This has been the second time in less than a few hours she's been knocked unconscious. She laid precariously in between the backseats of a blacked out silver impala completely unaware of her impending doom; her mind started drifting toward different times, much better times, and she caught herself trapped in another memory.
Golden sunlight had just begun reflecting against pale blue walls as a beautiful older woman burst through an open mahogany entryway. Her face contorted between fear and worry as her right hand flipped on the light switch. She casted a slight glance as the young formerly asleep child sprung out of bed in a hurry. The little girl's sparkling emerald eyes stared up at her mother as the older woman quietly uttered one word,
"Grandfather."
This was all the little girl needed as she forgot herself and practically flew down the long mahogany stairwell and directly into the main family kitchen. There she witnessed her grandfather sitting on one of the many swiveling stools directly at the end of a rosewood table they'd finished making only a few weeks ago.
He was unresponsive and had begun to choke on his false teeth; a small stream of vomit escaped his mouth and his head rolled down toward his stomach. The girl glanced toward her parents with fear evident in her childlike features. Her eyes trailed toward her father's crystal blue orbs as the man's worry spread like an infection. He pointed toward one of the smallest cabinets near their stove and told the girl in a panic,
"Grab one of the garbage bags and place it on the ground in front of him."
She nodded her head and immediately went to grab one of the several black trash bags before rushing back to sit at the floor near her grandfather's feet. The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion, as the young girl placed the black bag where she'd been seated, and reached her hand into her grandfather's mouth to pull out his false front teeth.
No sooner than she'd dropped the false teeth down onto the bag did her grandfather regain consciousness; a wave of relief washed over the young girl as she gazed into her grandfather's crystal blue eyes. He looked down at her for a few seconds before turning toward his son and asking,
"What happened?"
The young girl's father answered with worry still laced into his voice,
"You just had a stroke father and you went unresponsive. If not for little Lizzie, I don't think you would be here right now."
At her father's surprising praise the little girl smile brightly. She glanced from her beloved grandfather, toward her mother, who was pacing back and forth anxiously speaking to someone on the phone. The woman spared a glance at the little girl giving her a single nod of approval before returning to her conversation.
A few minutes later a young boy came walking out of the room adjacent to the bottom of the staircase and glanced about the scene before him,
"What happened here?"
Their mother finally put her phone away and glanced from the little boy over to the little girl before responding,
"It doesn't matter you both need to get to your rooms and get dressed. Paramedics are on their way to check on your grandfather."
Both children glanced toward each other before snapping out of their shared daze and heading to their separate rooms to follow their mother's instruction. The next half hour seemed to happen in a daze as the young girl, now properly dressed for the day, was ordered to stand near the window and wait for the paramedic team to arrive. As soon as she saw the flashing lights headed up the drive she shouted for her mother, who seemed to appear out of thin air and opened the double doors allowing the two men entry into the lavish home.
She followed the men, who in turn followed her mother, through the family room, past the built in bar, down the narrow hall, into the main kitchen area, to once again stand off to the side and observe as they checked her grandfather's vital sighs. After a few seconds one of the men nodded and announced that her grandfather would be just fine.
She'd saved her grandfather's life at only thirteen years old, but she'd be unable to save her own, because she couldn't even wake up.