The Damage Has Been Done (Markiplier)

Chapter 27: Project Fischbach

Mark's POV.

It was dark, but I could hear talking. One voice, but not mine, not around me. I knew I wasn't somewhere else like where I saw my mother... I wasn't on the roof anymore, no, I was somewhere warm, laying under soft blankets, being watched over, taken care of. I was just sleeping, in a sense. I could hear and feel everything around me, but I refused to move or open my eyes or speak. I wanted to, but my body wouldn't let me. I stayed silent and listened for something, anything. I heard something moving around, opening drawers and shuffling papers and things, then I could hear footfalls coming toward me, stopping right before they got to where I'd been laying.

"Man, I hope you wake up soon," I heard a girl's voice say. "It's been days... I hope all that effort used for getting you off that roof wasn't for nothing. You, of all people, do not deserve to die." She let out a small laugh. "Markiplier is my hope, my encouragement, my will to keep going. You're the best there ever was, there ever has been, and there ever will be. You, Mark, you're the strongest man I've ever heard of, talked about, or hoped to be like. You're an amazing person, and I don't want you dying now. Not after all the things you've been through. You can walk straight through hell with an honest smile plastered across your face. It gives me hope. Did you know that?" No, I didn't...

I tried talking, screaming 'I'm here! I can hear you! I'm still here! Please, I hear you!'. I wouldn't move, I was stuck. I couldn't. I was trapped, like something from a movie, trapped inside my own body. I hated not being able to do something, being helpless, incapable of caring for myself. I absolutely despised anything that made me appear or feel that way.

"You know," the girl spoke again. "I may sound completely rude saying this, but if you were to wake up, please don't have that bite on your shoulder be the cause of it. I know it appears creepy that I pulled up your sleeves of your t-shirt to check for any bites or wounds, but it was for good reason. Because I wanted to make sure of your chances. I'm not sure how long it's been since you've been here, but I think it's been a week or so." What!? "Yeah, about ten days, I guess." But I was at the place of near death for a matter of minutes! Does the time there go faster..? "You know, for someone your height, you're not very lightweight. But, you're you, you're Markiplier, you're Mark Fischbach, you're King of the Squirrels, you're Wilfred Wafstache. You're worth the trouble and worth the task." I could hear the smile in her voice. "I'm alone out here. And so far, it's pretty easy. I mean, I lost some people, but I kept going." She shifted in her seat, her voice coming closer. "I wonder if you've lost anyone... It sucks, doesn't it? Losing those you love, family, friends, survivors. I saw you laying on that roof, and I had no idea who you were, but I sprinted across those rooftops to get to you. You had some letter laying next to your head, and your jacket was missing and your backpack had nothing in it but pen, paper and spare glasses. Markiplier without his glasses isn't right, so I brought those with 'us'. I say it that way because, technically, you were dead... But these past ten days, I see your chest moving up and down with every breath, your eyes moving while you lay here almost limp and lifeless, sleeping. Almost like a coma. I guess it is a coma, because no one is really able to sleep for ten days straight."

No! I'm not sleeping, I'm awake! C'mon! I can't move, help me out! I'm conscious, I'm listening to you! I can hear your every movement, your every word, I can! I don't know who you are, where I am, how I got here, or why I'm alive, but I am alive! You have to know I'm awake somehow! Come on! You have to know!

"I don't even know why I keep talking to you everyday." Everyday..? "You can't exactly hear and acknowledge what it is I'm saying." You're wrong, I can. "I've heard that somehow, it helps people hang on. At least a little longer. Some malevolent force is using every ounce of its crazy awesome powers to help people like you with staying alive, even if it's just barely living. I don't have much room to be picky about it, because there isn't an alternate option. Living is living. Wether it be in a vegetative, comatose, or thriving state. You're comatose, but I'll happily accept it for what it is. Just do me a favor, yeah?" She place her hand on my unbitten shoulder. "Wake up soon... Please? I'll be back later, don't leave the world just yet." I am awake! Well, sort of, but still! Are you serious!? This is terrible! There's got to be a way to let her know...