Recovery (Amnesia Sequel)

Unprepared

Once again, I wake in the small room. Luckily this time I'm not surrounded by a bunch of people staring at me. Instead I see Josh, my brother, at my bedside. He's looking down at his hands, his eyes shadowed by his prominent eye bone. He's repeatedly biting his lip, as if he's angry or upset. I grow worried. "Josh?" I ask quietly, worried as if I speak too loud it'll make things worse for him.

He looks up, surprised to see I'm awake. He gives me a small, fake smile. "Good morning," he says. I notice how deep his voice has gotten. I wonder how long it's been since everything has gone to hell. Added to what I already missed from my coma after the accident. I probably missed a good little chunk of him growing into himself. 

"Everything okay?" I ask him.

His brow furrows for a second, then he suddenly laughs. That's the first time I've seen that in a while. "You're asking me that?"

I laugh with him. "Okay, okay. Funny. But really, Josh. You seem upset. Talk to me."

"Nothing, Alice," he says. "Almost lost you. To that asshole, no less. I hated James from the start. Seeing what he did to you . . ."

"It's okay," I smile at him. "I'm good."

"You're infected."

The smile is immediately wiped from my face. Silence fills the room to the point it's almost eerie. I start picking the blood out from underneath my fingernails. Visions of James and his glazed over eyes enter my mind. The knife protruding from his chest. Blood covering the floor. The moment he bit down on Chris's leg.

"Chris!"

His name slips from my mouth. I turn to Josh with pleading eyes. I grab his hands and squeeze them tight, holding my breath.

He doesn't look at me.

"Josh, tell me."

No answer.

"Please."

Josh stands up and pries my fingers from his hands. He walks out without a word.

I can't take the silence anymore. I need to know how he's doing. If he's okay, if he's alive.

I get out of the bed, this time able to stand and make it out of the room successfully. I walk down the hall, towards the cafeteria. I start to hear yelling. I follow the shouts that are coming from down the hall. I make it to a door which is closed. I listen carefully, my body shaking from exhaustion and pain and fear. As I listen, the voice grows more and more familiar.

I open the door and see my father standing over a chair, his eyes wide and menacing. He stops mid shout, spit falling onto the desk in front of him. Veins protrude from his forehead. His eyes are bloodshot, hair wild. He yells at someone squirming in a chair in front of me. I can't see the face, nor anything but a silhouette with the small amount of light coming in from the hall. They are shaking uncontrollably. Their nails engrave scratches into the wooden chair.

"What are you doing, Alice?" he screams at me. "Get out. Now."

"Who is that?" I start walking forward, but my father takes one step around the desk and is already pushing me back.

"I said get out!"

I turn around and stumble out. He slams the door behind me. I hear it lock and him begin to start yelling again.

I use the wall to help me walk to the cafeteria. When I walk in, still in shock and confusion, Anne spots me. She runs over and helps me to a table. "Alice, what's wrong?"

"What do I say? My ex tried killing me? I'm infected? My boyfriend is too, possibly dead because no ones giving me a goddamn answer. Oh, and it just looked like my dad was torturing someone in his office."

"What?"

"Where is Chris," I ask. "Please tell me where the hell Chris is."

"He's in another room getting helped by Melissa, the nurse," Anne says. "He's alive."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Take me to him."

"Um, I don't know if that's a good idea," Johnny says when he walks up.

Anne shoots him a glare. She turns back to me with a smile. "Come on. Let's say hi."

Anne helps me back down the hall a few rooms from where I was. When we open the door, I hear a moan. Anne nods at me to walk in, so I do. I enter the room, which is smaller than mine. Instead of a bed it contains a table with bloody sheets covering it. On top of that lies Chris.

I hurry over to him, ignoring the pain. "Chris?" I whisper in his ear. "Oh, Chris. Shit. You're so pale." I run my fingers through his hair and watch as his eyes move under his closed eyelids. Sweat covers his face. I try to wipe it off, but he's emitting so much heat that it's almost pointless. I turn to Anne and say, "He's worse than me."

She nods slowly.

Fuck! Why did he have to come after me? Why didn't he just leave me out there to fend for myself. It wasn't his goddamn fight.

I rest my head on his chest and listen to his heart beat. Still going strong.

"I'll leave you two alone. If he wakes up, leave. He's so out of it he doesn't know much. It would be better if he didn't speak to anyone," Anne says as she walks out and closes the door.

I ignore her as I get up onto the table with him and lay beside him. He's so warm it's hard for me to believe it's him creating this heat. I wrap one arm around his chest and one leg around his leg, resting my head on his chest. Cuddling him. He saved me. Even if we're both bit, we weren't awfully murdered. He was there for me.

I kiss his cheek repeatedly, tears sliding off my face. I can't help but hope he wakes up. I want to see those big eyes. I want to hear that warm voice of his. I want him to wrap his arms around me and hold me, make me feel safe like he always does.

Suddenly Chris begins to move. He turns, yawning. When he looks at me his eyes are red, probably from so much sleep or too many hits to the face. I smile at him. He stares at me. And stares. And stares. Then, within seconds, he's on top of me, strangling me.  His eyes are wide and bloodshot. Just like my fathers.

Oh fuck.

"Chris, no, it's me!" I try to say through the little amount of words I can get out as he cuts off my air.

"You did this!" he screams at me.

"Let go!" I choke.

"You fucking did this to us!" he screams again.

My head begins to spin. Tears are streaming from my eyes and I can't breathe. He's choking me. He's trying to kill me.

"Chris!" I beg with the last amount of energy I can, my legs kicking at his chest. Nothing seems to phase him at all.

I hear a door open, then see Chris go flying. But his grasp on my throat doesn't loosen. I fly to the floor with him, and finally he lets go. I see my father and Anne in the room. He grabs Chris and starts dragging him out of the room, screaming and cursing at me. I sit on the floor in shock.

Anne sits down next to me, saying so many things. I block every word out. All I see is Chris. His eyes. The anger. He's turning. This is one of the first stages. I collapse in Anne's lap and begin to sob, unprepared for what is to come.