"A Sanctuary Safe and Strong"(Marianas Trench)

Chapter 3

Josh's eyes moved beneath fluttering lids as he tried to assess why he was so fucking uncomfortable. His bed had never been this hard on his back before, and there was an insane amount of pain that he couldn't account for. Groaning quietly, he tried to stretch, regretting it at once. His eyes opened widely as they tried to focus on anything that would let him determine his surroundings, but everything was so goddamn dark. Alone and confused, he couldn't put the pieces together yet, but he knew that his head was pounding and he was...blind?  

He couldn't see a single thing, but he quickly deduced that potential blindness was the least of his worries for the moment. Josh's right arm, no, his entire upper body was throbbing and there was a strange metallic taste in his mouth that he also couldn't place. Breathing hurt. Hell, everything ached and he couldn't figure out why. The blond shifted slightly from the awkward, bent position on his side and winced, hissing and panting harshly through an open mouth several times until he had no choice but to stop moving as the most God-awful torture he'd ever experienced seared across his chest. "Fuck," he tried to say, but could barely manage a whisper.  

Slowly, little by little, he took a deep breath and growled loudly, rolling his body over and knocking his right shoulder against the wall, making him yelp and grab at his body with his free hand. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He squeezed his eyes closed and continued to chant the word until the throbbing subsided just enough so that he could focus on the situation rather than his own body. Licking his dry lips, he tried to settle his mind as he realized that the same sanguine taste in his mouth was on his lips as well. He had no idea where he was, no idea why he was in so much pain and no idea what time it was. He did know that he needed help, though. That much wasn't even close to debatable. 

Josh slowly pulled his hand away from his shoulder, groaning at the new level of pain he felt as he removed the pressure, not that it felt any better when his hand was there; it was just a different variation of agonizing. Rubbing his hand across his face, he shuddered when he felt something smear across his cheek. What the fuck had happened to him? 

Flat on his back now, Josh blinked into the semi-darkness, relieved that he had only momentarily worried about being blind. A car drove slowly down the street and its headlights briefly shone through the open door of his office and into the hall, cutting through the shadows and showing Josh that he was, in fact, in his own home, in the hallway at the base of the staircase leading up to the second floor. The singer was grateful for small, short-lived favours, but it wasn't enough to tell what was wrong with him or why he was there. The light disappeared as quickly as it came and Josh was once again left in oppressive blackness. 

All at once, the panic washed over him and he was drowning. The palpitating of his heart made things worse, causing his hands to shake. He clenched his teeth together in hopes that it would help him focus his energy, but that didn't last long. The singer gulped for air several times, scared and confused as hell. What the fuck is wrong with me? I can't move. Why can't I move? Help. Please...please help me... What happened to me...? His eyes watered, but he didn't bother to try to reach up to dry his face. He simply let the tears stream down his cheeks until he was too exhausted to care. Sniffing hard once, he huffed when he felt a stabbing pain behind his nose as well. Great, just fucking great. 

Swallowing, Josh took one slow, deep breath and let it out, then second, then a third. It helped, but only a little. At least now the initial terror had been downgraded ever-so-slightly to just horrible anxiety. Breathe, just breathe. And think. You've gotta get out of this, Ramsay. You need help, but how? The phone still in his pocket had been all but forgotten.  

The singer put his left hand flat against the floor and tried to shove himself to a sitting position, a choked moan tearing from his raw throat as he fell back to the floor, jarring himself as his shoulder first hit the wall, then the floor. "SHITFUCKSHIT," he screamed, somehow managing to pull his knees up and set his feet flat on the floor, hoping that just a simple change in position like that might be enough to take some of the pain away. It didn't. "This fucking SUCKS!"