Awakening (Awakening, #1)

Chapter 4

I wake with a jolt and I put my hand to my chest. I open my eyes and for a few moments, I can't see. I start to panic; I know I dreamt what had happened last night. I must have fallen asleep at some point while getting ready for the party with Teegan. 

Shit. Teegan probably thinks I ditched her or something.

In an attempt to get out of bed, I fall right on my side and hit the floor hard, taking my blankets right along with me. But it seemed to have happened in really slow motion. I crawl to my window to the left and heave myself up using the window sill. The driveway is empty; mom and Sam must have left or something.

I grab my jeans off of the floor and check the pockets for my cellphone, but it is nowhere to be found. I've noticed that this entire time, my eyes were opened and I wasn't seeing anything. I was seeing but not really seeing. At this point, I'm completely freaked out and for the first time in forever, I'm afraid of being here by myself.

I trot down the stairs and turn to the key hooks we have. Mine are gone. And so is my car. Did I get drunk and leave it somewhere? But you didn't even leave the house. Did I? I'm so flustered and confused. For some reason, I remember that we have a house phone, but we hardly use it since we all have cell phones. I hope Mom paid the bill anyways.

I pick it up off of the charger, and press Talk. The line's dead. So I guess she didn't pay the bill. I'm going to have to have a talk with her about that. Cell phones can fail you, but in an emergency your trusty old house phone is always there.

So I assess what's going on here. My mom and brother aren't here. My car isn't here, and neither are my keys. My head feels like it's going to explode and I can feel this building pressure behind my eyes, and they might just pop. I run into the kitchen and throw the cupboards and cabinets open and find a bottle of Advil, I take two and lean against the sink and try to breathe.

I think that maybe I'm having some sort of panic attack. But what for? My breaths come out in labored gasps if that. The Advil is "fast-acting". Bullshit. If anything, it made my head feel worse. I yell and regret it immediately afterward. I go up the steps, skipping two at a time until I'm in my room again. I grab a blue t-shirt, throw it on, and decide I'm going to just take my old bike.

I think it would be a good idea to go to the hospital. I feel like I'm slowly but surely dying on the inside. When I open up the garage and see my bike, all rusty and covered in cobwebs with a flat tire as if a metaphoric icing on the cake, I recoil. I do remember Sam and I getting into a really bad argument a few years ago, and he came out and slashed my tire but I pretended not to know a thing about it.

At this point, I'm completely out of options so I just opt for running. I enjoy running actually, so this shouldn't be tough. The hospital is only about a mile away anyway. Mom's most likely working, and Sam could be at a friend's. She'll be able to help me out.

I've never felt like this before. I hardly ever get sick, and when I do it's short, sweet, and to the point. I'm halfway to the hospital when I feel this pain in my head like someone's searing something into my mind. I can't take it. I collapse onto my hands and knees and my body starts convulsing and vibrating and I have no control over it. I've never felt pain this great before.

I try and push through it and get to the hospital so I don't die right on the side of the road. My head just feels like it'll completely explode all over the street if I make any sudden movements. So I lie there on the cool, gravely sidewalk. And I start to drift. I don't know how many seconds, days, or minutes have passed, but when I wake up I see the sun has set and the sky is a beautiful collage of warm colors.

Just as I try and get up off of the ground, I wonder why no one has spotted me lying here. No one has drove past? No one has questioned why I was just lying on the sidewalk for hours? Not even the neighbors. This entire day has been completely messed up, I don't know how to feel.

Is this even real? Did I ever wake up? I could have died in my sleep due to some freak accident or something. Or I could still be asleep and just need to wake up and put this whole crazy situation behind me.

I slowly come to a standing position, and I don't feel as bad as I did earlier. But then arises the question, if I'm dreaming, how can I be feeling? I can feel the cool breeze on my cheeks, the ground beneath my feet. 

I'm starting to panic again. I break into a run and I'm at the Wayview Memorial Hospital in less than five minutes. Which doesn't make much sense since I could never beat my time of running a mile in less than ten minutes when I took phys ed my sophomore year.

I put that aside, and push through rotating doors at the front entrance. I'm frantic and my breathing is labored again, and the first thing I do is yell, "Mom! Mom, are you here? Hello!"

I walk in past the nurses' station, the reception desk, the secretary, the ER and the OR. No one is here. Everyone is gone. Except for the close to fifty people I count lying on the floor motionless.

In pools of blood.