One Bright Spot

Chapter 6

The Way Out Is Up:

I'm walking around in pitch black. I can't even see my hand in front of my face.

"Hello?" I call out. My voice echos all around me. "Is anyone there?" I hear five or six voices ask.

"The only way out is up", a voice whispers beside of me.

"Excuse me?" I look around wildly, to no avail. I feel around with my hands. Again, nothing. "Who said that?"

No one replies.

"Kota, this isn't funny", my voice shakes.

Silence.

"Kota? Josh? Theo?"

"Wake up, Christal", the voice urges,"Wake up."

"Ethan, is that you?"

"Wake up, Christal", the voice is fading. "Remember, the only way out is up. Remember that."

Then the voice is gone.

"Hello?"

There is no reply.

"Wake up, Christal", I tell myself. "All you have to do is wake up."

The voice chants it again and again inside my head,"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." It gets louder and louder, until I can't think straight. I put my hands over my ears, trying to block it out, but that only makes it louder.

I feel something touch the back of my hand. I reach for it, but there's nothing there.

Then it touches my cheek and brushes my hair from my face. But once again, there's nothing there. 

The chanting is suffocating me.

Finally, I close my eyes and concentrate deeply,"Okay."

My eyes open. To my right, there are a bunch of machines. I turn my head to see more machines and...

Kota. He's sitting in a chair, leaning with his head on my bed, asleep. His hand is resting on top of mine.

Josh and Theo are sleeping on the floor, leaning against the wall. Carmila is asleep on the couch.

Ethan is the only one awake. He is leaning against the door frame, watching me. When our eyes meet, my heart skips a beat or two. The monitor shows it and Ethan sees it. A smile plays at the corners of his mouth.

He comes over to the other side of my bed,"Hey, Sleepyhead. How do you feel?"

I shug,"I don't know. Kind of tired and sore. What happened?"

"That's a question for Kota. You gave us all quite a scare. The others will want to know you're awake." He reaches across to shake Kota, but I reach up with my right hand, and touch his arm.

"Don't. Let them sleep", I beg him.

He squeezes my hand gently,"Okay. We didn't know when you would wake up." He pauses,"Or, if you even would."

"Well, I did", I squeeze his hand back. "How long was I out?"

"Three days."

"Wow." I yawn,"You would think that with 72 hours of sleep I would be ready to run a marathon or something." I laugh.

Ethan's expression turns grim,"Your temperature spiked to 104 in a matter of minutes, according to the doctors. Christal, you could have died."

Just as it had with Kota, when Ethan said my name, it sends a jolt of happiness through me.