Hello Mz. Hyde (Andy Hurley)

Chapter 25- Ghosts

Andy's POV

I woke up and felt nothing, not even my own pulse. I was blinded by white lights but my eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness, revealing that I was in a hospital. I looked down and saw that I was in a hospital gown.

There was crying coming from inside the room I was in. I followed the crying to a hospital bed behind a blue curtain, where I froze in shock. The person in the bed was me, and Becca sat in the chair next to me, sobbing.

I ran next to Becca and knelt in front of her. I reached out to her to try and comfort her, but my hands passed right through hers. I leapt up in shock. "What the hell?" I gasped.

"She can't see you." A voice spoke up. I turned to the direction of the voice. My jaw dropped to the floor.

"Jeremy?" My body began to shake in shock and fear. "Y-you're....."

"Dead?" He finished my sentence. "Yes I am deader than a door nail Hurls." Jeremy stood on the other side of the bed, wearing the same police officer uniform that he wore the day he died, and his light brown hair was still in that stupid quiff he always had. His tattoo sleeve was bright and he looked full of life, but it couldn't be possible. He was dead, I was there. But here he was right in front of me, well and alive.

"This is impossible. I have to be dreaming, you can't be here." I took a few steps back. Then I began to panic, fearing the worst. "Am I dead?"

Jeremy laughed and shook his head. "No, not yet at least."

"Then what are you doing here?" I asked.

He shrugged against the glass walls. "Question is, am I actually here?"

He was right. He could just be a figment of my subconscious for all I know, trying to help me cope with whatever was happening to me.

"Okay Andy I'll spare you the existential crisis for now. Yes, I actually am here." Jeremy spoke up.

"Then what is going on with me?" I asked worriedly. "Why can't she see me?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, an old nervous habit of his. "You were shot, just like I was, but you made it. You're having what is called an 'Out-of-Body experience', pretty common in coma patients like you. That's why nobody can see you, not even her." He pointed to Becca.

I looked back at Becca, who was still siting next to me, trying to dry her still falling tears. It broke my heart to see her this way.

"So, who's the girl?" Jeremy broke me away from my mind.

"Oh, uh, that's Becca. Becca Hale. She's my girlfriend." I didn't take my eyes off of her. There were so many questions I had for her, but I had no way to ask them. There was still so much I didn't know about her.

"Girlfriend? How long have you two been together?" He wondered.

I ran my finger at through my ungelled curls trying to remember. "Seven months, I think." But it felt so much longer. It felt like a lifetime with her. It killed me to see her so upset, but still trying to keep herself together. She was strong, and that was why I loved her.

I stepped back from her, walking out of the room. Jeremy followed right behind me as I felt an invisible force tug me out of the ICU, down two flights of stairs, and through the blinding maze of halls until we came to the ER waiting room. There, we were met with Meagan, Pete, and Matt all talking to a woman in a white doctor's coat. I walked around to face the woman and my heart jumped up to my throat. It was Joanna.

"We're keeping Andy on a ventilator for the next 24 hours. His lungs are still weak from the surgery, but he should be back to breathing on his own soon." I heard her explain to them. "And as for the coma, we have no idea when he is going to wake up, or if he will wake up at all."

Meagan buried her face into her fiancé's neck, trying to hide her pain. Pete tried to comfort her the best he could without breaking down himself. Matt stepped away from the others, taking in several shaky breaths. I was pulled away from them by the same invisible force and towards one of the chairs behind them, where I heard crying. The force disappeared as I stood in front of the chair where I saw my daughter curled up in a ball crying.

I knelt in front of her and gently brushed some of her loose hair out of her face. "Shhhhhhhh, it's okay baby girl. It's okay."

Clara kept crying, but she looked up at me. "Da-da-daddy?" She cried, sitting up in the chair and holding Teddy close to her body.

I smiled and nodded. She could hear me and see me, that was enough of a miracle for me right now. "Yea sweetheart, Daddy's here. Why were you crying?"

She sniffled and hugged her bear even tighter. "The..the..the d-d-doctor lady said th-that you were really hurt a-a-a-and she said you can not come h-home." She started to cry again. "I-I-I-I want y-y-you to go h-home with me."

I wiped the tears falling off her cheeks. "I can't come home right now Bear."

"But...but why?" She cried.

I pointed to my heart. "Daddy is hurt really bad. The doctors want me to stay here for a little bit so I can get better and go save the world."

She squeezed her bear tightly and shook her head. "But why? Why can't you get better now?"

I sighed. "Sometimes even Superman can't get better with just the sun." I pulled her close to me. "This is one of those times Clara." I looked down at her eyes. She had stopped crying, but they were still full of hurt.

"Who are we?" I asked her.

"We're Hurleys." She replied in a small voice.

I nodded. "And what are Hurleys?"

"We're strong." She answered.

"Yes we are baby girl." I hugged her tight. "I need you to be strong for me Clara. Be strong for me and Becca. Do you promise?"

She nodded. "I will Daddy. Are you gonna get better soon?"

I nodded at her. "Yes. I will get better as soon as possible."

She held up her pinky finger. "Pinky promise?"

I locked my pinky finger with hers. "Pinky promise." I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I love you Clara Anne Hurley, and I will always be with you."

"I love you Daddy." Clara hugged me tight. "Please get better soon."

"I will baby girl, I will." I promised her, letting go of her.

Suddenly, I felt the invisible force pull at me again, but this time I could not control it. I felt myself be pulled away from my daughter and back to the ICU. The next thing I knew, I was back where I started, but now Jeremy was gone. There was silence except for the rhythm of my heart monitor. Becca sat beside my bed, holding her phone in one hand and covering her mouth with the other. Her beautiful coffee colored eyes were red and puffy and her thin face was stained with her tears.

"Becca!" I called out to her, kneeling by her side. I knew it was no use, but I had to try something. I cupped the side of her face with one hand. She flinched for only a second. A spark of hope flickered in me. She felt me.

"Becca, I'm so sorry." I shook my head at my words. "I'm sorry I put you through all of this, but I will wake up. I will fight this. I promise you I'll be okay." I swore to her. I didn't know if she could hear me, but for right now I didn't care.

All I knew right now was that I couldn't leave my family. Not now, not ever.