Mayhem || {unedited}

"Dead or alive. I couldn't care less."

                  

Hypnagogia (hip-nuh-goj-ya): the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep: the hypnagogic state of consciousness, during the onset of sleep.

Hypnagogic (hip-nuh-goj-ik): hallucinations that are visual, tactile, auditory, or other sensory events, usually brief but occasionally prolonged, that occur at the transition from wakefulness to sleep or from sleep to wakefulness.

The one thing I hate about being in a hospital is you never know when you got there and how long you've been there for. You're constantly drifting in and out of consciousness and you can't tell the difference between the dreaming world and the real world. The fact that none of the nurses pay attention to you pisses me of as well, like hello, person here trying to figure out how long she's been here and when she can get the fuck out.

"Miranda," I call out to the nurse that's taking care of me today. After 3 futile attempts at getting her attention I lose it. I reach over for the jug of water and 'accidentally' drop it, cause it to shatter to pieces and spill water everywhere. "Oops," I say groggily. Miranda looks at me, clearly irritated. "Hey! At least I have your attention. I want to talk to Erica. She's the only one here that actually listens to me," I mutter. Miranda just stands there and stares at me.

"What is it you want to talk about?"

"Can you tell me how long I've been here? When am I getting out?"

"You've been here about 4 days, two of the days you were passed out cause of the shock. You're being discharged today," She replies monotonous and mutters thank god under her breath, I roll my eyes.

"Thanks. You know, it would've been much easier if you just replied the first time." I say sweetly pointing to the mess on the floor. It's her turn to roll her eyes. I grin at her and turn the TV on.

"... Associate Edgar Harvey, does not exist. Any information on the location of Anastasia Stewardokovic will be highly rewarded by Nikolai Stewardokovic. 'I want my daughter back alive, safe and sound. Find her and I pay you 75000 dollars. The attackers, if you find them, bring them to me and I pay double. Dead or alive, I couldn't care less,' Nikolai says at a press conference about the whereabouts of his daughter. This is Becky Anderson. CNN." I groan.

"Great, now I'm wanted and there's a ransom for my head," I mutter dryly, changing the channel to Nickelodeon. I sit there and watch a few episodes of SpongeBob and my mum comes in with shopping bags in her hand.

"Hey sweetie," She says quietly, leaving the bags on the sofa by the door.

"It's okay mum you can stop being so soft on me, I'm not dying anytime soon." I say lightly and put the TV on mute. I pat the side of my bed softly and my mum comes and sits down. "You know, you left in a cliffhanger yesterday. Telling me you know how it feels to kill someone," I say and she chuckles.

"I have to give it to you, you sure know how to lighten up the mood, even when you're half high." My mum replies with a small smile. "I wonder where you got it from."

"I thought about it," I speak after a few seconds of silence. She looks up at me, a curious intent look on her face. "You worked for Dad's business, that's how you met," I say recalling the story my parents told me every time I asked how they met. "You killed someone, or quite a few people I presume. Uncle Rowan and Uncle Allister killed someone, all three of you somehow attached to dad. You, his lover. Them, his best friends." I pause and look at her she nods for me to go on. "Dad's business is no ordinary business, right? He runs an assassination club."

"I wouldn't call it an assassination club. An agency. He's coming to town today you know," She says and my head perks up.

"You told him?" she shakes her head. "News?" she nods.

"He managed to decrypt the footage that Liam decrypted, he's impressed by your work." She says, not sure if she should smile or not. "He wants to meet you, we'll go out for lunch. Just the four of us, like it used to be," she smiles and squeezes my hand. She gets up and brings the shopping bags.

"You bought me new clothes? Wow, if getting stabbed was all I needed to do to get a new wardrobe I should have done it ages ago," I joke and she looks at me unamused. I grin sheepishly.

"I brought you a dress. I know, I know. You hate dresses but you need to let your wound get some air, and skinny jeans, sweatpants, all those things won't help it heal fast." She says, dumping the contents of the bag on my lap. "I couldn't decide which one to get you..." she smiles sheepishly.

"So you bought, all of them?" I ask incredulously.

"Not ALL of them, just a majority of them."

"Might as well have bought them all," I mumble and she pokes her tongue out at me.

"Oh shut up! Just go try them on okay?" I chuckle and nod. I get out of the bed and am surprised when I feel no pain. I walk to the bathroom and slowly undress myself. I try on the dresses and decide to go for a long sleeve, grey, sweater material, and baggy dress.

"Did you happen to buy me shoes when you went on this shopping spree?" I ask my mom as I walk out. She pulls out a pair of combat boots and my eyes widen when I see the bag it came out of.

"I know, Steve Madden is cray expensive mum! Why would you spend money on shoes I might not wear again mum!" She says in a high pitch voice, trying to imitate me. I look at her blankly and it clicks.

"Dad bought this stuff didn't he?" she nods. "Why?" She raises her eyebrows and opens her mouth, "I mean, we haven't seen him years."

"Just, hear him out. He has a good explanation," she explains. I roll my eyes.

"I can't believe you're still taking his side, even after everything that's happened." I mutter she sighs. My mum signs all the necessary discharge papers and leads me out.

When we get to the car, Chris is already waiting in the back, I smile at the fact that he's left shotgun for me. We drive to the diner we would always come to a few years ago. I feel nostalgic as I unbuckle my seat belt. I walk to the front and my mum holds my hand, giving it a squeeze and smiling at me. I smile back. Chris come on my other side and we all walk to the booth in the back where a suited man looks well out of place.

A suited man. My dad.

"Charlotte," he says and stands up. "I missed you champ."