Sweet Karma [boyxboy]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three (Julian)

I woke up to a steady beat ringing in my ears.

It took me a full moment to realize it was the sound of a heart monitor and not my ear buds left in my ears again. After I recognized the sound, I started to feel numb. My body felt heavy and exhausted. It freaked me out a little and my heart monitor jumped. I tried to swallow, but my throat felt unbelievably dry. I forced my eyes open, eyelids heavy and vision blurry at first before focusing in on a familiar gray ceiling.

I blinked a couple times, realizing I was in the hospital again. Seriously, again?

But this time, something felt wrong. Adam wasn't here resting with me, my parents were fussing over me. I was completely and utterly alone, and I felt it right to the core of my soul. I felt cold and nervous. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, as if I had swallowed a huge chunk of ice.

I sucked in the clean air from the oxygen machine, lowering my eyes to the IVs that were stuck in my arms. They were feeding me blood? Blood.

The thought hit me like a rush.

No, rather, the scent. The air was thick with the stench of blood. While I enjoyed blood, don't get me wrong, this was just too much. Too much of something always made you sick, and just smelling it in the air was making me dizzy and nauseous. At first, it only came to me as blood.

My mouth watered to taste it and my fangs throbbed in my gums as I parted my lips, sucking in the fresh air. Even through the oxygen mask, though, the blood was heavy. I felt like I was getting drunk off just smelling it. I tried to move my hand to take off my oxygen mask, but it was too heavy.

My body didn't want to work right. And when I tried focus and think, my thoughts quickly scattered. Nothing would collect. Whatever they drugged me up on, it was making me feel loopy. Even worse was the dread that clung to the room. I could practically smell it mingling with the blood. I was picking up other scents too, I noticed as I sniffed a little more.

Blood, alcohol, sterile objects, more blood, and... death.

The thought hit me like a cold wave and I went absolutely still, holding my breath. My heart monitor was beeping in time with my fear, pounding hard against my breastbone. I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to move again, to get away, but I couldn't. My body just wouldn't work. I tried to lift my right hand, but my left foot twitched instead. I tried to move my head, but my left thumb twitched instead.

I whimpered low in my throat, trying to move, but my body wasn't responding the way I wanted it to. Nothing was working right. Only my sense of smell, sight, and sound. I could hear what sounded like a loud thumping, somewhere hidden in the noises from the heart monitor, the oxygen machine, and my blood rushing through my veins. The thumping stopped abruptly, followed by a heavy thud, like something hitting the floor.

I managed to look out the corner of my eye just as something slammed into the windows that looked out into the hallway. I froze, staring between the blinds to see bright red blood splattered up against it. My heart definitely kicked into overdrive now as I watched the thick splatter run down to the ground where a dark lump laid in the dim light of the hall.

Fear crept up my throat and only got worse when the door handle twisted slowly to the side. I fought harder to move. I tried to sit up, but my body simply would not respond. I lifted my eyes as the door to the room opened slowly. I hoped and prayed it was the doctor or Hunter or someone else, but I was shocked to see Ikuto walking in. He wore a dark green turtleneck with brown cords over a pair of snow boots, a white doctor's coat falling to his ankles.