The Love of a Stranger

Survival

"I can't bare to see her like this. She's not going to make it." Someone sniffed.

"She will, we just have to keep on hoping." The other replied.

"C'mon Kyle. Face the fact, she got shot in the head, there's no way anyone could survive that. This is all my fault." He replied again.

"Wait. Dan, look. Was there anyone else in here before us?" A different man said.

"No, not that I know of. Why what am I looking at?"

"Someone's pulled out her tube...and she's breathing."

I heard his name. I heard his voice. Like music to my ears, motivating me more to awaken myself.

"Do you think she done it? Is she alive?"

His voice seemed so worryingly desperate, his throat seemed hoarse from crying, bless him. I wanted to signal to him that I was okay, to say all the things I wanted to say to him before I got shot, I just needed to try.

A cold hand wrapped itself around mine, I knew it was his; they are the perfect size for mine that they just go together like a puzzle.

"Laura...if you can hear me, squeeze my hand...please."

He still has manners. I love him so much. So my challenge had been set: just tense up a couple of muscles for just a few seconds, it's not that hard. The top digits of my fingers moved then soon the rest of my fingers curled round his: challenge succeeded.

"She's...she's alive." He whispered completely gobsmacked. "Oh my God, Laura you're a miracle." He sandwiched my hand in between his before placing his forehead on top, relieved. Expectantly, the crying began.

Maybe life wasn't so hard on me after all, instead it just gave me another chance, a fresh start and I was so grateful for it. It taught me that I shouldn't be so hard on myself. I had Dan to think about now, his face was something I wanted to see so desperately.

"I'll go get a doctor." Someone's voice said, I recognised it as Will's.

"I can't believe you're alive. I love you so much." Dan whimpered as the his hot tears dropped onto my hand. Those words had a massive impact on me and as if by magic my eyes opened again to meet with the bright lights again.

"Dan..." Woody said, gaining his attention, he noticed. I felt him lift his head off my hand, turning to see my open eyes. He was there in the flesh. His enchanting face lightened up as soon as our eyes met, he was just as beautiful as ever.

"Laura..." He whispered ready to break down any minute and I was the same. Letting go of my hand he delicately held my face in his grasp kissing my bandaged forehead over and over again. A tear was all that I could reply with as it slowly crept its way down my cheek but got wiped away before it dropped off my face.

"You're my miracle Laura." He beamed, I was ever so grateful for him. I couldn't do much, I was in no condition to begin to speak, how do I speak again? It's been a long while since I have. Will came back with a person that was hot on his heals, a doctor presumably. He seemed rushed, surprised almost seemingly underestimating the chances of my survival. Peering up at him he began to go through all these tests on various types of machines they had me plugged into. After a sequence of squinting of the eyes, pursing of the lips and scrounging of the face he turned back to me, sighing.

"Well, I don't know how but she has managed to make a miraculous recovery. Of course, because of the injury to the head which narrowly missed your brain by millimetres, you will experience some excruciating headaches if I'm being honest with you. The best we can do for now is to prescribe you some antibiotics for the pain." He announced clasping his hands together.

"When will she be able to leave?" Dan asked desperately.

"Not for a while. We'd like to keep her here under our supervision until she is capable of leaving."

I blankly stared at each of them, not comprehending anything they were saying, it was all just mumbles to me. I was so incredibly tired, getting shot in the head is tiring, being on the brink of death is tiring. For the first time I spoke with raspy and pathetic voice.

"D-an..." I croaked. Dan turned facing me with intent.

"Shh, don't speak." He calmly advised, his soothing voice entering my ears. But I want to know what happened, what is happening and what is going to happen. Dan pulled away from me while him and the doctor had a talk in private, they were too quiet for me to hear and I also had Kyle, Will and Woody talking over the top of them.

"Hey stranger." Kyle beamed, he almost did seem like a stranger to me, it had been so long since I last saw him, it's been a long time since I saw the whole of Bastille in the one room. I smiled and welcomed him to talk.

"You gave us quite a scare there..." Added Woody, I pursed my lips in an apologetic way trying to signal to them that I was sorry. I was desperate to speak properly, I just wanted to be informed of everything since I blacked out. As if he read my mind, Will spoke up.

"The doctors removed the bullet from your head. They warned us that the surgery might not be as successful as they hoped it to be, but here you are." He smiled gently patting my shoulder. For a while I lay in the middle of the huddle and listened to the conversation that the guys were trying to have with me, every now and then I would mumble some words but I couldn't seem to maneuver my mouth in the way I want it to and my throat was incredibly dry. I at least motioned to them that I needed a drink and they gladly assisted me.

When the doctor had left Dan returned to my side once again latching onto my needle-infested hand. My voice was gradually finding its way back to me, I was able to pronounce small and simple words; one like 'Dan'. I figured something was definitely wrong with my speech when I tried to form a sentence together which ended up in a jumble of mumbles. The guys stared at me noticing my problem and gave a concerning look at one another. I knew something like this was bound to happen, it was too good to be true when the doctor had told me that I had made a miraculous recovery, it just hadn't revealed itself yet.

Nobody gets shot in the head and comes out the other side completely unimpaired let alone survive.