Hero

Chapter One

Beep.

Silence. Oh, sweet, sweet silence. Where have you been all my life? Honestly, it had been so long since I'd experienced such serene silence as this that I'd forgotten what it felt like. Oh, the ability to hear my own thoughts, how lovely.

Beep.

Actually, now that I could really think, I didn't know if I could remember ever experiencing silence the way that I was right now. Something was off about it. Something was different.

Beep. Beep.

It was that beep. Something about it just made the whole thing feel wrong. What the hell was going on here?

Beep. Beep.

Where was Nova? Where was Simon? The last thing I remembered was getting ready to go to the movies with one of them. We were driving along in a car...Nova's car, was it?

Beep. Beep.

Maybe that had just been a dream. It had happened before, real life mixing into my dreams so vividly that I thought it was actually happening. I was probably just asleep.

Beep.

But if I was asleep, then why was I thinking? Shouldn't my mother be waking me up right now? Shouldn't I hear her soft voice whispering goodbyes to Sam and Molly and then her shrill scream up to me as she warned me once again that I'd be late for school if I slept any longer, despite my alarm not going off for another twenty minutes?

Beep. Beep.

If I was asleep, then where was she? Where was Sam? At this point, I'd even take that little asshole of a stepsister. Anyone would be welcome if they'd just tell me what was going on right now.

Beep.

No. No, that was taking it a bit far. I was being over the top; I was exaggerating. I'd be perfectly fine here. I was just...somewhere...alone...with nothing but a mechanical beep to greet me.

Beep. Beep.

But I'd be fine.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Oh, fuck. Who was I kidding? Who did I have to kid? I would be the exact opposite of fine if I stayed here any longer.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Get me out of here!

My eyes opened slowly, first cracking the gunk that had glued them together in my sleep before they flew open as I realized that I was choking on something stuck deep down in my throat. I made a strangled noise and lifted my arm to grab the thing and pull it out. It would have worked, but my arms just weren't responding to my commands; everything I tried felt like I was dragging sticks through mud. I tried to scream, but that only caused me to gag harder on the obstruction that was lodged inside of me. Wiggling my shoulders to the best of my abilities, I flailed my arms slightly, knocking my limp hands into the plastic guard rails that lined my bed.

A man in a white lab coat ran into my room, shouting something to the woman who followed him. My ears were ringing, like I'd just gotten back from a concert where I'd stood next to the speakers the entire night; the cottonesque feeling it left blocked out whatever the two people were saying. The man grabbed my arms and held them down, prompting me to flail harder as the woman tapped air bubbles out of a needle quickly. She lowered it to my arm, stuck my vein as quickly as she could, and depressed the liquid into me. The man on top of me stopped moving as my jerking motions slowed until I was laying still. My hands were released from the man's grip and the obstruction was removed from my throat and placed on a tray table to be removed. I finally saw what had been the cause of so much trouble: a breathing tube.