Beating Heart

Chapter 10

Andy's POV

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Pain.

I scream and reach for my side. I try to sit up and see what's going on, the pain's too much. I can't. I can't see anything. My hands are wet. When I finally get them in front of my face they are coated in red.

Crack.

More screaming, my leg is crushed against the ground. I can feel it bending at an odd angle. Bile rises in my throat.

Snap.

My face is wet. Tears. I'm crying. My left shoulder is no longer in place.

Please just make it stop. Someone, please, just make this end.

The growling of animals is all around me. I had no idea there were wolves in these woods, let alone that they got this big. The sound of teeth clashing, of claws tearing down flesh, my own screams. That is all I know.

And then it stops.

The wolves have disappeared. The hard ground underneath me is no longer there. I don't hurt anymore.

*

My vision is a piece of crap. All blurry - I can't see clearly. The room is a disgusting mint green, there's a huge window to my right that shows an endless stretch of forest. Something's got me half way sitting up, so I can look around. There's a really wide blue cushioned chair pulled up next to my bed with a very familiar gray sweater hanging from the armrest. 

To my left there's a door, in front of my bed, to the right there's another one. The one to my left is wide open but I can't see who's inside. A melodious voice is coming from that direction. A girl, she's singing a song I think I know. Her voice is literally music to my ears.

"No tired sighs, no rolling eyes, no irony" she sings as she walks out of the bathroom. There's a white comb in her hands that's raking through her raven black hair. It's long and it reaches her waist in wet curls. Like onyx, it's pretty.

She hasn't turned around since she came out from what I assume is a bathroom. Her back's to me and her gaze is fixed out the window. She's small boned and light looking, like a feather. She isn't a stick or spaghetti thin, which is nice on the eyes. The steam starting to creep out into the room from the bathroom tells me she just had a shower.

She finally turns around and we lock eyes.

"Shit" she murmurs and drops the white comb. Stepping over it, she bolts over to my bedside.

"Hi" I smile at her. My vision is still hazy and my voice sounds like I've been smoking for twenty-five years. I'm really glad to see her.

She chuckles with tears about to fall from her honey colored eyes, puts her hands on either sides of my face and says, "Thank you"

"For what?" I ask, "I've just been lying here for a while, taking up space and oxygen"

"For exactly that. Thank you for staying and please don't ever leave" she sniffs.

I show teeth when I smile this time, "You're welcome" I croak.

"You want some water with that?" she jokes and walks out of sight. When she comes back she's holding a plastic blue cup with a straw.

I sip and moan as the cool deliciousness runs down my very dry and empty insides. When I finish I lean back on my pillow and look at my best friend through droopy eyelids. Ana just sits there, observing me, disbelief all over her face.

She opens her mouth to say something but before she can speak she stiffens, making her mouth fall shut. Her head snaps to the side, over to the blind-shut window that I assume looks out to the rest of the hospital and her eyebrows furrow. As if she can see through solid walls her eyes follow some invisible force from the window to the door and stay there for a few seconds. Moments later the door opens revealing a doctor and a nurse. Two young men.

Ana stands up.

They're almost too young.

They're holding clipboards, when the doctor turns back to close the door he drops the clipboard, startling us all and strewing papers all over the floor. The papers are blank. Both men, in their white coats, are marble white. Their paleness looks sickly, but their physiques say otherwise. They tense up too and meet Ana's eyes with dead dark gazes. I could even swear to seeing a little fear in both of them.

She looks over to me and barks, "Press the red button on your control."

I look at her worriedly before she changes her stance - this all happens in seconds - and hisses at the men. Actually hisses, like a freakin' snake. Her teeth are bared and she launches at the nurse.