Back to Reality

Chapter 10

 Dahlia held Samson's hand in her hand. Watching his chest raise up and down as he breathed. The pattern seemed to slow down more and more. Dahlia bit her lip.

"Samson, come on..."

Just then, she noticed him twitch just a millimeter to the side. She flinched, but made sure not to move her hand. She looked up at Samson's face. It was scrunched up, like he smelled something bad. Samson slowly opened his eyes. It was incredibly bright at first. He closed one eye and had the other half open. He wanted to raise his arms in front of his face, but he was in a cast. Samson was eventually able to see what was around him. He noticed he was in a hospital room. His eyes shot around the room. Dahlia gasped.

"Samson! You're alive!" Samson tried to lift his head up. "Oh, don't try to move too much. You're probably still very weak." Samson took some deep breaths in. The air felt much more clear now that he was back to reality.

"I'm... I'm back? Dahlia is that-" Dahlia walked over closer to his head so they could look each other in the eye.

"It's me, Samson. Do you still remember me?" Samson made a tsk with his mouth.

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" His voice was very crackly, likely because of how dry his throat was. Dahlia put a hand on his forehead.

"I don't know how, but you're back. I thought you were gone for good." Samson looked around the room as best as he could. He noticed Iris in the corner of his eye.

"Is that the doctor?" Dahlia chuckled.

"Well, sorta. The real doctor told us that you were gonna have a fifty percent chance of surviving if we did this normally. So, I got her to help." Iris stood up, walking over to Samson. "This is Iris." Iris stood next to Dahlia, looking over her shoulder. Samson wrinkled his forehead.

"Thank you, uh, Iris." Iris wiped a tear off her face.

"It's the best thing I could have done." Dahlia turned to her.

"Are you ok?" Iris smiled.

"I feel better than I have in a while. This is what I wished I could have done for my own brother." Samson looked back and forth at the two, feeling awkward in the situation.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but is there anything wrong with me?" Iris looked at him, smiling still.

"Well, for about a month you might have to have a wheelchair, but after that you should be pretty normal." Samson sighed.

"Thank god." Dahlia sat on the bed next to Samson.

"So... what was it like when you were... uh... sleeping?" Samson looked off, blowing steam from his mouth.

"Boy do I have a lot to tell you. There were these two other guys that were just like me but they were different parts of-" Just then the lock to the door of the room clicked and the door swung open. Two police officers ran in, taser drawn and aimed at Dahlia and Iris.

"Put your hands in the air and your knees on the ground right now!" Dahlia did as they said right away. Iris resisted.

"Wait, the boy is awake! That was my whole purpose for coming here!" The room went silent. Dahlia cleared her throat and said "Erm, Samson." Samson came into focus.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm awake now and I feel fine!" The officers didn't lower their weapons until someone raised their voice.

"Wait, the patient is awake? Hold your fire!" The officers lowered their tasers.

The two officers moved out of the way for the original doctor to walk through. He stood just in front of Iris, a couple of inches away from her face. He squinted, like he was looking into her soul. He looked at Samson, slowly approaching him. He stopped right next to Dahlia, standing over Samson's head. Samson tried to wave his hand.