A Day In The Hospital

"I overheard one of the nurses telling mum you'll be discharged tomorrow morning," Emily says.

I look up from my phone. I had Emily bring it for me a few days ago. Still, it had taken a lot of convincing for the nurses to let me use it. "For real?"

"Yeah. "

"Thank God for that." To be honest I hated staying in hospitals. Couple that with the fact that I've been here for two weeks - since I gained consciousness - and the news that I would soon be discharged is more than enough to make me almost ecstatic.

"Cassandra says hi," Emily adds after a moment.

"She did?" I ask my interest piqued.

She turns her phone screen to me and I see the text Cassandra had sent.

My heartbeat shoots up for a moment. "Tell her I said hi," I say and Emily nods as she begins typing on her phone. "And um.…"

"And what? That you have a crush on her."

"What? No!" I reach out to grab her phone. She moves back out of my reach, laughing, as her fingers move faster across her phone.

"Emily.…" I say a note of warning in my voice. If it was anyone else I would have thought they were just teasing, but I know Emily is capable of doing what she just said.

"Relax," says Emily, a smile on her lips. "Can't I have some fun with my widdle big brother?"

I calm down on the inside but on the outside, I still stare at her warily.

I knew to expect this type of teasing when Emily found out that I had a crush on Cassandra a few months ago. What made it worse was that Emily liked to talk and she was also Cassandra's friend. She could keep a secret when she needed to but for something like this, she could just spill it to Cassandra in a moment of carelessness.

A nurse comes in at that moment with my medicine. After asking me a few routine questions about how I am doing and so on, she gives me the medicine. I swallow them as quickly as possible, frowning at the unpleasant taste they leave in my mouth.

"Ha." Emily laughs, "That expression is priceless. I could make a good meme with that."

I shoot a glare at her, choosing to say nothing.

"Are you still having those dreams?" the nurse asks, that cheerful smile still on her face. Sometimes I wonder if she is really that cheerful or if the smile is just a part of her job. It's most likely the latter though, I doubt anyone can be that happy all the time.

"No, they stopped a few days ago." a lie, but one I did not feel uncomfortable with. I understand her asking about my health but why the heck is she so interested in my dreams. This is the third day she has asked.

Some part of me understands my feelings are biased and that the true reason I lied is that I am a bit embarrassed by the truth. The first few days after I gained consciousness, I would disturb a lot of people in the hospital with my screaming every time I woke up from sleep. The dreams have continued till now but I have at least learned to control the screaming.

It is a good thing I have a private ward. I was a bit surprised when I found out and worried that my mom must have gone out of her way to pay the bills but it just turned out that my classmates, led by Cassandra, started an online fundraiser for me. Long story short, it was an outstanding success. The doctor who operated on me even did it for free. I don't know who he is but my mum and sister seem to hold him in very high regard.

After the nurse left Emily turned to me. "The nightmares haven't stopped, have they?"

I did not answer, choosing to focus my attention on my phone. My silence was all the answer she needed though.

"Have you ever thought that maybe the nightmares could be your brain trying to tell you what happened that night?" she asks.

I let out a laugh. "So my brain is telling me that I am a ghost who is hated by a bull capable of shooting sharp pieces of metal from its mouth."

The dreams generally follow the same pattern. I am at a party and all of a sudden I see this cartoon-like character dancing on a window sill. Then a walking bull barges into the room. All of a sudden I find myself being able to walk through stuff, and I do that as the bull chases me. Then I meet a bike gang and get on one of their bikes. All of a sudden everything explodes and all goes black. Then I hear that voice whispering in my ear: 'See you on the other side.' All in all, it usually feels like I am in some drug-induced nightmare.

"Aren't you concerned that you can't remember a thing? I mean someone tried to kill you. What if he tries again?" Emily asks concerned.

"What makes you so sure it's a he?" In truth, I am really concerned but there is no way I am admitting it to her. She would probably tell it to mom, then mom will become more suffocating than she already is.

"Just relax okay," I said comfortingly, "it's probably that Kendall guy, or someone related to him. He just doesn't want to confess so his prison sentence won't be as long."

"Right," Emily says, looking unconvinced, but thankfully she drops it.

All of a sudden I feel tired. It happens often these days. A nurse told me that it was a result of my injury, 'There's nothing to worry about,' she had said.

Nobody said it out loud but I had deduced the truth. I am meant to be dead. The way they always check up on me to see if I am alright, the unfinished conversations they have with my mom, and the strange looks they sometimes shoot at me all serve to validate my deduction. Sometimes I wonder if they will be more at ease if I suddenly died.

Pushing those grim thoughts out of my mind, I drop my phone and prepare to sleep.

"Feeling sleepy again?" Emily asks, noticing my actions.

I nod my head, not wanting to speak.

"Well, bye then," she says as she stands up to leave.

I give her a little wave and close my eyes. A few seconds later I hear the door swing shut.

Alone with my thoughts, my mind can't help but run wild. I've learned quite a few things since I woke up. Like the fact that my recovery is so fast and so miraculous that it's basically superhuman. Even the doctors had thought so, and they had used every excuse in the book to run as many tests as they could on me only to be met with nothing. Still, judging by the look the doctor usually gives me, I would guess that they haven't given up yet.

The air in the room goes still and it suddenly feels like I am all alone in the world. I open my eyes to find the room darker than it should have been. Shadows stretch from one corner of the room to the other. Time seems to slow as I stare at the ceiling. Then it appears.

Shadows shroud its body, forming a veil that hides all but its glowing green eyes. It releases a malicious aura that causes my body to freeze in fear.

It stares at me, unmoving, for a moment as if seeing something strange. Then it begins to move closer, following the same routine it had been following since it first appeared.

The closer it moves to me, the stronger its aura becomes and soon I find my body trembling in fright. It stops beside my bed.

Those unnerving eyes lock unto mine, seemingly peering into my soul. Its eyes narrow and slowly it raises its hand before waving it over my face.

Fatigue overwhelms me, overcoming even my fright and I find myself drifting into a deep uneasy sleep.