Demons |¤| Lashton

Search and "Rescue"

Michael's PoV

Horrifying, isn't it? When you realize that your best friend literally died in a hospital bed as you watched on? You didn't know when he would stop taking in air, or when his heart would suddenly stop pumping the blood its been pumping before birth. You didn't know that he would die at all. At least not right there and then.

"Gotta blast," I had said, before ending the stupid livestream. Gotta blast. What the hell! Nobody should ever put me in charge of these things. I will say the stupidest, most inappropriate shit ever.

Luke had literally just flatlined, and I run out of there quoting Jimmy Neutron.

But it was fine now, wasn't it? They resuscitated him in moments. It was over. He was sleeping now, as a nurse stood over him, checking his vitals for the millionth time.

Maybe it was for the good of the fans. Maybe they didn't hear the heart monitor go flat as I jumped off the bed. Maybe they didn't hear the doctor yelling for assistance as I ran out of the room. We didn't want them to worry anymore. It was already way too much to take in.

We were allowed back in after about an hour. We ate some food the hospital had served for lunch, but we didn't say much. We didn't say anything at all, to be honest. Had Luke made it?

Calum caught Dr. Creer in the hall and I had never wanted to punch and hug someone at the same time. I have never seen Calum cry legitamate happy tears either. Not the tears over something hilarious on YouTube, but tears over, "He's alright."

I cried a little myself.

We almost lost Luke.

They think it's a heart problem now. Well, added onto the tumor. Dr. Creer suggested a virus and an imperfect immune system. Can't remember what it's called. It starts with the letter M. Why do medical terms have to be so complex? I bite my nails.

I've got to wash my hands again.

"Do you think we should go? We've been here awhile," Calum says finally. All three of us have awkwardly sat in these chairs not saying or doing anything. Just thinking and looking at the unpleasantly-textured white walls. No phones, nothing.

Look to the window.

The sky is as blue as it'll ever be.

Look to the floor.

The tiles aren't properly aligned. They're also a sucky color.

"Sure," I tell Calum. "We'll be back soon enough."

Ashton gets up and stretches, and I do likewise. Calum just springs out of his chair. We file out of the room, our backs slightly hunched with exhaustion.

~~~

Luke's PoV

I dreamed that I was laying on the bottom of the swimming pool, looking up. The water was beautiful, rippling and shimmering a million different shades of blue. I could see the sun, and it cast a bright spot directly onto my face.

It surely wasn't the most pleasant thing, because it was hard to see everything else. But I could still see the beautiful blue if I focused on it, and that was just fine.

I couldn't hear anything that was happening on the outside world, but I could hear myself swallow. I could hear the water pressing against my eardrums and I could hear the hand breaking through the surface of the water.

I jumped when the hand appeared, the water bubbling and frothing around it. It stretched its fingers out towards me, and I tried to get away. I was scared. I tried to lift my arms, my head, I tried to kick my legs and roll over, but I couldn't. The hand lurched, and then the arm appeared, elbow deep.

Iron chains held me to the bottom of the pool.

I tried to scream as another hand dove into the water. This hand was a different shade. The two arms did not  belong to the same body. My head started to hurt and my lungs started to burn.

W a k e u p

But the new hand grasped a key. The first hand reached deeper still, finally grabbing onto the iron cuff around my neck.

I was being strangled.

The second hand stretched down, inserting the key into the cuff's keyhole with ease. The key jiggled in the lock, and I could hear the dull lock of the  pins as they molded to the key.

The cuff came off, and I stayed still as the hands worked furiously on my arms and my hands. I was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. The hands moved to my torso and my legs. I watched the water above my head, now frozen still. Nothing moved, except for the two hands that were setting me free.

Soon enough, the cuffs had all been undone, but I still could not move.

W a k e u p

I screamed, and the hands grabbed my hands, and pulled me up.

It hurt so much.

They pulled me to the surface, and I was suddenly met with dead cold silence. Everything was black, and I could still feel the water on my skin, collecting in droplets.

I sighed into the darkness, for now I could breath right.

I noticed when I breathed in, a gentle light poured out of my mouth, like when someone opens a door to a public space in the middle of the night. It's inviting.

When I breathed out, a small cloud of color illuminated my breath, emitting a light of its own.

I was my own, and I could be whatever I wanted to be. I just had to get out of here.