"Nick?"Nickolas Gene Carter heard the voice... but it was so far away, far in the distance...
"Nick? Oh Lord Nick, please wake up, Nick. Please wakeup." Soft sobbing.
Nick forced his heavy eyelids open. Before him was a beautiful angel, an angel with red hair and green eyes, dressed in all white...
"Nick?" A beautiful smile spread across the angel's face, which was wet with tears.
"Am I dead?"
The angel laughed. "No. Oh Nick of course not," the angel choked through her sobs.
Then Nick recognized his girlfriend.
Ananda Littrell looked at him with pain in her eyes.
Nick smiled. "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven and you were an angel."
Ananda cried harder. "Oh Nick. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, it's all my fault, but I didn't know, Nick. I didn't know. I should have listened."
"Sorry for what?" Nick asked, reaching up and wiping a tear off her cheek. That was when he noticed the IV in his wrist. The room was all white and smelled of antiseptic. Somewhere around his head Nick could hear a consistent beeping... he was lying in a hospital bed. Nick looked at Ananda in confusion. "What am I doing here?"
"You mean you don't remember?"
Images flashed through Nick's head... horrible images... the man with the gun, grabbing Ananda by the arm... her terrified face... the loud bang as the gun went off... Ananda screaming and rushing to his side... more bangs... then everything had gone black.
