Survived Me: a Shatter Me fan-fiction (Warnette)

Chapter 121 - Open Your Eyes

⚠️TW⚠️
Hospitalisation
Coma
Mention of torture
Mention of violence
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(I think that's all the trigger warnings that there are, but I could be wrong! So if any of the past trigger warnings are sensitive for you, then don't read this chapter!)
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JULIETTE'S POV:

I open my eyes and instantly feel the need to close them once again. There is a blinding, white light that's causing my head to throb in agony.
What is happened? I ask myself.
My whole body feels as though I've been run over ten times by a large van and then flattened with a human sized rolling pin.

The last thing I can remember was being held hostage. I remember the look on Aaron's face when he came down the staircase and saw me with that knife pressed up against my neck. I remember the horror that coated his gorgeous face and held terror in his emerald gemstones that he has for eyes.

"Juliette, love." I hear Aaron's voice come through the foggy mask that's keeping me from reality and this strange state of consciousness that I am currently stuck in. "I'm here my love, I am here."

I cling to the sound of his voice, hoping that it can bridge the gap between where I am and where he is. "Aaron." I gasp.

"Focus on me, come back to me, come home."

As I do what Aaron asked me to do, I see all of the blinding mist clear up, and the view of a hospital room comes into my sight. "A-Aaron." I see his face and can't help but smile, even through the excruciating pain that is causing such suffering.

"Hello sweetheart," Aaron says as he kisses my forehead. "Thank you for coming back to me." His shaky vocals are full of relief and appreciation.

"W-what happened?" I ask him, my voice raspy and croaky. "Is everything okay?"

"Thank goodness you are awake." He seems to dismiss my question entirely. "All that matters right now is that you rest and get better." He said, causing my worry to increase. There is, quite obviously, something that he isn't telling me and I want to know what it is. "What aren't you telling me, Aaron?"

His facial falls as an overwhelming pile of dread meets his face features. His shoulders become much stiffer and his face is sharper and more potent looking. "I don't think that right now is a good time to go over all of the details on what happened - especially when you are still recovering."

"No Aaron," I stand my ground, "you are going to tell me what the heck happened to me!"

The only sound in the room, other than the many different machines that are attached to me, is the long, air depriving sigh that escapes Aaron lips. It's as if, to him, the world depends on what he says next. "How much do you remember, love?"

"I remember everything." I tell him, adamant on getting the answers that I want to know so badly. "I remember you, Kenji and Leo coming down the spiral, narrow staircase," I begin with.
"I remember the feel of the cold, metal blade against my throat, slowly but surly slicing it's way through my skin. I remember Annie's voice, cold, aggressive and pugnacious - but I can't remember what she said." I pause for a second, taking a, well needed, deep breath. "Before you showed up, I remember Annie and Sebastian torturing me-"

"Wait," Aaron cuts me off all of a sudden, "what do you mean Sebastian?" He stills, as if he is frozen in place - struck with some kind of spell of vigilance and caution.

"Sebastian Petit." I say, as if it's obvious, because - to me - it is. "Why are you so baffled by that?"

"You're saying he was there?" The unnerving tone on his voice only causes me more panic. I mean surely they all saw him, he was, in the words of Hamilton - in the room where is happened. (A/N): (I am so sorry, I saw the opportunity and I took it. 🤭)

Nodding, I answer. "Yeah, of course he was. Why didn't you see him when you got there?"

"It was only Annie that we found in that room with you." (A/N): (I'm fighting off the urge to do the Hamilton reference again!)

I shudder. "No, that's not possible, he was there Aaron, you have got to believe me."

"I do believe you, my love, don't worry. Either he was an illusion - which I find highly unlikely - or he managed to get away from the scene unnoticed."

What a sneaky bastard, I think to myself. For him to execute such an act, would mean he had already planned for Aaron, Kenji and Leo to come and bust down him and Annie's operation. It means that he had a secret escape plan that he followed through with. Talk about planning for every scenario.

"I can't believe it. I mean we all suspect that Sebastian was involved," Aaron soundly like he is beating himself up internally, "but when he wasn't anywhere to be seen I dismissed the idea." I don't even think Aaron knows that he is speaking out loud. "How could I be so stupid! I should have considered the possibility that he may have ran for it."

I stop him. I hate seeing him like this. "Stop it Aaron," my hand reaches out and grabs onto his that lays, resting on the hospital bed. "How could you have known. You did what was right. You saved me. You brought me to..." I look around, almost as if to confirm that I am in a hospital, "a hospital."

He lets out a puff of air - a sigh of sorts. "Of course I did, sweetheart. You are the most important thing in the world to me." His hold on my hand increases by a tonnage. "These two weeks have been agony."

"Two weeks?!" I hyperbolise the time frame that Aaron has just shared with me. "I have been out for two weeks?!"

Aaron's sad smile is all I need to calm down slightly, becoming rational once again. He begins to speak, his voice woeful. "Yeah, the doctors said that it could have been a whole lot longer."

Shit! If I have been out for two weeks, that means that Sebastian could, quite literally, be anywhere in the world right now!

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Word count: 1176
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(A/N): (Not going to lie, I have been hella lazy for the past few days so I am sorry about no chapters! Normally I have this book as my top priority over all my other books, but I have been writing and posting and editing them for a few weeks as top priority. I am trying to make it so no book is a priority and that I give the same amount of time into each and every one of my stories, but that's not always possible.)

(But yeah, I hope that I can get at least two more chapters out this week!)