Guys Like You

It happened again the next time I woke up. The noise, the smells, the lights, and the pain all came racing at me as I came round from the anesthetic. Only this time I refused to let it control me.

The lights were the easiest, after blinking my eyes a few times and shaking my head they started to calm down. The room around me slowly came into focus revealing a stark, bare hospital room and no one in sight. The vivid colours faded back to the dull creams and whites that normally came with hospitals and the kaleidoscope of different angles slowly rearranged itself into one whole picture.

I still couldn't turn my head fast without it all messing up again though.

The next was the noise. I lay there for what seemed like forever, just focusing on toning the noises down, and after a while they finally seemed to obey me.

But whatever I tried I couldn't get the aching to go away, my body felt like I'd just run a marathon across the whole country. And the smell of blood, nothing would make that go away. All the other smells died down until I could only smell the normal air and the blood, the constant metallic tang continuously wafting past my nose.

I lay there still as I could trying to figure out what was going on. My mind reeling and shooting off in different directions with every new thought that came to me.

And then I heard it, loud as if they were standing in my room with me.

" – she's doing better. Within a few weeks we believe she'll make a full recovery."

"Oh thank god, thank you so much for everything you've done. Can we see her now?" It was my mum's voice. She sounded worried, tired. But that's not what made my heart start beating a millions miles per hour and my breath quicken in panic. I could hear her, loud and clear. She wasn't even in the room, I couldn't see her but I could hear her.

"Yes, yes, of course. She should be awake by now. But I do warn you, her injuries are quite extensive, it may take a while for her to be completely ok again. Remember what we talked about earlier," the nurse replied.

I could hear the sound of footsteps on the linoleum floor, three pairs of feet. The first was walking calmly and wearing sneakers, the next was clipping along fast and worried in high heels, trying to keep up with the other person, and the last was lighter, wearing sandals and shuffling along about a metre behind the other two. I could make that out as clear as day, like I was watching them come towards me.

Then the footsteps stopped, the sound of the door handle turning and then my door was opened. My mum and sister rushed in, expectant and worried looks on their faces.

They both froze at exactly the same moment. It might have been from the fact that I was staring at them both like they were aliens, but when the nurse stepped into the room behind them I could see the same look cross her face.

"Ava, you – " she said, crossing the room quickly to look at me closer. As soon as she within a metre of me I could smell her, hear the blood pounding through her.

"What's wrong with me?" my voice sounded weak, agitated.

"You've been in a car crash, Ava," the nurse explained, but she sounded distracted as she examined me, pulling off bandages and running her fingers across my skin.

"No you don't understand, why can I hear so well why can I - smell you?" I asked, glancing at my family who were still frozen in the doorway. The nurse gave me a weird look, and then stepped back from me, surveying me all at once.

"Hmm? I'm sure that's nothing. But your wounds – " her voice trailed off.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked, bringing my hand up to my face.

"They're gone," Ellie said simply. Staring at me with a look on her face that was a mixture of awe, shock and fright. They'd all backed up and were standing at the foot of my bed now.

"I'm going to go find your doctor," the nurse said quickly, sounding almost afraid.

The room went silent. Awkward. This wasn't what they'd been expecting.

"Mum, aren't you glad that I'm ok?" I asked, a worried edge seeping into my voice. She just shook her head numbly at me, not quite comprehending what I'd said.

I sat up and pushed the covers back from my bed, swinging my legs over the side, trying to prove to them that I was fine. But I found myself still trapped by the tubes and needles protruding from me.

"Ava, darling, I don't think you should do that – " my mum started to move towards me but broke the sentence with a choked scream as I suddenly pulled the needle out of my arm and chucked it on the bedside table. The hole where it had been dripped blood for a few seconds and then seemed to completely heal itself over, my face ached as I took in the scent of my own blood dripping from the needle.

I reached up to my face and ripped the tubes out from my nose, feeling the whole thing dragging up the inside of my throat. I coughed as it finally came out and was discarded onto the bedside table too. I could hear the beeping of warning bells sounding outside my room and down the hallway at the nurses station, and the sounds of worried voices making their way towards us.

"I'm ok, mum, see!" I said, standing up slowly. But when I looked at my family it wasn't expressions of happiness and relief on their faces, they both looked terrified. Ellie was hiding behind my mum's legs, gripping onto her like I was some terrifying monster.

My stumbled steps towards the mirror at the opposite side of the room earned a scream from them both. I took one look in the mirror and froze.

Suddenly there was pandemonium in the room, doctors and nurses came flying in, grabbing my arms and trying to pull me away, ushering my family out of the room and trying to calm the beeping machines.

But I’d seen my face, the blood red eyes, pale almost grey skin and the tiny veins protruding from the skin underneath them. I looked like the monster that had been written all over Ellie's face when she'd been looking at me.

"Ava," someone said trying to pull me back to the bed.

I turned to face her in a flash, a snarl escaping my bared teeth. Her scream echoed in my head, the look of absolute horror on her face imprinted on my brain, as I swiped her out of the way like a rag doll.

I ran for the door and then just kept running, everything around me a blur as I sprinted through the corridors much faster then I'd ever run before.

I came to a door that was locked and managed to tear it open like it was made out of paper. The corridor after that flew by in seconds as I kept running, kept hearing the sounds of screams as I went past, and smelled everyone's blood.

Out of nowhere I was unexpectedly tackled to the ground and then picked up again like I weighed nothing, the thing holding me catapulted us through the hospital, doing much the same as I was before but only three times faster.

The air swished over me and the scenery flying past in a blur made my head reel and suddenly the dizziness overcame me. We had just made it outside when everything blacked out.