I woke up on the floor some time later; and though I was feeling aches all over my body, I strangely felt less sore as when I fell asleep.
Listening hard before I moved, I heard nothing and opened my eyes slowly; and immediately realised that something was wrong.
I wasn’t in my room - the pale carpet by my face wasn’t the same, nor was the sofa beside which I was lying.
Then where was I?
I sat up hurriedly, feeling awfully disorientated until I suddenly recognised the living room I was in - somehow I had made it to Jessie’s house in the night.
I didn’t remember taking the bus, or any of the rest of the journey for that matter, but I figured it must have been an automatic reflex, a sub-conscious escape route.
I sat up where I was on the floor, feeling a little nauseous for a moment, and looked around me.
There was no one around, and I could hear nothing; none of the usual talking and laughing I’d always associated with the James house.
What was going on, I wondered - and why did I still have the awful sense that something was terribly wrong?
I waited until I felt that I could trust myself not to fall down, then, getting tentatively to my feet, I went to the doorway.
Still, there was nothing; no one around at all.
I looked in the kitchen - it was more of a mess than usual, but otherwise, it was empty.
Likewise, there was no one in any of the rooms on the ground floor - but if there was nobody home, how had I gotten in?
The endless questions seemed to echo in my head with no answers, but I deliberately ignored them, and moved to the stairs.
Each creak and footstep was magnified, in my mind, by the deathly silence, and I got to the second floor - and suddenly I heard it.
A soft sobbing came from further up the hallway, from Jessie’s room.
What was wrong? I wondered - and how was I here, yet knew nothing about it?
Another question, it seemed - but maybe I could answer these ones.
The walk to Jessie’s door for the answers seemed to take forever, but eventually I stood before it, knocking on the door.
The sobbing continued unchecked.
I knocked again, harder, and whoever was on the other side was silent for a moment.
I sighed, relieved, and took the chance to call out.
“Jess, are you alright?”
I got no reply, hearing only sniffling and, eventually, a radio being turned on.
This was weird, I thought to myself, feeling my hands growing cold in the eerie atmosphere.
It was as if she couldn’t hear me - was I dreaming, perhaps?
This certainly felt real enough, though, even with the ghostly quiet.
I pinched myself, and couldn’t help gasping at the definitely real pain that burned my arm.
Without even meaning to, I glanced down at the red spot I was rubbing, and froze in shock.
Except the patch I was rubbing, there were no marks on my arm - no bruises, nothing.
This, combined with the fact that I didn’t seem to exist to people anymore, scared me.
I must be dreaming, I thought desperately to myself - it was the only possible explanation.
As I wondered about what was going on, the thought of bruises had reminded me of what had happened the day before I passed out, or fell asleep - whichever it was.
After bluffing Jessie’s questions away, I had been talking to Jay about... everything - and he must be around here, somewhere, I thought.
If he ignored me, I figured, or said something really spacey, it would prove I was dreaming.
If not - and I really hoped this was what would happen - then I could work out the completely reasonable explanation for what was going on, and things would return to normal.
Thinking I had found a solution, I headed straight for the guest bedroom, where Jay had slept the other night.
The door was open, so I walked straight in, seeing Jay bent over a drawing at the desk.
I smiled, relieved to find such a normal scene.
“Hi, Jay,” I said, and he looked up in surprise.
“What’s up with Jessie?”
It seemed an innocent enough question to me, but Jay’s eyes grew wide, and he spun around on the chair.
“Uh, Angel... how’d you get here?”
Frowning, I realised that I didn’t know how; and I was clueless as to why it mattered.
“Um, I'm not sure,” I ended up saying. “Why?”
Jay was still staring at me, eventually finding his voice.
“Well... because an hour ago you were still in a coma in the hospital, that’s why.”
I sat slowly down on the bed, trying to make sense of what he had just told me.
“You don’t know?” Jay watched my obvious shock with growing surprise on his own face.
“How can you not know?...”
I opened my mouth to answer him, but I couldn’t find the words.
Suddenly, Jay took a step back, not taking his eyes off me.
“Oh... hang on; I know what’s going on.” he went on, talking fast and not sounding like he believed himself.
“You died, right? And now you’ve come back to haunt me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that ridiculous statement, but Jay didn’t think it was funny.
“Well, what the fuck’s going on, then?” He almost yelled it, looking terribly confused.
“I don’t know!” I cried out suddenly, losing hope of finding some answers - but Jay had frozen in place, and now he turned to me.
“Have you seen Jessie yet?” he asked.
I shook my head mutely.
“She’s been freaking out so bad ever since her mum told us about it... you should tell her you’re okay, now that they’ve obviously let you out of hospital.”
It was almost impossible to have gone from a coma to visiting friends in an hour, but Jay seemed to have made up his mind to believe in the most explainable option.
“She can’t hear me.” I finally found some words and answered his earlier statement.
“What?” Jay was beginning to look nervous again.
“I said; she can’t hear me.” I went on, “I knocked on her door and called out but she didn’t answer.”
“But...” Jay was speechless, so I decided I would prove it to him.
“Here, I’ll show you.” I went to take his hand and pull him to the door, but my hand seemed to go straight through his.
That wasn’t right.
I tried again, both of us staring at the impossible, but the same thing happened.
I took a step back, feeling suddenly ill.
“Oh, shit.” I said, and suddenly Jay and the room weren’t there.
