You're Never Alone

Chapter 36

Word Count: 2196

!#$% (It's a little more towards the end)

Screaming, there's so much screaming. And it's everywhere but nowhere at once. It hurts, please stop, it hurts.

***

3 hours earlier

    Dan wakes up in his room but it's not like when he usually wakes up. His brain is foggy and there are probably a hundred thoughts going through his mind at once. He stumbles out of bed and looks in the mirror, realizing he looks so tired. Last night there were too many nightmares that woke him up which resulted in how he looks now: pale, dark undereye bags, and exhausted. He quickly puts on clothes and grabs everything he needs from his room today. He opens his door and starts walking down the hall towards the common area where everyone will be in roughly ten minutes.

    He makes it halfway down the hall before it tilts and he loses his balance, stumbling but somehow managing to lean against the wall to steady himself. He hears someone saying his name from afar but he can't focus on who it is before he blinks out of consciousness.

    He wakes up again on a bed presumably in Mark's room judging by the medical equipment filling the bookshelf across the room. As he sits up, he notices Mark rummaging through a drawer.

    "Hey Mark," Dan says quietly and Mark looks over his shoulder at him.

    "Oh good, you're up." Mark grabs a couple bottles and closes the drawer, walking back over to Dan. "How are you feeling?"

    Dan watches as Mark fills up a syringe with different things from bottles. "Could be better. What happened?"

    Mark gestures for Dan to give him his arm and Mark injects the medicine directly into Dan's vein before answering. "You collapsed in the hallway due to the lack of sleep. Basically your body shut down on itself because you were too weak which is from the amount of sleep you're getting. I gave you some things that should help so you should be fine. Just take it easy this morning, okay?"

    Dan nods and gets up but almost instantly, a wall of dizziness hits him and he has to lean against the wall to steady himself.

    "It takes a bit to kick in," Mark tells him and Dan chuckles before walking out of the room and down to the common room.

    He walks in and grabs some food from the table before sitting at a different table next to Phil. He sits and Adrian looks over at him in concern.

    "Are you alright, Dan?" he asks but Dan just waves him off.

    "Wow you look like shit," PJ comments as he takes a seat at the table and Dan just scoffs.

    "Thank you, Peej. I really needed that." Dan eats quickly and he notices Phil looking over at him with a worried look. "What?"

    Phil shrugs. "You just look like you haven't slept in days."

    "I know," Dan mutters.

    Louise stands and everyone watches for a moment. "I'm gonna go grab the things I need for today from the bins."

    Dan smiles. "I'll join you."

    He stands too quickly though and the instant he gets up, his vision goes fuzzy and he nearly collapses again. Phil gets up fast enough to catch him and Dan blinks so that his vision clears.

    "You're not okay," Phil tells him but Dan pushes Phil's arms off of him and smiles before following Louise.

    Dan walks over to the bins and grabs a handgun, a microphone, a mask, and a couple knives. Louise comes over to him with a look saying that she knew what was wrong.