almost; dream ✓

eleven

a soft humming filled anna's ears. the song was familiar, one she knew, but her mind couldn't identify it at that moment.

even though her eyes were closed, she could see the bright daylight through her eyelids.

the humming continued as the sound of a door opening and someone walking in accompanied it.

"-and toby is back at the home. he is going to come back up here in a few hours because they are going to try waking her if she doesn't wake up on her own first."

the voice was her mother's. it gave her comfort.

very slowly, anna blinked her eyes open. she gave herself a moment to take in her surroundings.

she was laid in a hospital bed. her dad was sat next to her with his head in a book as he hummed. her mother was the one who just entered and she was stood staring out the window while on the phone with someone. in front of the window was a long bench with blankets and a pillow creating a makeshift bed.

anna felt something on her face so she raised her arm to feel the oxygen that was being fed into her body by a tube going across her nostrils. her movement was caught by her father.

"ladybug? hey, are you waking up?" he spoke with urgency but also very gently.

"anna, oh my goodness." her mum hung up the phone and quickly knelt next to her father.

"what-what happened?" anna instantly brought a hand up to her throat as she felt the pain from speaking.

"oh baby," her mother spoke with so much pain. "you accidentally took too much of some old sleep medication. toby found you and we had to have an ambulance take you to the hospital."

"they had to pump the medicine out of your stomach and your body didn't respond well so they temporarily put you in a medical coma. y-you've been asleep for about two days." her dad's voice broke with his words.

"toby found me? where is he?" anna's hoarse voice asked.

"he went home about an hour ago to shower and get us a few things we need," her mother grabbed her hand as she spoke. "we're so thankful you're okay."

anna nodded and looked around the room some more. she was still coming to, not fully grasping everything. there was a curtain extended, blocking her view of the door, but she heard it open like it did when her mother walked in. her mum quickly jumped up and ran to the door.

"hey, let's step out for a moment. she just woke up." anna heard her say as the door closed.

"who is that? a doctor?" anna asked her father confused.

"i want us to take things your speed." her father prompted vaguely.

"who is it?"

"toby quickly let your friends know what happened- and, well, he insisted on coming. we told him you'd be okay and he didn't have to."

"who is it, dad?" anna became more stern, causing more hurt in her throat. she knew who it was but needed to hear it.

"its clay, ladybug. i can tell him to come back later if you need some time."

anna sat, thinking over the situation. it had been nearly two months since she had seen clay. and now he was on the other side of the door on the other side of the curtain.

"can i see him?"

her dad simply nodded and exited the room. anna sat in silence for a moment. all of a sudden she heard the door opened and could have sworn her heart stopped beating.

she watched as a pair of vans walked by under the curtain that blocked the door. all of a sudden clay was peaking around the curtain.

"hey, honey." his voice broke in sadness and anna could see the tears brimming in his eyes.

he grabbed the chair her dad was sitting in and brought it even closer to the bed. he carefully took her hand into both of his. it was so dainty compared to his. he pressed her knuckles very gently to his lips.

"hi." she said very raspy.

"i'm sorry i'm here without asking. i was just so worried."

"i'm glad you are." anna whispered.

she carefully took in his appearance. he looked thinner. his hair had also grown out longer than he normally kept it. his curls were much more apparent because of this.

"you're sunburnt." clay smiled at her attention to him as she lifted a hand to trace the sunburn on his nose and on the tops of his cheeks.

"yeah, nick's been making me get outside during the day because i wasn't really leaving the house."

"more than usual?" a small grin made its way to her face as she teased.

"i'm glad you still make fun of me. england hasn't changed you too much."

his thumb very gently rubbed the back of her hand as he let out a deep exhale of relief that anna was in front of him again.

"it wasn't on purpose. at least i don't think it was."anna said quietly.

"i know. you don't have to explain anything. we really don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

anna squeezed clay's hand two times, instantly bringing tears to his eyes.

due to the fact that anna moved in with clay before any of his fan base new he even had a girlfriend, she had to be rather discreet when she would sit with him when he streamed. early on she created their own secret language revolving around her squeezing his hand. when she would squeeze it two times that meant she needed him. this normally happened if he was on a phone call and she needed help with something or if he was live and she needed him to mute to ask a question.

but right now it was a silent cry for help from the person she knew would help her best.