tried to ease her pain, although she was also a stranger to him.She couldn't understand how someone could be so nice and unselfisch. She looked at the concert-tickets and the backstagepasses and she was moved to tears again. When her brother came home and saw her crying he thought that something bad must have happend.But then she showed him the letter and he understood, that she wasn't crying because of something bad, but she was crying of luck.He took her into his arms and they stayed like that for a while. She knew their life had changed, but above all the grief they felt, this was probably going to be the time of their life.
END
Friday, August 15, 2008
part 6
8 months after the crash, Matt and I had almost fully rearranged our lives. He had gone back to work, and I went back to school. Soon we got on really well and we never had a fight or any problems. A woman from the youth welfare office came along a few times and tried to persuade me to move to a distant relative of ours who lived in South Carolina. But I wanted to stay at Matt's side and she was eventually fine with that, as she could see that we coped with the situation really well.So one day as I came back from school and Matt wasn't home yet, there was a small brown envelope in our letterbox.The letter was adressed to me and I was surprised as we didn't get a lot of mail these days. I searched for a sender but it was anonymous. So I quickly opened it to see who could have sent it. It was from inside New Jersey, at least that was what the post stamp said.
This was what the letter said:
Dear Sarah,
some months ago I got the letter you sent me, and as I read it over and over, my feelings overwhelmed me and I was moved to tears. I just couldn't believe what you wrote and that it had really happened.
You must excuse me, but there are a lot of people who would write something like that, just to call attention to themselves, but you didn't even include your adress so I couldn't have answered you and that really draw my attention. I called all hospitals in New Jersey and asked for a girl that had layen in coma for some weeks and only one hospital had had someone like that called Sarah. So they gave me your name and I phoned your brother and he told me that all you had written was true.
I am really sorry for what happend to you and your brother and I was so touched that our music could actually help you to get out of that dark place.Thank you for telling me your feelings and what you saw and heard and felt when you were trapped in that blackness.I really appreciate you being so frank to me and it really changed something in me. It sort of switched something over deep inside me and my friends keep telling me that I behave so different now. I seem to be nicer to everyone and not so moody anymore, but the truth is that I'm just so grateful to be alive and to be able to give some of my feelings and my love to other people, that I seem to view everything in a different light.
And I wanted to thank you for that, Sarah. Because of you small things now seem far more valueable than before and I spend more time with my kids and my wife now. I just don't want to waste any other second of my life with dispensable things anymore. Thank you.
Maybe I can tell you that personally...next week we are doing a concert back here in New Jersey and I wondered if you and your brother would like to join us. I would be delighted to meet you personally. The other guys want to meet you too, by the way. I told them about your letter and they hope that you'll come to the concert.
Here's my cellphone nr.: xxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx
Call me when you or your brother need something. I know it must be a hard time you are going through and you should know, that your not alone.Just as I told you before, I'll be there for you, and although we don't know each other, I really mean that. You don't deserve being in that situation and nobody should go through it alone.
Jon
part 5
Another four weeks had past now, and I was as healthy as I could be.
I spent all the time I had since my awakening, with Matt. He had stopped working and we got some orphan's pension, so we could live on that for a while. We often visited our parents' graves and spent hours sitting at their side and telling them what happend in our lives, while they were up in heaven.
I guessed they were ok, where they were now and it was just a matter of time until we would see them again. But it was just not my time yet and there were so many things I still wanted to do. First of all, I wanted to thank two people. I had thanked Matt for being at my side all the time but he had just answered that it was the greatest gift for him that I finally woke up so I shouldn't thank him. I was thankful still.And then I wanted to thank him. Him, who had also talked to me while I needed him and who somehow also made me come back to life.
So I wrote him a letter and told him about what had happend. I told it from my point of view and how his voice had been significant for me to remember who I was and that he had actually told me to open my eyes. (Matt had told me afterwards that he had never said something like that, so I must have imagined that I heard him say so.)
I wrote him that I would be thankful for the rest of my life , that he had been at my side and that I just wanted him to know how important his music could be for some people and that he and the rest of the band should never stop doing what they do, because there would always be at least one girl who would listen to what he had to say.
I hadn't been a fanatic before, and I wouldn't turn into one now, don't get me wrong. I just wanted to give him back a little bit of what he gives to everyone. I soon forgot about that letter, as I didn't await a response. I knew that it was pure luck if he would actually even get the letter, but I wanted to have tried so nevertheless.
I spent all the time I had since my awakening, with Matt. He had stopped working and we got some orphan's pension, so we could live on that for a while. We often visited our parents' graves and spent hours sitting at their side and telling them what happend in our lives, while they were up in heaven.
I guessed they were ok, where they were now and it was just a matter of time until we would see them again. But it was just not my time yet and there were so many things I still wanted to do. First of all, I wanted to thank two people. I had thanked Matt for being at my side all the time but he had just answered that it was the greatest gift for him that I finally woke up so I shouldn't thank him. I was thankful still.And then I wanted to thank him. Him, who had also talked to me while I needed him and who somehow also made me come back to life.
So I wrote him a letter and told him about what had happend. I told it from my point of view and how his voice had been significant for me to remember who I was and that he had actually told me to open my eyes. (Matt had told me afterwards that he had never said something like that, so I must have imagined that I heard him say so.)
I wrote him that I would be thankful for the rest of my life , that he had been at my side and that I just wanted him to know how important his music could be for some people and that he and the rest of the band should never stop doing what they do, because there would always be at least one girl who would listen to what he had to say.
I hadn't been a fanatic before, and I wouldn't turn into one now, don't get me wrong. I just wanted to give him back a little bit of what he gives to everyone. I soon forgot about that letter, as I didn't await a response. I knew that it was pure luck if he would actually even get the letter, but I wanted to have tried so nevertheless.
part 4
I remembered...
'I'll be there for you'...
...I was standing in front of a large stage, in the front row. All around me were thousands of people, but I felt as if I was standing there alone. He was standing right above and in front of me and he was bending down, giving me his hand, looking right into my face and singing these words:
„Ill be there for you, these five words I swear to you, when you breathe, I wanna be the air for you, I'll be there for you...“
Then he let go and walked away, but for the rest of the concert I still felt as if he was only singing for me. Jon Bon Jovi.
And he had been right, he was there for me, when I needed him most, before, always when I felt bad, his voice brought me back to happiness, and now, when all was black and I struggled to get out of this wicked place, he was there so I didn't feel so alone anymore.
And the other voice, I realized now, it was Matt. He was also there for me, he had always been. But where was my Mum, where was my Dad? What had happened and how did I come here? I had to get out of this nightmare and back int my old world, but how?„Open your eyes, Sarah, just open your eyes!“This voice, that wasn't Matt, but it wasn't singing a song either. But I saw him in front of me and I was so sure it was him. It was his voice and I was pretty sure, that if I opened my eyes right then, I would see into his blue eyes. I just had to try.And so I did. I opened my eyes and I had been right.
All the blackness around me had vanished, the curtains had been drawn and right in front of me, was a pair of baby blue eyes.But it wasn't him, it was my brother Matt, Matt and his piercing blue eyes.
I smiled: „Hey bro, I'm back.“
'I'll be there for you'...
...I was standing in front of a large stage, in the front row. All around me were thousands of people, but I felt as if I was standing there alone. He was standing right above and in front of me and he was bending down, giving me his hand, looking right into my face and singing these words:
„Ill be there for you, these five words I swear to you, when you breathe, I wanna be the air for you, I'll be there for you...“
Then he let go and walked away, but for the rest of the concert I still felt as if he was only singing for me. Jon Bon Jovi.
And he had been right, he was there for me, when I needed him most, before, always when I felt bad, his voice brought me back to happiness, and now, when all was black and I struggled to get out of this wicked place, he was there so I didn't feel so alone anymore.
And the other voice, I realized now, it was Matt. He was also there for me, he had always been. But where was my Mum, where was my Dad? What had happened and how did I come here? I had to get out of this nightmare and back int my old world, but how?„Open your eyes, Sarah, just open your eyes!“This voice, that wasn't Matt, but it wasn't singing a song either. But I saw him in front of me and I was so sure it was him. It was his voice and I was pretty sure, that if I opened my eyes right then, I would see into his blue eyes. I just had to try.And so I did. I opened my eyes and I had been right.
All the blackness around me had vanished, the curtains had been drawn and right in front of me, was a pair of baby blue eyes.But it wasn't him, it was my brother Matt, Matt and his piercing blue eyes.
I smiled: „Hey bro, I'm back.“
part 3
Soon a part of my memory got back.
From one second to the next I suddenly knew who I was or rather who I had been. I used to be a girl named Sarah, and those voices who talked and sang to me, I knew them both, although I could not yet tell who they were. But I definitely knew they were familiar.
I also heard more than the voices now. When the first man spoke, there was a faint beeping in the background, but I couldn't imagine what it was. And every now and then I could hear other voices, speaking to the man I knew. I didn't know what they were actually talking about, it was something about 'awakening' and 'only two more weeks left', but I couldn't find the linking of the different words. I knew the meaning was somewhere in front of me, but I couldn't get a hold of it, not yet.
But then the man told me about what they had been talking, and he said they had been talking about me. That I was sleeping for so long now, and that I really had to wake up now.
That was about the time, when I realized for the first time, what the words of the music really meant. Before, I couldn't catch the words and the meaning, I only listened to it and it sounded nice. But now I knew what the man was singing about. I understood the stories he told and the feelings he described. Still I thought the voice was familiar, and still I couldn't tell who it was.
But then, when I listened to this one song, a certain succession of words, suddenly everything came back.
From one second to the next I suddenly knew who I was or rather who I had been. I used to be a girl named Sarah, and those voices who talked and sang to me, I knew them both, although I could not yet tell who they were. But I definitely knew they were familiar.
I also heard more than the voices now. When the first man spoke, there was a faint beeping in the background, but I couldn't imagine what it was. And every now and then I could hear other voices, speaking to the man I knew. I didn't know what they were actually talking about, it was something about 'awakening' and 'only two more weeks left', but I couldn't find the linking of the different words. I knew the meaning was somewhere in front of me, but I couldn't get a hold of it, not yet.
But then the man told me about what they had been talking, and he said they had been talking about me. That I was sleeping for so long now, and that I really had to wake up now.
That was about the time, when I realized for the first time, what the words of the music really meant. Before, I couldn't catch the words and the meaning, I only listened to it and it sounded nice. But now I knew what the man was singing about. I understood the stories he told and the feelings he described. Still I thought the voice was familiar, and still I couldn't tell who it was.
But then, when I listened to this one song, a certain succession of words, suddenly everything came back.
part 2
It was dark, everything around me was pitch black. I didn't know where I was or what I was. I just existed.
I can't remember a lot of the 'dark times', as I call them, because I couldn't see or hear anything for a long time. I don't know how long it actually was, but from what I know now I guess it was several days. Several days, in which I only existed, and in which I didn't know if I was dead or alive.
Then things changed. There was still pure blackness around me, but I started hearing things, words, sentences, monologues. It was a very familiar voice, I knew I had heard it before, but I didn't know who it was. It sounded like a boy or a young man. He talked to me.He told me of a different world, a world I guessed I used to belong to, before this blackness came over me. He told me things of this world, of probably my former life, of his life and very often of something called Bon Jovi. I didn't know what it was, but he told me a lot about it. I had the strange feeling the man had known my former me. And in my former life this Bon Jovi-thing must have been important I guess.
Then came another change. The man couldn't talk to me always, he said he had to go to work, whatever that was. But before he went away he made me hear something else, that sounded in my head while he was gone. It was a different voice, but also a man's voice. And he was talking in a very strange way to me. And there were also other noises that somehow sounded in consonance with his voice. They sort of adaptet to his voice and made it sound even more pretty. At some point I must have realized that he was singing, and that it was music, that played in my head. I guess that was the first time I remembered something.
When he sang, it was so nice and familiar and I didn't feel alone anymore when the first man was gone. No, actually, I felt safe.And the more often the man talked to me and the more the other one sang to me, the more my surroundings became clearer. It wasn't pitch black anymore, sometimes it was as if it was light actually, but it was as if there was a curtain in front of my eyes.
I can't remember a lot of the 'dark times', as I call them, because I couldn't see or hear anything for a long time. I don't know how long it actually was, but from what I know now I guess it was several days. Several days, in which I only existed, and in which I didn't know if I was dead or alive.
Then things changed. There was still pure blackness around me, but I started hearing things, words, sentences, monologues. It was a very familiar voice, I knew I had heard it before, but I didn't know who it was. It sounded like a boy or a young man. He talked to me.He told me of a different world, a world I guessed I used to belong to, before this blackness came over me. He told me things of this world, of probably my former life, of his life and very often of something called Bon Jovi. I didn't know what it was, but he told me a lot about it. I had the strange feeling the man had known my former me. And in my former life this Bon Jovi-thing must have been important I guess.
Then came another change. The man couldn't talk to me always, he said he had to go to work, whatever that was. But before he went away he made me hear something else, that sounded in my head while he was gone. It was a different voice, but also a man's voice. And he was talking in a very strange way to me. And there were also other noises that somehow sounded in consonance with his voice. They sort of adaptet to his voice and made it sound even more pretty. At some point I must have realized that he was singing, and that it was music, that played in my head. I guess that was the first time I remembered something.
When he sang, it was so nice and familiar and I didn't feel alone anymore when the first man was gone. No, actually, I felt safe.And the more often the man talked to me and the more the other one sang to me, the more my surroundings became clearer. It wasn't pitch black anymore, sometimes it was as if it was light actually, but it was as if there was a curtain in front of my eyes.
part 1
This is the story of a young girl from New Jersey named Sarah. She was 16 when she and her parents had a heavy carcrash. Her parents died right away, but she fell into a coma.The doctors said that her chances were small, especially because she had been lying in the coma for four weeks already and she had shown no signs of life yet. Another two weeks and they would tell Sarah's brother, that they had to turn off the machines that kept her alive.
Matt was five years older than his sister and he was a tough guy. Although he had just lost both his parents and was about to lose Sarah too, he stayed at ther side each day and every hour he could.He still went to work and didn't sleep a lot, but he didn't care. All he cared about was Sarah. She was the only family he had left now and she had always been his little princess, he just didn't want to let her go.
He talked to her a lot when he sat at her side, the doctors had told him that maybe that would help. So he told her about everything he knew, anything that she could have found interesting. He told her about their past, about their childhood they had spent together and of what was going on in the world. Very often he also told her about her favourite music band Bon Jovi. And he also played their music to her. When he couldn't be at her side, he plugged earplugs into her ears and turned on the songs of Bon Jovi. He knew she loved the band and the music had always been her hiding place if she felt sad or alone. But this time, he hoped that the music would help her to come out of her hiding place, make her come back to life. He didn't know if she could hear anything he said, but he prayed for her and believed in her...
...maybe that was the key.
Matt was five years older than his sister and he was a tough guy. Although he had just lost both his parents and was about to lose Sarah too, he stayed at ther side each day and every hour he could.He still went to work and didn't sleep a lot, but he didn't care. All he cared about was Sarah. She was the only family he had left now and she had always been his little princess, he just didn't want to let her go.
He talked to her a lot when he sat at her side, the doctors had told him that maybe that would help. So he told her about everything he knew, anything that she could have found interesting. He told her about their past, about their childhood they had spent together and of what was going on in the world. Very often he also told her about her favourite music band Bon Jovi. And he also played their music to her. When he couldn't be at her side, he plugged earplugs into her ears and turned on the songs of Bon Jovi. He knew she loved the band and the music had always been her hiding place if she felt sad or alone. But this time, he hoped that the music would help her to come out of her hiding place, make her come back to life. He didn't know if she could hear anything he said, but he prayed for her and believed in her...
...maybe that was the key.
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