You die, I die too

Chapter 20

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

-    Friedrich Nietzsche

Candice POV

Darkness.

The world was all dark and I couldn't see a thing. I tried to open my eyes but they felt too heavy, I couldn't build up the strength to open them. I could feel myself lying on something soft like a mattress, and the only sound that I heard was a beeping sound that I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was. Even if I could, I felt too tired to try. While in my state of confusion of where I was, I heard a voice close to me speaking.

"Come on Candice, wake up. I need you, your friend need you. We all need you." The voice was awfully familiar, I knew that voice. I had heard it before. I heard cries and figured he must have started to cry, and all I wanted to do was to comfort him and say everything was okay. I felt him squeeze my hand, I hadn't even notice he had held it until now. It was so quiet, except from the his muffled cries. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know if I could.

"Just come back to me, please. I'll do anything if you just come back to me." He pleaded and I felt the mattress sink down further, he had put his head down on it as he cried. I tried to open my mouth to speak and was surprised when it did, not fully though, just enough for me to speak. I could feel myself trying to say something, but with the dryness in my mouth it only came out as a whisper.

"You promise?" As soon as I said that, I felt quick movements and heard a loud gasp.

"Candice?" Slowly, I tried to open my eyes again and to my surprise it worked. Slowly my eyes opened and before me was the boy I once help so many years ago. He held tears in his eyes while he stared down at me. I gave him a smile and he started to chuckle.

"Hi." I whispered, my voice still sore.

"Hi." Four said and gently stroked my hair.

"Where am I?"

"You are in the infirmary. Here, drink some water." Four said and helped me drink the water from the plastic cup he had placed on the side table.

"What happened?" I asked after I had finished drinking, my throat felt much better.

"You don't remember?" I lightly shook my head, waiting for him to explain.

"It was visiting day, you were supposed to come over to my place but you never made it."

"Wait, I remember. Michael was there."

"Yes. He attacked you and you have been in here ever since."

"How long have I been here?"

"You have been in a coma for two weeks."

"Two weeks? What about initiation?"

"The rest of the initiates have continued there initiation, the leaders thought it was best that way."

"What about me? Will they kick me out?"

"No, fortunately not. They discussed it and made the decision to let you stay and finish your initiation. That's if you would wake up of course. And since you have, you'll have two weeks to recover and then you will start stage two."

"Good, when will I be able to leave the infirmary?"

"In a couple of days, I hope. Depends on how you feel." Four said and my eyes felt once again heavy with sleep.

"Are you tired?" He asked.

"A little, though I don't know how since I have been asleep for two weeks."