Risk is the Spice of Life

Chapter 12 - The Final Chapter

I didn't know how long I stayed in the darkness, but one moment I was there and the next I had the sensation of flying. It was an odd sensation; I thought I'd be flying up, but the journey felt more like I was flying on a carpet or oddly shaped cloud. I felt like there was a light guiding me, but I never reached it.

One moment I was flying and the next I hung suspended in the air. My arms itched and ached like I'd been pricked with something and I heard so many voices, but none of them were discernable. I always thought that when I died I'd go to Heaven and be at peace, not suspended in some Purgatory with a flickering awareness of light and darkness, plagued with a thousand buzzing voices.

I didn't know when I could feel things again, but I was suddenly aware of brief patches of warmth, mainly around my face, arms, and torso. I was also aware that a constant beeping accompanied the voices, though the voices seemed to have diminished and only returned intermittently. How long was I meant to be here, in this suspended state with pieces of awareness floating back to me?

Sometimes I drifted, not really aware of anything; it was similar to sleep, but I never fully lost consciousness. When I wasn't drifting, all I had time to do was think; I thought about my life and the people who made it special. I thought about the happy memories and the stupid mistakes and foiled opportunities. And as much as I wanted to move past them, I was still angry and ashamed, and it occurred to me that maybe that was why I was stuck: because I hadn't found peace with myself.

Wake up. Come back. Please.

I was startled. Those words were the first I was able to hear clearly, but I didn't know who spoke them. There was no point, though. I couldn't go back I was dead.

Don't leave.

I felt warmth engulf my hand and remain there for a long time. I wish I wasn't dead. I thought before I fell into the faux sleep.

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The first thing I noticed was the pure clarity of the sounds around me: electronic beeping, soft snoring, and my own breath, which sounded weird and nasally. The second thing was how fuzzy my brain and memories felt. I opened my eyes.

I lay in a large, comfortable bed in a large but quaint room, painted a soft blue. The soft snoring came from a person sleeping in one of the chairs. I couldn't see a face under the platinum blonde hair, but I only knew of one person who could sleep so soundly in such an uncomfortable place. Yoongi. I smiled though I wondered why he was there.

The beeping came from the machine next to my bed and the reason my breath sounded strange was because of the tubes in my nose. I pulled the tubes from my nose and tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in my abdomen caused me to wince and groan, so I lay back down. Why did I hurt? What was I doing in a hospital room?

Suddenly, the memories came flooding back: the forest. The stolen note. Fernando. The blackness. But how had I gotten from the little Eden to the hospital? The door to the room opened and an elderly nurse walked in.

"Oh! You're awake!" he said surprisingly. The he cracked a grin "They'll be happy to know. Ima check your vitals and let the doctors know."

An hour later, the empty room I had woken up to was full of people. Kestrel was on one side of my bed, holding my hand while Hobi stood on the other side. Tae and Jimin sat at the foot of my bed while Jin and Jungkook sat in the remaining chairs. Yoongi remained asleep.

"What was it like, being in a coma?" Kestrel asked.

"Very surreal." I answered. "I felt like I was floating in nothingness the whole time. How long was I out?"