In your nightmares

Chapter 12

Tom's P.O.V.

My head hurts. That was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. The second thing was that the room I was in was white not the lime green colour of my bedroom walls. The third thing I noticed  was when I looked down. I looked down to see white sheets and many wires attached to me. Me.

My heart thudded in my chest; what was I doing in hospital? Why was there an annoying beeping noise to my right? Why was everything blurry? What was going on?

The I had a flashback:

I was getting ready to go to school, tired of these ridiculous letters I kept receiving. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? What had I ever done?

Suddenly, as I was stepping out into the road, deep in thought, a car came rushing round the corner. A black one. With a hooded figure inside. Before I had a chance to react it slammed into me, the impact flinging me off the ground and landing me several metres away form my original position.

I faintly remembered the car hurriedly driving off.....

I jolted back to the present just in time to see  nurse coming into the room.

"Are you ok sweetie?" She asked.

I nodded because I suddenly realised my mouth felt too dry to talk.

"You suffered a nasty accident. Your parents have been phoned and are on their way. I'll get you a glass of water."

I could only stay silent. Guilt invaded my thoughts at my parents having to cancel their important meetings to see me. I didn't want them to have to fly all the way here just to check on their son. We needed the money desperately and it wasn't cheap to  have to miss a meeting. It came at a high price. The sound of footsteps interrupted my thinking as she came back a few minutes later with a glass of cold tap water which had ice floating in the top. After gulping it down I set it on the stand beside me, already feeling much better.

"How long have I been here?" I questioned as she pulled a chair up to my bed.

"Just a couple of hours hon,  nothing to worry about,"

"Oh," she added "....and your school have also been informed. They were very curious as to why you weren't attending. Apparently your quite a reliable student."

I could only shrug in response. What can I say? It's true.

Suddenly, a sharp stabbing pain shot through my abdomen and I saw black dots dominating my vision. The next thing I knew I was told 'everything is going to be ok; we'll just sedate you a little longer to keep out the pain' and as darkness began to consume me, the last thing I remember thinking was I hope my parents don't arrive and have to leave when I'm unconscious.

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Groggy and miserable I awoke later on to find my parents' worried faces peering down at me.#

"Oh darling, you're awake!" My mum cried.

I couldn't find my voice. I hadn't seen them for some time and though they hadn't changed, I felt I had, as if I had lived for thousands of years without them. Also, my throat was completely dried up so I grabbed the water from my bedside table and gulped it down.

"Good to see you son." My dad exclaimed, never one to show as much emotion as my mum however, his small comments were highly valued by me and everyone else (well I thought so anyway).

"Hello," I croaked, having regained my voice.

"I'm sorry you had to come all this way."#

"Oh nonsense!" My mum cried out.

"We were going to come back in a few days anyway so when we got the call......." She trailed off.

"All that happened is we decided to arrive early." My dad smoothly intercepted, wrapping his arm round my mum and squeezing my hand with his spare one.

"I'm glad you're here," I said, my eyes welling up but I forced myself not to cry.

"There's an important issue which I need to discuss with you right now."

"What..... here in the hospital?" My mum queried.

"Yes, before it's too late," I pressed, earnestly.

"Did they tell you why I had my 'accident' I asked.

"All we heard was that a car ran you over." My dad explained.

"Well," I began to enlighten them on what exactly had been going on - all the notes, my nightmares, the appointment I arranged.  Strangely, it was only then that I realised that I had missed my doctor's appointment; that woman probably thought me aggravating enough without the fact that I skipped something important in their 'tight schedule'!

As I continued, I watched their faces turn from disbelief to horror to sympathy at what had been through. I finished by saying:

"......and I didn't think it to be that serious so I didn't call anyone and the police wouldn't believe me anyway. I just.....just, hope you believe me."

"Of course we do." My mum gushed. My dad remained silent, probably thinking everything through. I was glad my parents and I had that kind of relationship where I could address them about anything and they would believe me.

"May we see some of these notes son?" My dad finally asked.

"Sure," II said.

"As soon as I get out of hospital. Do you know when that is anyway? Oh and what injuries have I suffered because I can't really feel much?"  My mum laughed.

"Ah honey; your on morphine and millions of painkillers  that's why. You cracked two ribs and sprained your ankle but luckily, you were in the centre of the4 car so the wheels couldn't damage you."

"Oh" was all I could think to say.

"In answer to your other question," my dad proceeded,  "we were told a few weeks. And......" (Here he glanced at my mother) "we wanted you to know that we've both taken time off work and we're going to help you recover and track down these people along side the police."

"B...b...but haven't you..."

"Hush," my mum interrupted.

"We've made you talk long enough. Don't worry. We were both overdue anyway, having taken  no time off last year and barely any this year. The boss was actually on the verge of ordering us to!"

I forced out a weak smile, suddenly realising just how tired I actually was.  I could feel my eyelids drooping and could barely manage a whisper.

"It's alright love," my dad smiled

"We'll be off now and you have nothing to fear."

I'd needed to hear those words these past few days so I almost felt relieved to hear him say them. They were what I needed to keep struggling on and I was determined to leave hospital as soon as I could and track down my pursuers.

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