March from Darkness | ✓ (to be edited)

SEVEN

     I faded in and out for I don't know how long after that. My eyes would open, take in light, I'd feel something, usually burning, and then I'd pass out again, only to wake up again when it was slightly darker than before. I went through these cycles, but I didn't ever manage to stay awake long enough to keep track of how many went by.

     I'd drift in and out of nightmares and just pure darkness, usually invaded by some sound, like humming, beeping, wheezing, and I'm pretty sure I heard crying at one point and yelling at another, or a feeling, like something brushing over my hair, something on my hand, a blanket being shifted over me, something stabbing me in the arm, my skin burning. Everything was hurting, and as desperate as I was for myself to be suffering, I didn't like it. I hated pain, I always had; there was a reason that sensation was given such an awful name. 

     But I deserved it.

     So I endured it.

     Every nightmare I had just consisted of the same images in my head: Koralai dead on our couch, covered in her blood and other dried fluids, her neck snapped, her blank eyes filled with terror, her lifeless, bloodied body screaming at me, clawing at me, biting me, killing me, only to wake up again to have it be repeated. After a few of the dreams, my throat hurt so badly in the dreams that no matter how hard I tried to scream as a way to release the pain she inflicted, it only hurt more. That was the only thing that never healed in the dreams aside the wounds that would close while I was in the darkness and form scars that I could see in the next nightmare.

     She was always so angry at me, and, despite what she had done to me, I could never find it in myself to fight her back. I would never fight her, even in a dream; I was too afraid of what I did when I fought back...

     So much pain. So much burning. So tired, yet so wanting to wake up. And yet...

     I was comfortable.

     I woke up to the sound of beeping and wheezing. I could feel a burning sensation in my arm, but the rest of my body didn't hurt anymore. Everything was numb, including my throat. There was a dim darkness in the room, illuminated by a lamp in the far corner. Everything was blurry, my eyelids felt heavy, and I felt a disorientation at waking up to it being dark outside. I blinked for a solid three minutes before my eyes could finally focus on something other than a vague shape. 

     I was still in the bed I had been in when I passed out, but I had clothes on now, a short-sleeved black shirt and what felt like boxers. The sheets were new, and there were three blankets on top of me now; and what the hell was that incessant beeping?

     I looked around me slowly, only to find an IV drip next to me. Well, that explained the burning sensation in my arm and my overly-numb everything. There was still a slight wheezing sound coming from somewhere, and it wasn't until I felt a cold rush of something going up my nose that I realized it was me. There was something conflicting with my normal breathing, but I didn't bring my arms up to reach it. I probably wouldn't have been able to feel my fingers grab it, anyways. I frowned at myself.

     I need to stop getting myself into these situations...

     I felt something shift next to me and it took everything I had to look over, surprised to see Phrer's giant back to me, lying on the bed. Had he seriously slept in here? Why didn't he just go to his own room? I glared at his back, barely covered by the shirt he was wearing since it looked like it had been painted on. I could see one of his giant hands clutching onto the side of neck where it attached to his shoulder as he slept. His breathing was slow, even, soothing in a way.

     I wanted so badly to yank the IV out of my arm, but when I tried again to lift my arms, the muscles wouldn't cooperate. I decided that I would try to move my finger at least, and when that didn't work, I began to panic. Why the hell couldn't I move? Surely I wasn't still dreaming. I'd had sleep paralysis before, but it was never like this. It must have been something in my IV drip... right?