Awake at Last

Twelve

After another day, there's still no sign of the cops. Or anyone. I haven't eaten anything in days, and I've pretty much forgotten the feeling of being fully hydrated. It's like someone changed my throat to sand and my tongue to sandpaper. One more day and I'm going to lose it.

I'm dozing. It's all I've got to keep myself entertained. Or, at least, to make the time pass. I tried playing Angry Birds with my toes, which didn't work. The phone ran out of battery a few hours ago anyway. "What the hell did you do?" I hear a voice hiss. There's been a pounding on the door for the past five minutes, but I thought it was in my head. I look up and see Marcus glaring at me. "Answer me, dammit!"

"Called the..." I croak. I take a breath and finish the sentence, "cops."

"You called the fucking what?" Marcus yells. He scowls and disappears into the darkness for a minute. The cops are pounding on the door and yelling into it. After a few minutes, Snakey McSnakeskin reappears with a handgun. He unties me quickly, yanks me to my feet, and holds the gun to my head. At that moment, the cops bust the door down and rush into the room with their guns cocked and loaded. "Go away!" Marcus yells, cocking his own gun. "She's mine! Mine!"

"You're a psychopath!" I hear someone yell. I sure as hell know it isn't a cop; they're standing there like a mob of fucking snipers. The voice is familiar. Deep, resonating. Avi.

"Avi," I yell. Well, try to yell. It comes out as more of a raspy whisper. Marcus kicks me in the back of my knee, and I start to cave. He holds me up by my neck, cutting off my air. I would try to scrabble at his arm, but I don't think I have the strength to lift my hands. Or do anything with myself.

"I said get the fuck out! I own her!"

"Sir, hand her over." One of the cops says. His voice is calm. Monotone, even. How is he so... emotionless?

"No!"

"Sir!" Marcus's grip on my neck tightens, and I feel more and more of my windpipe closing. I choke a bit, but it's so quiet that I can barely hear it.

"I said no!" One, two gunshots go off. I sag to my knees as Marcus's grip suddenly leaves my neck. Another loud bang, and a searing pain goes through my shoulder. I'd cry out if I had the strength, but all I can do is begin to fall forward. As I'm about to have a make out session with the floor, arms catch me.

"Alyss?" I hear Avi's voice. But the darkness is closing in. The spots are already dancing on my eyes. I can barely see through the haze of black. "Alyss!" His voice is a shout, but to me it sounds like a dull echo bouncing off a cave wall. The last thing I hear is Avi telling me it's going to be fine. And then I black out.

Is this what it feels like to die?

-

The beeping is what wakes me up. It's constant and annoying as fuck. Slowly, I open my eyes, which feel pretty much crusted shut. After like... a minute and a half, I finally manage to get them open. And even then, they're bleary and nothing in the room is clear. I hear dull, wary voices and occasionally a sob piercing the ominous veil of silence that has settled over me, but nothing truly reaches me. It takes another ten minutes or so for my vision and hearing to be clear. I focus on the white ceiling above me, and the first thing I realize is that I'm in a bed with a million machines hooked up to me. The dull beeping is a heart monitor. I'm in a hospital.

Someone's grasping my hand tightly. I turn my head to see Avi, on his knees at the side of the bed, forehead resting on the sheets. His eyes are squeezed shut, but I don't think he's asleep. My body is regaining feeling, which is both great and horrible. There's a piercing pain in my left shoulder, but at least I don't feel numb anymore.

"A-vi...?" I croak. His head shoots upwards and a broad smile appears on his features. His eyes are glowing in happiness, despite the fact that they're bloodshot and his cheeks are blotchy.

"You're awake!" He cries, leaping to his feet. He pulls me into an awkward half-hug and I grunt in pain, but accept the embrace. He kisses my cheeks, forehead, chin, lips, nose... basically everything. "Thank God. I thought I lost you. I love you, I can't say it enough."

I smile, feeling finally safe. "Kirstie?" I ask, needing to know where she is. A nagging feeling in my gut tells me something's horribly wrong, but I need to know for sure.

Avi's smile immediately disappears. He looks like he's aged fifty years in five seconds. "She..." he begins, and closes his eyes for a minute. It looks like he's biting back tears. "She didn't... she didn't wake up."

-

A/N: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. So about halfway through writing this chapter, I got super into it. Apparently I'm good at writing about people who are waking up from being in a coma. Anyway, I finished this sooner than I thought I would, so I just decided to put it up. Now, onto the whole... ahem... death. Do you hate me? I get the feeling that you do. But to hell with your opinions (just kidding I love you), this is for story purposes. ;3 Anywho, as sad as it is, I hope you enjoyed the chapter guys. Peace! :)

Fun Fact: OpenOffice (which is what I use to write) doesn't mark 'McSnakeskin' as misspelled. Lol I'm pretty sure that McSnakeskin isn't a word, but okay.