Dark Paradise

Chapter 19: Home at Last~

Chapter 19: Home, at Last~

Inspirational Songs: Sleeping At Last- I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

I fell. I heard the distant screams of Blackpool and the comforting warmth and familiarity of Long Island below me. I submitted to gravity and fell to my home. I fell to where I belonged.

I was still. I was frozen, unable to move. Did I die? I asked myself. Did I really not go home? Did I just hit the bottom of the hole I thought would take me home? No...

"Come on, Chase. Wake up. A month and a half is too long to be in a comatose." Selene's voice urged me. My stomach fluttered. Was I really back home? Selene.

Had I really just been in a coma? Did Blackpool really even exist? I tried to think of a logical explanation. Selene began to sing Comatose by Skillet. I felt as though she's been singing this to me for a long time. A pressure pushed my chest down, seeming to suffocate me. But it wasn't that kind of suffocation when you're being choked by someone. It was a warm, sort of comfortable kind of suffocation.

Then, Selene's voice went from distant to right in front of me. It was all too clear. I kept my eyes closed and continued to breathe shallowly.

"You take the pain I feel..." her hot breath tickled my hand, and I knew she was crying into my skin. I knew she wasn't expecting a response. I opened my eyes and looked at her. We were alone in my room, and she sat there with her long hair in a messy bun.

"Waking up to you..." I sung to her. My voice was extremely dry. "...never felt so real." She froze for a moment, and stopped her sobbing. She slowly looked at me, and I turned my head to look at her. "I told you I would see you cry, eventually."

"Oh my gosh," she breathed, getting choked up. "you're awake." She squeezed my hand and I pulled her into a hug. "Thank God you're awake..." she sobbed into my shoulder, squeezing me too hard.

"Yeah, I'm awake." I mumbled into her neck. "But I kind of can't breathe." Selene loosened her grip on me, but refused to let go. I was home again; I knew that for a straight fact. I didn't feel the imminent need to leave Blackpool until the time came when we ran from the castle, and that queen threatened to kill me if I didn't submit to her rule.

I rubbed Selene's back, which had her spine protruding. "Selene, you're all skin and bones. Have you been eating?" She released me and smiled sadly. "I could hardly. I couldn't find the appetite to eat. But it's not because of you, I promise." I sighed, hoping it was true. "Okay, well, we both need to eat something soon." I laughed. "How long have I been...?"

"Let's see..." she said, thinking. "The accident occurred November first." She checked her iPhone, which had a freshly cracked screen. "It is now December fourth, so a month and three days."

"At least I didn't miss Christmas, eh love?" I asked her, holding her hands. Selene looked at me and smiled softly. "So you remember me?" she asked. "In like... mid-November, the doctor said you could have suffered from severe brain trauma or memory loss."

I stared at my high-school sweetheart. "Of course I remember you, Selene!" I cried, hugging her again. "How could I ever forget you? You're like family!"

Selene froze. "Your family, I forgot!" she got up and raced out of the room, leaving me alone for a brief moment before running back in, followed by my mother, tears streaming down her face. Genevieve and the rest of the friend group followed shortly after. My mother, my real mother, ran right up to me and hugged me. Sure, yeah, I don't remember a thing since before I was five or six, but who could care less? I don't want to remember any of it.

"Oh, my baby is home." My mother sobbed into my shirt. I looked at her. "Mom, please. I'm home, yes. Sh." My mother pulled away and sobbed. "Why am I home? Like, home-home?" I asked her. She smiled at me. "I didn't want to have to pay that mammoth hospital bill, so I took you home."