The Floaters [cake au] ✔

⌛ ➊➍ : waking up. ⌛

Chapter 14: waking up.

We woke up to a sheet of frost across the forest ground, sparkling in the sparse sunlight and dripping down from the blades of grass. I was the first to wake up, because my bladder was killing – I unzipped the tent as quietly as I could and headed to a shrub, relieving myself and watching the steam rise. It really was cold that morning.

Luke came out soon after, yawning cutely and stretching his arms up over his bed hair. "It's freezing," he mumbled. I zipped up my jeans and went over. "Yeah, I know right? You hungry?"

He shook his head. "I must've had an overnight feed because I feel pretty full. Hey, do you know if we have any more blankets? As soon as I stood up Michael grabbed mine," he asked. I pouted, looking up as I tried to remember.

"Oh yeah, I think we left a bag behind last night with the rest of them. I'll go get them, okay? You head back inside where it's slightly warmer."

He gave me a quick hug and headed back in, leaving me to weave my way through the bushes to where we dropped the bags off last night. Suddenly, my hands began to waver and disappear again. My heart beat rose as soon as I noticed this happening, and I forced myself to imagine they were there in hope that they would be... I couldn't bear to leave now, or ever! This was so shitty, this whole situation.

I sat with my back against a large oak, and cried for a little while, swallowing hard past the lump stuck in my throat. I hated this feeling of constantly not knowing what would happen. I missed my family, I missed their voices, their warmth, their kindness and support through my every atrocity. I wanted Luke so badly, I needed him to be in my life forever...

My fingers ran along the carvings on my chest and stomach, feeling the thick bumps where scar tissue had formed, as the flood of memories came rushing over like a ton of bricks to the head. Now, my heart was burning in its cage – more so that it had ever done before, which in all honesty scared me a little. In fact, this body-wide emotion was too overwhelming to be true. What was going on?

I stood up, but couldn't see my feet. I looked left and right, but no longer saw the forest. I tried to grab something with my hands, but all I could feel was air sweeping past me at a high speed – my hair was being swung in all directions, flowing past my eyes on multiple occasions.

Around me, memories of my time as a floater started popping up, and the more I tried to grasp them, the further away they flew. It felt futile, me trying so hard to keep hold of those amazing memories from the past few months.

With the excruciating pain searing through my body, I shut my eyes tight in attempt to counter it, and prayed to whatever supernatural being there was for Luke to be with me when I woke up...

"Calum! Calum darling, can you hear me??!"

I woke up the loud shrill voice of my mother, who was crouched over me with a look of both fear and surprise in her eyes. Although my vision was blurry, it wasn't hard to see that she'd hardly been sleeping. My body on the other hand, felt like it weighed several tonnes because I could hardly even lift a finger.

"Nurse, doctor! Someone – my son is waking up!"

The next few minutes were so hectic – people were rushing through the door, stethoscopes choking their necks and pens stabbing the insides of their pockets. "Mr Hood, can you open your eyes for me? Nice and wide."