Fear Me, Dear

Everything is so blurry. It's as if objects don't have outlines, they are just blurs of colour. I'm lying down...I think it's the floor. I'm cold, but parts of me feel warm. My body aches but I don't know why.

I'm so confused.

My body is lifted by hands of people dressed in white, but I don't recognise them. It's as if I'm flying before landing on something that is slightly more comfortable than the floor.

Am I dead?

Darkness.

My eyes half open as I attempt to distinguish my surroundings. Okay, maybe I'm not dead. There's a bright light above my head that seems to be rushing past me. There's something covering my mouth and nose...a hand? No...an oxygen mask? Yeah, an oxygen mask. Why have I got an oxygen mask though, I'm fine. The lights have stopped moving and I'm in a room I think. I'm lifted off of whatever I'm lying on and placed on a bed. There are so many people surrounding me, but I don't recognise any of them. Where are my friends? Lifting my head ever so slightly, I notice the five of them standing by the open door of the room and the large window which takes up the majority of that wall. Matt has an arm around Max who seems to be breaking down. Chris is standing with a hand covering his mouth, and Dan keeps pulling at his hair. Hannah is standing with a look of curiosity but also concern. And all of them have tears in their eyes.

Why are they all upset though? I'm fi-

As people are poking needles into my arms, it's as if my body has become fully aware again.

Everything hurts.

Oh my fucking god, it hurts.

I begin to scream. I don't know what else to do, how to get rid of the pain, all there is is pain. It's unbearable. I try to wrench the oxygen mask off of my face but my arms are suddenly being held down by the strangers around me. There are shouts, but I can't tell what they're saying. All I can hear is my own scream in my ears. Something is stabbed into my arm and then my body begins to feel numb. My screams die down, and the only sound there is are my sobs. Then I begin to cough. It's difficult to breathe. I motion weakly with my hand for the oxygen mask to be taken off. It's removed and I continue to cough. Then I can taste something metallic in my mouth. Whatever it is, it begins to run down my chin. Turning my head to the side, red droplets fall onto the pearl white pillow below my head.

Oh, it's blood.

How lovely.

My eyes begin to feel heavy as whatever they put into my system takes full effect.

Darkness.

When I start to wake up again, it is to the sound of beeping. And it's pissing me off. Must be my alarm. With a grumble, I go to raise my arm to turn it off but my arm feels heavy. And it aches. Letting it drop back to my side again, I come to the realisation that my whole body aches and let out a groan. Might as well go back to sleep. I try to, but my mouth feels dry and there is an odd coppery taste that lingers on my lips and the entirety of my mouth. What the hell?

"Josh? Are you awake?" It's Dan.

"...no." I mumble in reply as I turn my head to the side with my eyes still closed and a frown on my face. Why can I barely move? And why does the majority of my body ache?

"Thank fuck you're awake..." I hear Max sigh in what sounds like relief.

"Why are you all in my room anyway?" I question, still with my eyes closed.

"Josh, where do you think you are?" Matt asks.

"In my fucking room, where else would I be? Look, I'll be up in five minutes then we can go." There is still the sound of beeping nearby. "And can someone turn off the bloody alarm, my arm aches."

"Um...Josh, you're not in your room." Dan says softly, and he sounds sad. Why is he sad?

"Oh shit, did I get so wasted that I passed out on the couch? Wait...why is my alarm in the living room? And why the hell has no one turned it off yet?"

"Not quite Josh. Can you open your eyes?" Chris asks.

"Of course I can. I have been able to open them for many years now, young Christopher."

As I begin to open my eyes, it requires more effort than I anticipated. My eyelids feel heavy and it takes a lot to get them open even slightly. A bright light momentarily blinds me and causes me to scrunch my eyes shut in reflex. The light of a thousand suns, I've seen it. I open them again, and everything is slightly blurred. Blinking a few times, my vision clears and I can finally take in my surroundings.

"Wow, that took more effort than I tho-.....where am I?" I squeak, seeing as my voice is being rather shit currently, as I start to panic.

Frantically, I begin to look around the room. Okay, white ceiling with a very bright light. To my left: bedside table with very little on it, and further on friends, yay for friends! To my right: a heart monitor...oh, that's not good. Just next to it is a drip. I follow the tube with my eyes and notice it is connected to the back of my hand. My eyes trail upwards to see that my whole arm is bandaged and I soon realise that my left arm is the same. Crap, this isn't good at all. I go to sit up, but a sudden burst of pain engulfs my torso and I hiss, biting my lip to hold back my shout of pain. Only a whimper passes my lips as my eyes begin to sting. The heart monitor speeds up slightly, the beeps a tad more frantic. Looking down at my torso, I notice I am shirtless. Damn…and I don't even have my summer body yet. Although, there are plenty of bandages around my stomach and giant plaster-like thing across my whole chest. Kind of like a shirt...not really, no.

"Woah, take it easy dude!" Max exclaims, jumping up to move my pillows so that I can stay sat upwards comfortably. As I sit back comfortably, still trying to bear the pain as I listen to the heart monitor go back to a regular beeping, Hannah glides into the room.

"Is he awa- oh, hey Joshua! I guess that answers my question." Hannah greets me, before taking a seat...on the floor. It's gotten to the point where I just don't bother to question her now, Hannah's weird and that's that.

Then another guy walks into the room holding a clipboard. He has messy brown hair styled into some sort of quiff, but it's kind of all over the place. His face is graced with a beard, the likes of which I could only dream of growing. He walks with his back straight, and he seems like a rather nice guy, his expression is friendly.

"Ah, good to see you awake Mr Franceschi. I'm Dr Whitehall and I've been looking after you for the past four days." He greets, and he is rather articulate.

"Tha-wait, four days?!" I exclaim as my eyes go wide.

"Yes, you've been here and out for the count for around four days now. It was very touch-and-go for a while, we almost lost you twice. You're very lucky to be here, Mr Franceschi."

"You...you can just call me Josh..." My voice is barely above a whisper as I let that nugget of information sink in. I almost died, twice. Bloody hell...

"Alright Josh. Now, I'm guessing you might be curious about what injuries you have gotten."

"Even if I said no, you'd probably tell me anyway, right?"

"Probably, yes." He shrugs, before glancing down at his clipboard and clicking his tongue. "You had to have stitches for a pretty nasty and deep wound on your left calf, your arms were sliced up pretty badly but they were more like scratches so they should be fine and heal in no time. Then there is the carving on your chest, and parts of that required stitches. You also have the two stab wounds, and honestly I am pretty surprised you survived them. One to the lower right part of your abdomen wasn't as severe as it appeared, but the other stab wound was what almost killed you. It hit your left lung, but thankfully we managed to sort it out."

"Holy shit..." I let out a breathy chuckle. "That's quite the collection."

"Indeed it is." Dr Whitehall also lets out a quiet chuckle. "There are a couple of policemen outside who wish to speak to you, but if you're not up for it right now then I completely understand. However, if I were you I would rather get whatever questions they have out of the way and done with."

"Um..." I look to Max who shrugs, thanks for your help with the decision then butt hole. After a moment of thinking it over, I decide to take Dr Whitehall's advice. "I'll talk to them."

"Good choice, I'll go and fetch them." And with that, Dr Whitehall left the room, leaving behind a brief silence.

"So...are you feeling okay?" Matt pipes up, breaking the silence.

"As okay as I could be I guess. I mean, my chest and stomach hurt like hell, but I'll live." I reply, sending a smile of what I hope is reassurance his way.

"You'll have to ask the doctor for some painkillers or something." Dan says, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea." I laugh, but then I notice that Max has been very quiet. Something's up. "Hey Max, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I just can't believe we almost lost you..." Came his almost inaudible voice, and as he lifts his head up I notice that he is trying to hold back tears.

"Hey, come on now," I say, ruffling his hair and patting his cheek twice. "I'm alive now, and that's what counts. Don't dwell on what could have been, okay?"

"Alright..." He agrees, sniffing and sending a small grin my way as he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jumper.

Before anymore words can be exchanged between the two of us, or any of our group for that matter, Dr Whitehall enters the room again. This time he is closely followed by two policemen. Instantly I recognise the two of them from the alleyway about a week ago. It's Steve, the man who missed the day personalities were handed out. Beside him and about a foot shorter is Vic, the man who actually has friends unlike his partner. Whether this is a good thing or nor, I don't know. Although the look on Vic's face tells me that the fact I know them isn't good. Maybe it would have been better if I didn't know or recognise either of them.

"You're Josh?" He half questions, half exclaims as he looks at me in disbelief. For a moment I'm confused, before I remember that I never told him my name.

"Um...hey Vic, fancy seeing you here." I laugh nervously, scratching the back of my head.

"I hear a report of an attempted murder, and the last person I expect to be the victim is you!"

"Small world." I state absentmindedly.

"I even gave you advice and specifically told you to not go out at night alone!"

"Must have slipped my mind." He glares at me, and for a small and seemingly friendly guy, he can be quite intimidating. With a frown, I move my gaze down to my hands which rest in my lap. "Sorry."

"It's alright, at least you're okay." He says.

"Dr Whitehall? Josh needs some painkillers, he says that his stomach and chest hurt." Hannah interjects before anymore words can be exchanged.

"Alright, I'll go and get some. You guys should come outside so these officers can speak to Josh."

"No, I want them to stay, unless they say otherwise." I state with a firm voice. Steve looks the same, although that's not surprising seeing as his face seems to have been sculpted in ice. Vic on the other hand looks deep in thought, before finally sighing.

"Fine, they can stay. Those who don't want to stay, go."

No on moves, and Vic sighs again but he seems slightly amused by it all. Dr Whitehall excuses himself and leaves once again.

"Alright Josh," Vic says as Steve gets a notebook and a pen out and flips to a new page. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"Well...I was going to the newsagents to buy some doritos, because these fatties ate them all. When I got past the opening of the alley, I remember someone grabbing me and pulling really far into the alley. I tried running but I tripped on my bloody shoelaces and fell over. Whoever got me hit me over the head before I could get up. Then everything went black."

Furrowing my eyebrows, I stop as I try to recall what happened next. I feel the eyes of all of my friends and the two police officers on me, as I desperately try to remember what happened.

"So, what happened when you woke up Josh?" Vic asked.

"I...I don't remember..."