Night shift - Completed

Chapter 74

Poppy's PoV

I don't get it. What happened? One minute we were at the arena, concert in full swing. The next I'm... well, wherever I am. I could hear Calum's voice now and again but for some reason, no matter how hard I pushed myself, I could never respond to him. I tried so hard to speak, to squeeze his hand, to let him know I was here but it never seemed to work - not that I knew of anyway. It was distressing me that my brain and body weren't cooperating, it felt like I was trapped. No matter how hard I tried, nothing changed.

"Poppy, can you hear me?" A voice was faint and sounded like it was in a bubble. "It's Mr Shine. Can you show me that you can hear me?" Come on body, move! Blink! Twitch! Just do something! I focussed all my energy as I desperately tries to blink once more, or to move my eyes from left to right, something that would show I'm here.

"Sir, I see eyelid movement." A female voice responded.

"Get these tubes out quickly, it'll be too uncomfortable when she wakes up, we'd have to sedate her again." I could feel them pulling on parts of my body but I felt no pain. It didn't tickle, nor hurt, but I could feel it was happening. Something definitely wasn't right here.

My mind delved deep back to the night at the arena. What happened? What has gotten me into this mess? I remember helping a girl and then packing up and walking out of the entrance when- wait.
The memories flooded back in an instant. The man threatening me, one of Kyle's dummies, wielding a knife in his hand. Calum came to help me but we managed to get him away unscathed until he tried to call for help. The dummy went after him...

"Calum?" I finally spoke out, which both shocked and excited me. Finally my brain and body were working together again! I could finally talk and respond and move. "Where's Calum? Is he okay?"

"Alright, clear this stuff away. I'll need to speak to her alone." Mr Shine's voice rang out in the room and after a few people shuffled out, the door closed again. I tried desperately to open my eyes, to move my arms to my face and see that it was all okay, but it still wasn't happening. "Poppy, it's Mr Shine. I need to explain what's going on. For that, I need you to calm down and listen." His voice was soft and calming. I took a big breath in and out. "Calum is here, he is fine. You can see him soon. You, on the other hand, need to stop trying to be a hero. You took the knife wound for Calum, it cut into your stomach and a major artery. We've repaired it all but your body entirely shut down so that you didn't lose any more blood. Over the last day, you've been recovering, but parts of it will be slower than others to come back." He stopped for a second and took a big breath in. "You scared the hell out of all of us." I slowly tried to smile, wishing to open my eyes and see Mr Shine's face to see what his emotions were truly saying. With one final attempt, my eyelids slowly opened, revealing a very bright light that caused them to close again. I heard him step away from me and click the light switch, making the room a lot darker. I opened my eyes slowly again, this time adjusting to the darker room better than before. With a few more blinks, Mr Shine was clear in front of me, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Thank you." I whispered out hoarsely.

"There's someone who wants to see you..." he headed for the door and opened it, a rush of footsteps meaning Calum was beside me within a second, his eyes scanning my face as his hands found mine on the bed and he grabbed hold of them.

"God it's so good to see you again." He breathed out, unsure of what to say.

"I could say the same." I smiled tiredly. "Are you okay? Did that guy-?" Calum shook his head.

"No, he ran away straight afterwards. Didn't hurt anyone else. They caught him though, he's going to be in jail for a long time!" Calum grinned at me. "How are you feeling?" I let out a breathy laugh as I tried to move but my body wasn't budging.

"I feel like I've got an elephant sitting on me." I said honestly, my eyes scanning his tired face. "But I feel a lot better now that I can see you. I tried so hard to answer you when you spoke but my body just wouldn't do it." I sighed disappointedly. Calum leant closer to me, his face inches from mine.

"Don't you dare beat yourself up about any of this. I'm just glad you're here." He ran his fingers down my face and kissed me softly. "I love you." A grin tugged at my limp muscles and I prayed that it looked like some sort of smile.

"I love you too." I said back. "But you look like shit." Calum laughed loudly, tipping his head back as he clutched his stomach.

"Always know how to make me feel good." He teased as he nudged my arm.

"Seriously though, you look like you've been through hell."

"I have!" Calum exclaimed, gesturing at me in the bed. "I thought I'd lost you. Then Mr Shine said the next twenty four hours were crucial to your recovery so I stayed with you, just to make sure you were okay."

"You didn't need to do that, Cal..." I said sadly, but he began to smile again.

"I'd missed hearing you call me Cal." He said shyly, embarrassed at what he was saying. He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"Well, Cal, you're going to be sick of hearing it soon." I took a deep breath in as I prepared to say what I'd been thinking. This was as good as the time was going to get. I needed to be honest with him. "You were the reason I was fighting to recover quickly. I needed to make sure you were okay." I said, my voice still quiet as it tried to get used to talking again.

"I'm more than okay now. But it'll be better once we can get you home..." he sighed. "They reckon just another couple of days." I sighed back in response.

"But I want to be with you now, cuddling up in your bed as we talk about random things and time just slips away without us realising. I want-" I was interrupted quickly by Calum slamming his lips into mine, his hands either side of my face as he cupped them around it. I tried my best to kiss back, my lips only offering a small pout. He pulled away from me with yet another grin.

"We've got all the time in the world for that, don't you worry. Focus on getting better and getting out of here and I'll sort out all the rest." I knew there was a cunning plan behind his cryptic response but the best I could do was nod and just desperately do as he had asked. I had to get myself better, and fast.