Second Chance

Chapter 38

I ran down the halls with blood basically flooding down my face. My nosebleed had gotten worse, and now my hands were smeared in red, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. I could taste the foul liquid seeping past my lips and into my mouth, forcing me to taste my own blood.

I made it back into the room full of cells and I was pretty sure I could hear shouting from behind me, but I didn't pay any attention to it. All I wanted to do was wash all this blood off my face. I staggered into my cell, then immediately went over to the sink. I turned the tap on, painting it red in the process, and started splashing water on my face, in an attempt to get it off. Once I thought it was all gone, and the nosebleed stopped, I started washing off my blood soaked hands.

I watched the water rush around my skin, ripping away my blood and sucking it down the drain. As I stared at it for longer, I started to breathe faster and my eyes started to widen. Moments later, a blinding light crossed my vision again, and it felt as if someone just stabbed a hot knife into my brain. I let out a scream of agony, then crumpled to the floor. I squeezed my eyes shut, even though the pain was gone. When I opened them, I was back in the field, and I was sitting against a tree. I looked at my hands, and saw that they were coated with blood again, but it wasn't mine this time. Riley was laying in the grass right in front of me, with his stomach basically sliced open, and blood pooling around his body. His blank eyes stared into my soul, and I started to scream again.

Another wave of white hot pain slammed into me, and I was back in my prison cell. I tried to get up, but my limbs weren't working and I was shaking too hard. I was having a full on panic attack. A few seconds later, I heard multiple footsteps rushing up the stairs, and two guards came into my cell with their guns drawn. It was just me, and I clearly was not in the state to attack anyone, so they put their guns away.

They tried to help me up but I flinched away from them. I didn't want to be touched, or brought somewhere, or interrogated. I just wanted this to stop. I wanted to be alone and be able to sleep without any horrible flashbacks reminding me of my trauma. I just wanted to go back to the regular Justin Blok.

Finally, after a minute of struggling, one of the guards took something out of his pocket and brought it over to me. I realized it was a needle with liquid in it, and I tried to scream at him to get away from me, but I couldn't speak. I kept struggling, but that barely did anything, as the needle poked into my neck, and the liquid was injected into my bloodstream. I instantly started to feel extremely tired, and my vision was going hazy. Within seconds, I was enveloped in darkness.

—-

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

"Ugh." I groaned, rolling over in my bed.

I wasn't able to move very much though, since there were a bunch of things attached to me. I opened my eyes, but a blazing headache crashed into my skull, so I closed them again. This didn't feel like the headaches I've been recently getting, it was more like a really bad hangover. For some reason, that was reassuring.

I tried to open my eyes again, and despite the cinder block that was apparently in my brain now, I was able to get my senses back. Right away, I could tell I was in some sort of hospital room. There were a bunch of wires and tubes attached to me, which was why I couldn't move very well.

The door across from me opened, and a lady wearing a doctor's coat walked in. "How are you feeling, Justin?" She asked softly.

"Like I just got hit over the head with a metal pole." I grumbled honestly. "Where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary." She answered, clicking away on a laptop that was near her.

"Wait, so, I'm still in Juvie?" I asked, sitting up and squinting at her.

"Yes, Justin, you are. Don't worry though, you're okay. You're getting proper treatment." She reassured me. After a few seconds she turned back to me, and asked. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah, I had a fucking psychotic break." I muttered, with a slight breathless laugh. "Do I have schizophrenia, or something? Is that why I'm having all these fucked up visions and nosebleeds and headaches?" I demanded.

The doctor shook her head. "No, you do not have schizophrenia. Those visions are purely trauma related. I read your file, and found out that you were involved in an explosion recently."

"Yeah, but my friend saved me." I explained impatiently, getting irritated by how many times I had to tell my story.

"I'm assuming at first you didn't notice any side effects, but according to the MRI report, you did experience some physical trauma in your head." She said thoughtfully, now flipping through a series of papers all stapled together.

"MRI?" I repeated. "You have one of those here? How long was I out for?"

"Only a few hours." She answered. "And yes, there is very specialized equipment here. Now, according to the report, you have fractured your skull due to the impact of the explosion. You may not have noticed it at first because it is not a very big fracture. Still, it is enough to cause neurological damage. The nosebleeds you are getting usually are a sign of brain tumours, but nothing like that was picked up during the scan. It is hard to tell right now, but I believe you just have a minor concussion. You may also have PTSD, which does not help with that at all. So I suggest you take it easy for a while, and try to sleep in your cell as much as you can. If you keep pushing your mind like this, it can cause some serious damage."

I blinked at her a few times, trying to rearrange everything in my mind. The last thing I wanted was neurological damage, and even worse, a brain tumour. That wasn't the scariest part though, it's the fact that I didn't even know that I had this. How many more nosebleeds and panic attacks do I have to go through before it kills me?