Night of the Alphas

Chapter 37

I woke up in white sheets, surrounded by the sterile smell of cleaner and the beeping of machines. I was hooked up to many machines, there were IVs in my arms, and the sound of people talking echoed outside of my room. Comforting, familiar voices. A man with a strong North Carolina accent, and a woman with a smooth, deep voice. Mister Taylor and Amanda.

In the bed next to me was Alex, who looked even paler and sicker in the hospital light. He was sleeping fitfully as a few doctors gave him some sort of liquid through a feeding tube. One of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen stood next to his bed, crying. Her long, black hair fell in soft waves to the middle of her back. Over one of her dark brown eyes, a claw-like scar left an impression on her face. When she saw me, she wiped makeup-stained tears off of her cheek and smiled. "Hi, Zane."

"Hi, Miranda."

I fell back asleep.

Hours, maybe days later, I woke up again. Alex was still in the bed next to me, but he looked much better. His skin was a healthy shade, and he looked like he was getting closer to his natural weight. Two new people stood next to his bed; A bulky, tall man with Alex's hair color, ice blue eyes, and a thick beard. He wore a gray camouflage uniform and had a hand resting on Alex's arm. The other person was a chubby woman with dark, graying brown hair. Her eyes were a deep turquoise and she had wrinkles around her eyes that suggested that she smiled often. She was stroking Alex's face and whispering things to him softly. Mister and Mrs. Edger.

Mrs. Edger looked like she had been crying, but her tears had dried up. I wanted to say hello to them, but I also didn't want to disturb their moment with Alex. And I was really, really tired. I closed my eyes again. Back to sleep...

The next time I woke up, Alex was gone. His bed was neatly made, and all of the machines that were next to him were shut off. Outside of my room, people were talking, laughing. I smiled. All of the voices were familiar, and it didn't sound like anyone was worked up. He must be okay.

It was oddly quiet in my room, though. The beeping and the sound of my breathing were almost nothing compared to the crushing silence around me. It was as if my hospital room was some alternate dimension where reality was shifted slightly. My body was weightless, and empty-feeling. Maybe I was floating. Or maybe it was just the medicine flowing through my veins. I couldn't tell. And part of me didn't want to tell. Life feels like a dream right now. Maybe I am dreaming.

There were a lot of maybes in this situation. Was I alive? Maybe. Dead? Maybe. Awake? Asleep? Both answers were maybe. But even with how little I knew about where I was, or what I was doing, I was still content. In a way. It was a distant kind of content, like that feeling after waking up from a good dream. Just an all-encompassing feeling of peace.

My eyes grew heavy as I drifted away once again.

I sat at the edge of the living room carpet, listening to the adults talk and laugh at the table. It was dark outside, and both of my sisters were asleep on the couch. Charity was holding Paisley's head close to her, as if it was her favorite stuffed animal and not her sister's snoring head. I looked up from my toy cars to see my parents at the dining room table. My mother, holding a glass of wine in one hand and a mistletoe over my father's head in the other, was giggling like a teenage girl. My father looked slightly tipsy as he kissed her on the cheek. A few other people sat around the table, taunting and cheering them on. An older human man with thinning brown hair and deep set wrinkles around his face shuffled a deck of cards. A half-rabbit woman with her red hair tied back in a tight braid was trying desperately not to choke on her cake. And a couple that looked like Akiran and his wife, Luna, but much younger, just held hands and laughed at the awkward scene my parents were creating. Christmas music blasted loudly in the kitchen. This feels right, I thought. A Christmas party. With my family.