The men in black coats lower the casket into the ground, and I drop to my knees. “She can’t go in the ground. She’ll be cold.”
Dean kneels beside me. “She’s not in there, mate.”
“She never liked the dark,” I shout over the thunder. My heart beats wildly like the hammering of rain on her coffin. I can’t breathe as the crowd closes in on me. The coffin descends further into the ground.
“Noooooo,” I yell with my last breath. Justin and Dean hold me back, but I claw myself away from them on the sodden ground, reaching out for the white casket disappearing into the soil.
“Love, she’s not in the coffin.” A voice says behind me.
My body convulses. The tornado swallows everything in its path, whirling around me, getting closer and closer until it takes me. A welcoming darkness takes my breath and everything is still, black and quiet.
“Love, wake up.” Mum’s voice echoes through the void.
I jolt up in bed, sucking in a breath like a baby breathing life for the first time. A cool sticky sweat coats my skin, and my heart pumps adrenaline through my body as if I’ve been zapped with a new lease of life.
“Love, you were having a nightmare.” Mum strokes my damp hair, pushing it from my eyes.
I run my hand over my face and let out a long breath. “She was dead.” The memory crushes my chest, and I curl my shoulders, clutching my abdomen. “She was dead, Mum.”
“Don’t think about that. You have to stay strong for your boy. I’ve been praying for her. I’m sure everything will be fine. Stay positive. You’ll be able to see her again in a few hours. Besides, the hospital would call if there was any change, wouldn’t they?”
I reach for my phone on the bedside table and call the ward. I need to know she’s all right.