Palpable | Latent 2

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I had tried to wake Dustin up by talking to him, but it wasn't working and he didn't even show any sign of waking up. No slight movements, no change in heartbeat, nothing.

I was going to the hospital every day after school, hoping he would wake up. Everyone was really missing him, especially me even though I was seeing the invisible him. I just wanted him back for real.

Beth walked into the hospital room with Dustin's dad, Alfred, and Felicity. Even though Dustin was extremely hurt and in a coma, Beth decided to tell Felicity instead of pretending he was still at my house. It was a lot easier for her to take in than saying he was missing.

"Did the doctors say anything about him waking up?" I asked Beth.

Beth shook her head. "No. The still think it will be soon, but they don't know an exact time, and they now think it won't be for at least another few days. They said talking to him might work."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. I've been trying that."

"Maybe it's because I'm here," Dustin said. "I always came with you. Maybe because I'm listening to it as well, my body isn't registering it."

"Yeah, maybe," I said. Dustin's parents furrowed their eyebrows. "Oh, sorry. Invisible Dustin is with me. He was just saying it might be because he's in here, listening to it as well."

"Invisible Dustin?" Felicity asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, remember when I was Dustin's invisible friend? Now he's my invisible friend."

"Oh," Felicity said. "But he's right there."

"I know," I said. "It's complicated."

"I'll go for a walk," Dustin said. "See if that works." I nodded and he left the hospital room.

I got closer to Dustin laying on the bed and gently held one of his friends. "Hey," I said softly. "It's me, Sophronia. Again. We all miss you, even me when I can still see and talk to you. Remember when we first met? You were playing basketball with your friends and even though you love that sport and you didn't know me at all, you left the court because you saw me looking sad. You wanted to know if I was okay. You made me feel a lot better and I couldn't ask for someone better than you to be in my life. You are such an amazing person, and we all want you to wake up. We want you to be okay."

I felt Dustin squeeze my hand a tiny bit. It was working.

"Remember the concert we went to in the summer?" I asked. "You saved up your money to buy tickets for my favourite singer right as they went on sale. And we ended up losing the tickets, but we met one of the singers and he gave us front row seats and backstage passes. Before that, you were trying everything you could to cheer me up. That's what I love about you. You always try so hard to make me feel better."

"Soph," I heard Dustin say from behind me. I turned around to see invisible Dustin with his arm slightly fading. "Keep going. It's working. I was hearing you when I was on the other side of the hospital."

I stared at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Right, I'll go leave," he said. "Just keep talking."

He left again and I turned back around. "You know my favourite moment between us?" I asked. "That one time we went mini-golfing and you kept moving your golf ball slightly over to have a better shot. You thought I wasn't looking, but I noticed you doing it every single time. I didn't say anything, because you meant no harm. That, and I ended up winning anyway."

This time, I saw his eyebrows furrow. He was close.

"Dustin, please wake up," I said. "I'm begging you. I need you to be okay again. We all need you to be okay. I really miss you. I miss going out places with you. I miss singing at the cafe with you. I miss being at school with you. Please wake up."

He did.

His eyes slowly opened and right as it did, I felt a bit of pain on my arms and head, but I shook the feeling away.

Beth moved closer to the bed. "Dustin, hey," she said. "How are you?"

"W-where am I?" he asked, his voice a bit quiet.

"The hospital," Beth said.

"Do you remember anything?" I asked.

Dustin was silent for a bit. "N-no. The last thing I remember was... was going outside because I... I heard a noise."

"On New Year's Eve?" I asked and he nodded slightly. It was probably going to take a while for him to remember being invisible. I did when I woke up from my coma.

Alfred went to go get a doctor while Felicity tried climbing onto the bed, but Beth wouldn't let her. Felicity huffed. "I want to see if he's okay," she said.

"I-I'm okay," Dustin said. "My... my head hurts a bit. And my arms."

Just like me.

The elderly lady was right. Us sharing our pain was starting.

Alfred came back with a doctor who checked up on Dustin to make sure he was doing okay. Afterwards, she asked him a few questions before explaining to Beth and Alfred that he was doing perfectly fine. His recovery was going to go swell as long as we didn't put too much pressure on him, and we definitely had to let him rest.

Dustin was going to stay in the hospital for a few more days until the doctors felt like he could be discharged and head back home.

When the doctor left, Beth called texted everyone close to Dustin to tell him he was awake now.

"So, you still don't remember anything?" I asked.

"Not really, no," Dustin said. "What... what should I remember?"

"Nothing too big," I said. "I'll see if it comes to you, but I'm not going to put pressure on you to remember since it isn't essential. I'm just really happy you're awake."