Broken and Together

Chapter Thirty-One: A Brighter Future

    Michael snapped out of his dream with a startled shout. Immediately jolting into a seated position, he put a hand against his head as he slowly recovered his breaths which burst in and out of his body rapidly. Charlie startled beside him. Blinking repeatedly, she sat up.

    "Babe?" she said, yawning. "Is something wrong?"

    He cleared his throat. "Sorry. I'm alright, just..." A nightmare. Another one. Why did they always happen now? With a shake of his head, he tried to brush off the horrid encounter with the nightmarish animatronics. "Nothing, just had a bad dream."

    "Aw." She pecked him on the cheek. "Not too bad, right?"

    He sent her a tight smile. "Nah. Just a dream." It didn't entirely feel like that, though...

    "Well," she said, with a faint chuckle, "that's what you get for randomly falling asleep, dummy."

    "I seriously did that, didn't I?" he said.

    "How early did you even drop off?"

    "Not too early. Guess I was just exhausted."

    Charlie tilted her head, arching an eyebrow. "Please tell me you slept at least once since the other night."

    "Uh..." said Michael as he silently scrambled for an excuse.

    She didn't even let him reply, giving his arm a gentle smack.

    "I was worried about you, alright?" he said.

    With a shake of her head, she merely smiled. "Alright, whatever." Their conversation ended there, for the door opened and Charlie's nurse entered. Michael immediately got off the bed and stepped aside, awkwardly muttering indiscernible words under his breath. While the nurse checked up on Charlie's head injury, Michael worriedly stood off to the side. She already appeared to be recovering a little, and the nurse started to leave with this good news.

    Michael stopped her near the door, asking, "Do you know when she can go home?"

    "I'd say most likely by tomorrow," the nurse replied. "We want to monitor her concussion and make sure no more issues arise. She's lucky that blow to the head didn't injure her worse than it did."

    "Ah." He glanced down. "Alright, thank you." With a nod, the nurse left the room. He returned to the side of the bed, where he sat on the edge.

    Charlie sent him a small smile. "Stop worrying, I'm alright."

    "Worrying? I'm not," he said.

    "Yes, you are." She shook her head at him, then winced as soon as she did, he guessed due to the pain. "I'm recovering, Mike. I'm fine."

    "I know." He let out a breath. "Just can't believe I almost lost you."

    Her eyes shifting downwards, she picked at a thread on her sheets. "It's a terrible feeling, isn't it? Thinking you've lost the love of your life."

    He smiled, resting his hand on hers and stopping her nervous fidgeting. "We really need to do better at these life-threatening situations, huh?"

    "Right," she said, giving a bitter laugh. "Maybe we do." Her brow creased, and she lifted her eyes back to him. "What even happened after I was knocked out?"

    Michael tensed, and after taking a moment to think it over, began to explain. He made it vague, leaving out much of what William had said, and settled for going into more detail over his new suspicion. "The animatronics," he said, "Charlie, I think they're possessed."