Revenge on the Reagans

Chapter 5

Something wasn't right. He felt limp, yet stiff. He could hear everything around him, yet all that could be seen was darkness. He felt a stinging sensation in his right leg and his hands tingled as if they were going numb. He tried to force himself to make the slightest bit of movement. He tried to move his legs, but that got him nowhere. He couldn't even move his toes let alone his whole leg. Then he tried to move his arm, but the left one raided a slight stinging sensation, with the tension he was applying to his wrist. He tried his other hand, to find he could only move his fingers. He tried to move the rest of his body, and open his eyes, but failed. He could feel the soft sheets beneath his moveable fingertips. Where was he? He lay there listening to the sounds around him. He heard the beeping of the monitors that matched the sounds of his beating heart. The soft sheets. The beeping. The fact that he couldn't move any part of his body. He was in the hospital. 'Think back,' he commanded himself, 'think back to your last memory.' He remembered the sound of the sirens, and looking at Erin looking down at him in fear. He went further back and remembered the blast. He remembered being blown backwards, and the feeling of the all the debris falling on top of him. He remembered the pain he felt radiate through his leg. Then he remembered everything going black and the next time he opened his eyes, he was looking up at his sister after she dug him out. That's right, the precinct was blown up and he was brought to the hospital with his sister. Where was his sister? Just then, he heard footsteps and familiar voices. His family was here. He silenced his thoughts to hear them walk into his room.

"If you need anything else just let me know," he heard an unfamiliar voice say and he knew that it must have been his nurse.

"Thank you so much doctor," he heard a woman say. But it wasn't just any random woman. It was Linda. He heard the sounds of people walking through the room and he heard someone come next to his bed. It was quiet. He wished it wasn't. He knew that the silence meant everyone was staring at him lying in his bed. And he knew that meant that everyone was worried about him. It was like he could feel their pain. He wished he could tell them that he would be fine, but he couldn't move. 'Somebody just say something!' he yelled in his head.

"It's hard to look at him like this," he heard Jamie's voice break the silence. It wasn't what he had hoped to hear, but it was something.

"I know," he heard Erin agree, "it's weird seeing him so quiet." Danny knew if he was awake, he would be smiling. 'Ha, ha, ha. Very funny sis,' he thought. Leave it to Erin to make a joke out of his current silence. He could hear those around him choke out laughs at her latest comment, and he knew that a few of them had to crack a smile.

"Grandpa, can he hear us?" he heard a small voice say and he felt like crying if he could. It was his son, Sean. His boys were here. How badly he wished he could just tell him he was alright. That he was just fine. He wanted to hug them and comfort them. They didn't deserve to see their dad like this.

"Yeah he can hear us," he heard his father answer.

"That's right," Linda said, "he may not be able to say anything back right now, but he can hear you. Isn't that right Danny?" She asked him knowing he couldn't answer, but Danny had his own way of answering her. As he felt her hand grab the one he could actually slightly move, he tensed up his hand muscles and squeezed her grip tight. That was his little way of saying, "I'll be alright babe." That's when he began to hear the happy awkward laughter, and he knew that he had given hope to his family. Then the silence returned. It was like they didn't know what to say, especially considering he couldn't talk back.

"How 'bout we go get some coffee and come back," Frank suggested breaking the silence. Then the sound of shuffling feet and goodbyes were heard, and he felt a soft kiss on his forehead. Just then the shuffling became distant, but there was still a sound of one set of footsteps walking up to the side of his bed. He could hear the sound of wood rubbing hard against the hospital tile floor making a loud squeaking sound. The sound of someone's clothing rubbing against the fabric of the couch, and he knew that one member of the family had stayed behind to tell him something. He knew it was going be something like an "I love you," or "we'll get this guy so focus on getting better". But that's no what he was going to get.

"Hey Danny. It's me," Jamie said, "I um...I know you can hear so I'm just gonna tell you. Dad knows about the phone call you got this morning. He's having people look into it, but so far he thinks its a hit. Don't worry Danny. We'll catch this guy." He could feel his chest start to tighten up at the sound of the news. What was it? Was it worry? Guilt? Embarrassment? No. He had plans to call his dad before the bomb blew and he put the paper in Jamie's hand for a reason. It was none of the above. Then what was it that was making his chest hurt. It felt like he was back underneath all that rubble and the rocks lying on his chest had knocked the air completely out of him. Then his head began pounding as if someone had been throwing punches at his skull. Even unconscious, he felt as if he was getting dizzy, like his head was spinning. Maybe it was from the smoke and dust from the building explosion. Then arose a tingling sensation in his throat that wouldn't go away and the amount of work it was taking him to suck in air made him realize he couldn't breathe. How would Jamie realize this? How could he tell his brother that he couldn't breathe if he couldn't even open his eyes? He tried to use his only movable arm, and noticed it was easier to move than normal. He raised his hand up to his mouth, but was growing so weak, it only reached his chest. But it was enough to gain Jamie's attention.

"Danny?" Jamie said, sounding slightly hopeful, "are you awake?" He could feel himself growing semi conscious. If this were the normal waking-up-in-a-hospital situation, he probably would have answered the question by now. But instead, his eyes cracked open and let tears fall down and he woke up with the inability to breathe. He opened his mouth to try and ask for help, but it left him wheezing, and letting out slight coughing fits in between. His breathing and coughing were extremely weak and through his watery and blurry vision, he could see Jamie looking over him with his concern gracing his features.

"Danny!" Jamie called out to him, "say something! Danny!" Danny mustered up what air he could to try and form a response.

"Ca.....all.....d....tor," was all he got out in his breathless state, but it was enough for Jamie to tell he needed help. His little brother ran out into the doorway to get him some help, but he could feel himself going back under as Jamie got further away.

"Somebody help!" Jamie called running out of the room, "we need a doctor!" And that was the last thing Danny heard before he passed out.