The Floaters [cake au] ✔

⌛ ➊➎ : psychotic. ⌛

Chapter 15: psychotic.

Tristan left at around noon because he had afternoon classes at college. It was still so strange to me that everyone around me had grown up – all my old friends were enrolling in varying courses, Mali had graduated university, and my parents had been very busy with the new dog. I hadn't been allowed to see him yet because pets weren't allowed here; to be honest, I didn't really want to see him.

I'd been so preoccupied with recuperation and pain management that I hadn't had time to think about anything else – and any spare moments were spent thinking about my peculiar dreams about the same person. Tall... blonde... paintings... sunsets... camping... they all seemed to vivid yet so grey, so near and yet so far. I could picture his face well enough to draw – except I was a total klutz when it came to expressing entities in art form.

Something was drawing me back to the article I had read the other week. I reached for my laptop and got it up again, scrolling through the posts until I found one I was relatively interested in.

To my amazement, they managed to solve one of my many questions – why on earth I had scars on my chest resembling a flower and a skull.

Apparently during my coma someone must have cut into my skin – though if that was the case, why were the images so distinguishable? It led me to wonder if it had been intentional, and the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

It must have been the person I kept dreaming about who did them. Someone named...

Luke.

I panicked, and all of a sudden I felt like tearing all the wires and line-ins off my body. I wanted to escape, find him, go back to that place I had grown to love so much – and yet I had absolutely no idea how I was going to achieve that. Nothing hurt more than the thought – the realisation of loss of a loved one hitting you like a ton of bricks.

A nurse came in and tried to stop me, tried to push me back on the bed, reinsert the tubes, but I used all my strength to resist. I had to find him! There was no time – it had taken me long enough to remember who he was and now the guilt was overcoming me like an incoming army of men.

"Please, I have to go – you don't understand!" I shrieked, my tears now formulating in quick succession. "What if he wakes up... I need to see him!"

"Mr Hood, I'm gonna have to ask you to sit down," the nurse said sternly with a look of steel. She restrained me to the bed and asked for assistance, and soon it was hopeless for me to even try and get out. "Do you need to call someone?" she asked, now in a slightly softer tone. She whispered to her colleague, "He's probably just experiencing some psychosis from the drugs. When the consultant comes back around, we might need to consider reducing his dose."

It hurt me that they were talking about me right in front of my face, discussing the details of my care without even consulting me. I was not experiencing psychosis! I just need to get to him – I remembered him telling me he lived in Darwin. Perhaps he was still there? I wouldn't know unless I tried.

Mum arrived a few minutes later, washing my face for me and doing other menial tasks. "You look a little on edge Calum dear, are you okay?"

I swallowed hard and replied, "Yeah. I'm good."

She clearly wasn't satisfied with this response, but didn't pester me about it. "Well, there's good news. The doctor says you've been improving a lot in your rehab sessions, so you won't have to be stuck here for too much longer!" she exclaimed, happiness lighting up her eyes.

That may have been good news to me if I wasn't in a hurry to find Luke. I needed to get out of here as soon as possible, because if not then the thought of him being out there looking for me too would eat away at my brain.

My hands reached for the scars on my stomach. "Oh mum, do you know when I got these scars?" I asked, lifting up my gown to show her. She gave me a strange look, her eyes squinting ever so slightly and her lips pursing.

"Calum, sweetheart... there's nothing there."

I froze. What was she going on about? There was clearly a set of drawings there on my stomach. Anyone with eyes could see that! "No, look! Look more carefully. Can't you see it? There's a flower and a skull."

She shook her head, taking my hands into hers. "Soon the effects of the drugs will wear off. Just bear with it a little longer, okay? I know it can't be easy but you have to try."

Damn it. Even my own mother wasn't listening to me. I scoffed, shoved her hands away, and looked to the side. This wasn't happening.

~

That evening, once they'd turned most of the lights off, I changed my clothes discreetly under the covers. Once I made sure the coast was clear, I crept out into the hallway and walked as casually as I could out of the ward, wary of the fact that I didn't have shoes on.

Somehow I made it all the way back home. My parents and Mali were likely to be asleep by now, right? I strode down the path to my front door, one which I hadn't seen in so long. I was worried that if I went in and got my stuff that I wouldn't want to leave.

I supressed my fear and fished under the doormat for the spare key. After finding it I swiftly inserted it into the keyhole and pushed ever so gently, only to face a very loud barking dog. Of course... they got a dog didn't they? I panicked, biting down hard on my lip and picking the dog up, muffling its mouth. With my other hand I stroked it so it would calm down, and thankfully it did.

Placing it down, I tiptoed up the wooden stairs to my bedroom. Once inside I felt like I was gonna cry.

There were pictures of me and my friends on my wall, stuck with tacky sello-tape and turning yellow with age. My bed was made, a rarity in this house, and the floor was all tidy. My desk was cleared with a few notebooks and pens on top, and there was a misplaced plastic bag next to it.

It contained blood-stained clothes. I assumed they were from the night of the accident... but why hadn't mum washed them? It was strange to keep something like that. I dismissed it and searched the bag for my wallet. Inside it only had around thirty dollars, so I fished around in the box I kept under my bed for my savings stash.

Once I'd accumulated enough for a flight, I grabbed some clothes from my wardrobe and stuffed them in a backpack, foraged in my desk drawer for my passport, slipped into a pair of Vans and checked one last time to make sure the room looked immaculate. I managed to get back outside without waking anyone which shocked me, considering I wasn't exactly the lightest person around nor the quietest.

I had another panic moment when I realised I'd left my phone at the hospital. I facepalmed, quickly brainstorming ideas on how I was gonna get back there unnoticed, but the best option I could come up with was to just carry on without it.

Waving down a taxi on the main road, I got in and headed straight for the airport, which was pretty crowded even at this time of night. I headed straight to the main desk, asking when the next flight to Darwin was.

"The next one out is tomorrow morning at 6:00AM. Would you like me to book you a place on that flight?" the smiling receptionist asked. I wasn't exactly thrilled I couldn't get one before tomorrow but it was better than nothing.

"Yeah, yeah please. How much is it?"

I couldn't help being slightly embarrassed as I passed over three hundred dollars in five and ten dollar notes. Damn this journey was gonna drain my pockets, but it was one that had to be made. After receiving my boarding pass, I went through security checks and found a seat before taking a deep breath. I couldn't stay still, knowing that tomorrow I could be seeing my Luke again.

***

So they're gonna meet in the next chapter, I'll give you that, but what'll happen afterwards? only i know :)))))))

when you reach mid-2017 and realise you've spent way too much time worshipping cake (pls let 2017 cake be a thing) and not enough time studying for life...

and I heard that on instagram luke posted a pic with calum and captioned it with a cake??! like clearly that's a sign! whos with me

kimmy xx