The Love of a Stranger

Back Again

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My fingers twitch at first sign of consciousness underneath the layer of blankets.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyelids flutter underneath the strong lights directly above me.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My head was spinning and pounding because of the amount of beeping machines I heard.

Beep. Beep. Be-oh shut up.

Groaning, I propped myself up against the feather filled pillow and took in my surroundings, yet again I was in the most miserable place a person could be: hospital.

My breaths were slow and shaky, just like the rest of my body but with the help of an oxygen mask my lungs felt at ease. I reached over to the water-filled cup at the side, pulled my mask up and took a sip to quench my thirst. I noticed the time on the clock that hung up on the wall above the door. 12:10. I guess it was at night, it was still dark outside. Even though I had a sense of time I didn't have a sense of date. I hate waking up in hospital, you never know when you're going to wake up, if your memory is still intact or if you're going to wake up alone.

My clothes were in a pile sitting on the chair at the corner of the room. I saw my jeans, and bulging out of my back pocket was my phone that I desperately needed and wanted to check, but I was unable to get up and retrieve it because of the oxygen mask I had on my face, I didn't know if there would be any dangers if I took it off so I decided not to take the risk. No one was in the room with me, I saw silhouettes pass by my door every now and then but none of those silhouettes opened the door to greet me.

I exhaled deeply thinking of what I could do to pass the time but nothing came to mind, only just to sit, stare and breath.

I might just even fall back asleep.

After a long period of waiting the door knob twisted and in walked that beautiful man. A smile crept onto our faces the moment we saw each other. He gently closed the door and quickly walked over to enveloping me in a caring hug.

"Thank God you're okay." He whispered into my ear.

"What happened?" I asked from behind my mask as it steamed up everytime I spoke.

Do you know what? Fuck it. I'm taking it off.

"Your heart collapsed on you and you fainted, scared the living day lights out of me." He explained sitting by my side his thumb caressing my hand.

"What day is it?"

"The 17th, two days after."

"TWO DAYS?!" I shouted. He shushed me trying to keep me calm and keep my heart rate down. There's nothing worse than wasting 48 hours of your life sleeping never able to get them back. I eventually kept my emotions together and asked more questions that were burning my mind.

"What did the doctors say?"

"They just explained to me what had happened to you, they said something along the lines of your heart not being able to pump enough oxygen around your body. You've had that mask on for two days now which will not probably mean you should be back to normal."

To be honest, I didn't care what had happened to me, I'm just hoping that I could still go to Australia.

"I'm sorry." I whispered keeping my gaze away from Dan.

"What for?" He laughed questioningly.

"For scaring you...again." I added. His hand moved up to my cheek and made me look at his hypnotising blue eyes.

"No need for apologising, I shouldn't of got involved with those guys. It's good to know I have a badass girlfriend." He chuckled and I did the same. I replayed the scene in my head starting to regret what I said.

"I shouldn't of done that." I giggled. The more I thought about it the more I regretted it.

"Ugh Dan! Why didn't you stop me?" I groaned placing my hands on my face. My mind kept uncontrollably repeating the scene in my head.

"I'm glad I didn't, if I did, it'd probably would've been me fighting back and then the both of us waking up in here." He laughed.

"I hate waking up here. It's so depressing. I think I've lost count of the amount of times I have."

The door knob twisted again and in walked a different man. A familiar one. It was the same doctor I had the last time I was here. He ran a few tests with me to see if my lungs and heart were okay and if they were able to support themselves with having the mask on. He gave me one last lecture before giving me the 'all-clear' and I eventually left with Dan by my side.

As we exited through the automatic doors I wondered when the next time would be for me to do the same thing. I got into the passenger seat next to Dan who just sat there for a moment.

"And by the way, we're leaving for Australia sooner than we thought, we're leaving tomorrow morning." He said.

"What? Tomorrow? How did you know that I was going to wake up in time?" I shot a shocked look at him.

"That's the thing, I didn't. I was so worried that you wouldn't wake up and that we'd have to leave without you and I really didn't want that to happen but our manager wasn't willing to give anything for anyone." He explained. I folded my arms in a huff.

Dick.

"But that doesn't matter now, you're awake and that's all that matters, why don't we just go home and get some sleep okay?" He placed his hand on my shoulder while I stared out the window. I just nodded. The engine roared as he turned the key and off we went.

I was in a happier mood when we walked through the entrance once again, this time not fainting. By the looks of things, Dan hasn't been doing a lot cleaning.

"Jesus Dan? I come home after I've been asleep for two days beacause my heart collapses on me, not forgetting that I've just been told that I'm leaving for Australia tomorrow and you didn't even make an attempt to clean the place."

There were pizza boxes stacked up along the counter, half empty bottles lay by the sink, multiple coffee mugs left stained on the coffee table, the decorative pillows lay scattered on the floor and a thin layer dust covering each of the surfaces. I stood with my arms folding tapping my foot against the wooden floor wainting for a reply, or at least an excuse. He shrugged his shoulders and pulled a face so as to say 'it's not that bad'. But it was.

I let him go to bed while I stayed up and cleaned, I wasn't feeling quite as tired, well I had just woke up from a two-day snooze. When I ran out of things to clean I decided to head to bed as there was nothing else to do. I couldn't wait for Australia, seeing the band perform, seeing a different country and let's not forget, the after-parties.

A/n: omg guys, nearly 2k reads! I can't believe it, I really do appreciate and I'm glad that people like it. I've just finished writing chapter 40 and fucking hell it's intense.