I'm Still Breathing

"M.. Mum?" she asks weakly, looking around as her eyes flutter open.
"Maisy?" her mother says in a whisper, a few tears rolling down from her eyes as she slips into the chair beside the bed and clasps her daughter's hands, squeezing tightly.
"Mum, where am I?"
"There was a bit of a complication with the operation Sweetie."
"Complication?" Maisy repeats. "What sort of complication?"
"You lost a lot of blood," says her mother quietly. "We could have lost you Maisy."
"Oh," says Maisy. "I'm still here though."
"Yeah, you're are. We're only lucky the doctors could figure it out in time and fixed it. You're still here, with us."

"Mum, I'm sorry," says Maisy suddenly, tears falling from her own eyes.
"What for?" her mother asks, reaching for her daughter's hand. "Maisy, you haven't got anything to be sorry for."
"Everything," Maisy says, so quietly it's barely audible. "I'm sorry for everything I ever did. And Mum, I love you."
"I love you too Maisy," says her mother, crying too. "I never thought I was going to get to say that again. But what's this all of a sudden? You never used to say those sorts of things before."
"Exactly that," Maisy says simply.
"What?"
"What did you just say Mum?"
"What?"
Maisy shook her head. "Try again."
"Ok... Um, I never thought I was going to get to say that again?"
Maisy simply nods. "I'm still breathing Mum. I've been given a second chance. I took life for granted before, but I know how precious it is now. I've been given a second chance at it, and I promise you, I'm not going to waste it this time."
"Maisy, honey, you weren't wasting it before.."
"But I wasn't really living either, just existing," Maisy says, holding her mother's gaze. "This time, I'm going to really live."
"That's good honey," her mother says uncertainly.
"I've got a second chance," says Maisy, blinking as the reality sinks in. "I'm still breathing."