Definitely Dead

Chapter 2

When I woke up everything was fuzzy. Nurses said things to me that I couldn't understand, I just stared at them trying to hear what they were saying until they gave up and walked away.

When I woke again, a young nurse was reaching over me adjusting some equipment.

"Oh, you're awake!" He said softly and happily.

I tried to answer but I felt like sand was poured down my mouth.

"Just sit still a moment while I finish this and I'll get you some water." He fiddled with a tube that stretched from my arm to bags of liquid. I expected it to hurt, but I felt nothing. Numbness crept over my skin everywhere except my lungs. My ribs felt achy around them and I tried to take shallower breaths.

I inspected the room. There were no windows, and fluorescent lights spanned across the ceiling. A curtain separated me from another bed in the room, but it was empty. An empty plastic covered chair was to my left, and the nurse had stepped away to my right.

"I'm going to go get you some water and tell your mother that you're awake." He walked briskly out of the room.

Where he walked through the doorway, a trail of dirt covered the ground. Brown soil and leaves scattered the white tile flooring and led to the foot of my bed.

That was the first time I saw her.

Her skin was porcelain and covered with dirt, a blue hue just underneath her skin. Long fair hair clumped in muddy strands hung around her shoulders, framing her face. The whites of her eyes were yellowed, and her fingers covered with blood. She wore a blue tank top, splattered with blood and ripped jeans. Her bare feet tracked in the dirt that smothered her skin.

I stared wide eyed at her, horrified. Her solemn eyes looked back at me, pleading. Her mouth opened to speak, and maggots came pouring out as tears streamed down her face. I thought she was screaming until I realized it was me who was shrieking.

Pain seared through me as I tried to back away from her, curling against the wall. I could see the maggots on my hospital bed, squirming around in the blankets.

I tried to kick them away from me as the nurse came running in. He was shouting at me, grabbing my shoulders and trying to steady me. I couldn't hear anything he was saying. I couldn't look at anything except for her and her eyes were locked on mine, filled with despair.

And then I was looking at the nurse. His hands held my face. "Look at me" I heard him say. "What's happening?" He asks, "what are you seeing?" And "why are you screaming?" He had warm brown eyes and a five o'clock shadow. His dark hair was combed back out of his face and shaved short on the sides.

"Can't you see her!?" I pointed franticly but where she once stood dirty and decaying, there was nothing. The white floors pristine again, and the bed sheet unscathed.

"She was right there." I blinked hard several times waiting for her to come back. "I saw her she was right there."

"There's no one there miss." He said slowly looking around and at me with concern. "Your mothers on her way to the room, I'm going to give you some more pain medication. And we are going to do another examination of your head. The doctor will be here shortly."

He gently pressed me down to the bed and brought the blankets back over me. 
I watched him inject something into my IV and My blood felt cold, a strange aching feeling coursed through my body.

"You'll start to feel better soon, and you may start to feel sleepy." He paused before questioning me. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Annabeth," I said.

"Good. When is your birthday?"

"September 21st." My memory was fine.

"What year?" He continued.

"1997, and I'm 20 years old." I looked up at him, attempting not to be rude, but unable to hide the discomfort and confusion on my face. "I saw a girl standing right in front of me. I think she's hurt, she had blood on her."

As soon as the words came out of my mouth I knew I sounded crazy.

"There was no one there miss, you were the only one in the room. You are answering questions fine but the doctor is going to come check on you and do some tests. You don't need to worry about them, none of it will hurt."

"Okay..." I looked at him as he walked around the room like he was checking to see if some injured woman was hiding in any corners. "What's your name?" I asked him, my voice weak.

"Adam." He smiled awkwardly at me.

He definitely thinks I'm crazy.

"Thank you for helping me nurse Adam." I tried to smile at him.

In that moment my mom walked in, her face was tear streaked and she rushed to me and gently hugged me. She started going on about how worried she was, and I was having a hard time focusing on what she was saying.

And then I heard her say that my heart stopped.

"What?"

"Your heart stopped. They had to revive you, I thought I was going to loose you hun I was so worried. And they brought you back! Adam was there, he helped!" She smiled at Adam as he excused himself from the room.

Maybe my head was messed up after all.