The Garden of Vacant Dreams

Where is My Mind?

A/N: Saban/Disney own the characters you know. I own the ones you don't.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

WHERE IS MY MIND?

(One week after the Reunion)

They couldn't have picked a better day. It had been beautiful. The sun was shining above me, my friends surrounding me. I was elated just to leave the room I had been in for the last couple of weeks. But everything had changed in an instant. The enemy had attacked. I was falling, my head touching first as I felt the grass prickle the skin of my cheek. I hear yells and I feel hands on me. Suddenly I'm pushed onto my back as my view lands on the cloudless sky above.

I remember feeling the first hit and then the second. I remember looking down for a moment and touching the fresh blood that was seeping through my white dress shirt. I could hardly breathe and I knew it would be only minutes until I stopped struggling to do so.

He came into my view, he tried to keep me calm and tell me I'd be okay... but I knew I wouldn't.

He even knew it himself.

"How did this happen?" I hear him yell, "You have to do something!"

My eyes shift and I see the man he's yelling at, the man currently applying pressure to my chest with his bare hands, "I can't do anything more for him! He needs to go to a hospital right now if he has any chance of surviving this!" I hear him yell once more, his hands letting up on my chest only to forcefully push again with someone's coat.

"He's becoming really pale." I hear someone else say, a woman this time.

My face is suddenly enveloped in between his hands, "Tommy... Bro... You keep your eyes on me. Open and on me... you understand?"

I feel a smaller hand grasp my own tightly as two more hands grip my thigh and ankle. It's becoming harder and harder to breathe. I keep trying to exhale and the air just keeps building up in my throat. I feel like I am choking as the taste of blood finally hits my palate.

This was my moment. The inevitable moment I had been anticipating.

What I am sure were minutes felt like seconds laying there. I had never felt so confused in my entire life. I couldn't hold on to their names. I could barely recognize them. All of these people were now standing around me and they were all just indistinguishable blurs of color.

"Tommy, this is Carlos... Try and follow my breathing." I couldn't though. I'm not even sure if I was trying. I could taste more blood and could feel my eyelids becoming languid.

"Tommy, stay with me. Don't close your eyes... Don't you close them, dammit!" He's holding onto my face again, more tightly this time.

I hear more yelling and start to feel the ground shaking before it finally happens.

Before I close my eyes and take what may just be my final breath.

A/N: Saz, Gusty and guest... Your words have truly touched me. I'm thrilled that I've been able to deliver the material you all look forward to. Your support means a great deal to me and I promise you... I will never leave this story without giving it a proper ending, no matter how long it takes.