Philophobia

Chapter 19

The worst thing about seeing someone you love laying in a hospital bed in a coma is that you never know if that person is listening or not.

Sure, doctors say that the patient absorbs everything that happens around him/her and that they understand the words being said.

But how can you be so sure?

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Justin's POV:

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Justin was trapped.

He was living in his own broken promises and dreams.

When Justin awoke, everything was pitch black.

Justin couldn't move. He thought he was in a nightmare at first.

One of those really long nightmares that you never knew when it was going to end, if it did.

But, this was different.

Because in this nightmare, Justin never woke up.

He tried to look around, but he was restricted. He tried to figure out the pinpoint of his restriction but couldn't quite place it.

"Justin! Justin, oh my god..." a faint voice sounded like it was sobbing.

Justin didn't understand what was going on. Why couldn't he see anything? Why couldn't he move?

"I'm sorry. Your son has been non-responsive for a few days now. When he got into the car wreck, he was injured very badly. He slipped into a coma. I'm sorry." an unfamiliar voice said, closer this time.

"Mom!" Justin shouted, "I'm right here!"

Yet, nothing happened.

"Your son has acute Leukemia and he was scheduled to have his first treatment on the twenty seventh, but, in the condition that he is in..." The voice was stopped short by his mothers.

"Just say it," his mother spat out vehemently. "He's in a coma, doctor."

"Well, yes..." The doctor treaded, walking on thin ice. "We cannot treat him until he awakes from his coma."

the doctor paused and his mother sobbed.

"No, no, no!" She screamed.

The sobbing got closer.

Justin tried to reach out to his mom whom was sobbing, but he couldn't move. He couldn't fucking move.

"Dammit!" He cursed in his head.

Turns out, this was a nightmare that never ended.

Something in the back of Justin's mind sparked, something was there.

He reached for it, grasped for it. Trying to bring it forth so he could remember it and hold onto it.

Suddenly, there was a scene playing through his head.

A girl with soft dark brown hair swishing gently.

A dimpled smile and bright eyes that lit up the car.

Justin took her hand and smiled at her, not paying attention to the road.

"I couldn't do this without you."
He recognized his own voice.

The beautiful girl smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

He was lost in her eyes, they were swimming with love, pure love.

For him.

Suddenly, the girl whipped her head around and screamed, "Justin!"

All he remembered after that was his body wrapped around the girl protectively and screaming her name.

Then it all went black, no pun intended.

Okay, maybe there was a pun intended.

Ha ha, he thought.

He tried to think about what came after that, to make sense of everything.

Ali.

Ali.

He remembered.

If he could be crying right now, he would be sobbing.

His heart hurt as he thought about her.

He needed to know if she was okay.

He needed to let her know that he was okay, just trapped for awhile.

Suddenly, his mind became hazy.

He was so sleepy.

And so he slept with the remnants of the wreck and Ali on his mind.