Where I Belong - Ace Merrill

Chapter 11

Harper's eyes felt heavy, like they didn't to open. She could hear beeps and a constant buzzing sound.

"Harper.." The voice sounded like a whisper but she knew anywhere it was Ace Merrill's.

"Ace!" She shouted as she shot upright. "Ace!" She shouted again as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light.

"She's awake!" A voice called out a figure appeared in the doorway.

It was male, she could make that out. Her blurred vision slowly came more and more into focus as she kept forcing her eyes to shut before forcing them open again.

"Ace!" She mumbled out, not half as strong as before.

"Yup she's definitely awake." The male figure spoke as another came rushing in, it was female.

The female rushed to the male's side as another male appeared. He walked around to her other side as Harper felt the male and female fuss over her.

She looked up at them with a blank look on her face as she slowly pulled her hands, they'd grabbed, away.

"Where's Ace?" She asked the other male as he held a torch up to her face and shone it straight in her eyes.

"Ouch!" She snapped back as she smacked his hand away.

"Sweetheart it's us." The female spoke again as she tried to take Harper's hand.

Harper, once again, pulled it away. "Look I need Ace! Is he okay? What about the others?"

The male beside the female sighed.

"Harper sweetie, Ace isn't real."

She scoffed at him before he could continue and turned to the man who had shone the light in her eyes.

"Where is he? I need to see him."

The doctor sighed as he faced her parents. "It seems shes suffering from post-traumatic amnesia. It's very common in patients who have been out as long as she has to finally wake up and behave like a completely different person, believing completely different things."

He looked back down at Harper, who was struggling to get out of bed.

"It's only natural, given where the accident occurred and what you were doing that she believes Ace to be real."

"He is real!" Harper snapped back at him. "I was there! I saw him! I hugged him! He was fucking real god dammit!" She practically bit the doctors head off as he looked at her parents.

"See?"

Her parents nodded slowly.

"Her vitals look good though, she'll be able to leave either this evening or tomorrow morning all being well."

Harper scoffed again. "I'm leaving now." She snapped as she tried to stand up.

Her father quickly put his hands on her shoulders and tried to hold her down.

"Just calm down Harper!" He tried almost yelling at her.

"Hell no I won't calm down! I'm getting out of this shithole and going back to Castle... Rock..." her voice trailed off as the doctor pulled the syringe from out of the tube, going in her arm.

"This should let her get a few more hours rest before leaving. Once she's had time to calm down you can go."

Her parents nodded and thanked him as they pulled up chairs next to her. Her father slipped a hand in hers as he looked down at his sleeping daughter.

"I warned you this would be a bad idea." His wife mumbled from her spot next to him. "My poor baby." Her voice trailed off as she blinked back tears.

Her dad sighed and nodded slowly. "Maybe you were right." He paused as he reached out and gently stroked her cheek. "We'll go straight home when we leave."

Eventually Harper once again awoke. Naturally she demanded to see Ace. However this time her parents allowed themselves to play along with it.

"We'll take you to him if you come with us." Her father said cautiously as Harper slowly slid on her shoes.

She looked down at her muddy trainers and thought. There had been no mud in Brownsville. Her mind flashed back to the last thing she remembered.

She'd gone flying down the hill into Ace's arms as the cobras faced the younger boys. The rain had come pouring down and the dirt under their feet had soon become mud.

Harper looked up at her parents and nodded slowly.

"You're gonna take me to Irbys right? Like the place it was set?"

"Course sweetheart. Come on." Her mother encouraged as she offered out her hand.

Harper slowly stepped forward but made no offer to take her mother's hand. Instead she walked straight past her and allowed her dad to point her towards the exit.

She knew it had been real. There was mud on her shoes. Mud that hadn't been there when they arrived at Brownsville.

Her mum dealt with her discharge papers as she went with her dad over to his car.

She climbed in the backseat as her mum soon joined them and they drove off in silence.

Just as they reached a junction they slowed to a stop as Harper looked to her left. Down to the right was the road that had 'Irbys' yet as Harper leant forward slightly she saw her dad indicating right.

"Mum do you have a sharpie?" She mumbled quickly.

Her mum nodded as she bent forward and began rummaging in her handbag.

Her dad soon pulled away, turning right.

"Dad stop!" She shouted. "Quick pull over! I'm going to be sick!" She blurted out any excuse could.

Her mum began panicking as her dad quickly pulled over.

"Mum! The pen?" She demanded.

Her mum was confused as she quickly offered her daughter the pen.

"I don't under-"

She interrupted her mums sentence as she quickly swiped the pen and jumped out the car, slamming the door behind her.

Her dad was out in a second too as he placed a hand on Harper's back.

"Harper love what's going on?!" He demanded to know.

"I'm sorry dad. I have to try." She whispered as she gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Before she sprinted off down the road, her head pounded as dodged people, who quickly tried moving out of her way.

Her parents calling out from behind her as she knew she'd only have a few seconds to try this before they caught her and ended up locking her up in some insane asylum.

In minutes she had reached the Irbys bar set. Flying through the doors she briefly glanced at all the signed memorabilia and objects.

Everyone inside was giving her strange, curious and confused looks but she ignored them as she flew straight into the bathroom, pen in hand.

It took her a millisecond to find Kiefer's autograph as she smiled, taking a deep breath she pulled the pen lid off and gently brought the pen up to his autograph.

Above her the light began to flicker as her smile grew.

She knew it was real.

Her parents shouts came from just outside the bathroom as she quickly retraced Kiefer's autograph and the world went black...

Her parents burst into the bathroom as the light finally stopped flickering. They came to a quick halt as the male figure in front of them slowly turned and faced them.

Harper's mum gasped as her dad's eyes widened.

"Fucking hell... you're real..."