Going To Be

Chapter Thirteen - Fall To Pieces - Jackson POV

Cold water lapped against my face. I opened my eyes, but the sun was way too intense and I had to close them again. I was too weak to move, but I tried anyway. My malnourished body had finally fallen into delusion. The sound of voices had roused me, but I was alone, just like I had been for weeks.

"Jackson." The voice shouted, but it sounded like a whisper, inside my head, willing me to give in.

"Jackson." It shouted again, it was familiar. I opened my eyes again and tried to lift my head.

I tried to speak, to answer the voice inside my head, but my throat was so dry that I coughed instead. It hurt like a thousand knifes slicing through my chest. The shouting suddenly grew louder, I forced my head up.

Like a mirage before me I saw a yacht. I reached out for it. My hand shook and fell into the water.

"Jackson." Amber's voice cut through the pain. Nothing hurt, I opened my eyes focused on the boat. "He's alive." Daniel shouted.

I smiled and fell back against the sand. Everything faded to black again, but this time I was at peace.

I woke inside a room, one with actual walls, in an actual bed. I felt more hydrated than I had and the weakness in my body wasn't quite as profound. Machines beeped, and for a moment I wondered if it had all been a dream, some kind of illness that had left me in a coma. Someone unfamiliar walked into the room.

"Jackson. I'm Elise. I've hooked you up to an IV and started fluids as well as antibiotics. You were pretty dehydrated when we found you. A few more hours and I think we would have had another outcome."

I knew she meant death, but it didn't bear thinking about.

"Where is Amber?" I mumbled. Had I dreamed her and Daniel? I looked at the woman who smiled and pointed to the door.

"I sent them out a moment ago to freshen up and have something to eat. They haven't left your bedside since we picked you up yesterday." She smiled and wrote something down on a chart.

"This is happening?" I whispered.

She smiled and nodded, then placed the chart down on a desk. "Try to rest. I'll send them in."

Elise left the room and once more I was alone. It seemed almost normal now, to be alone. Left with my own thoughts. It didn't last long. The door opened with a thud. Amber stood there, real flesh and blood. I swallowed back a ball of fear, and wondered as I looked at her beautiful face what I was afraid of. She smiled, but it was less than a second before she fell apart, tears rolled down her cheeks like torrential rain. Daniel stepped inside and placed his hand on her shoulder, she relaxed a little and something inside of me broke.

"Jackson." She spluttered, walking away from Daniel's touch, toward me. He fingers looped through mine and the touch was so serene that I closed my eyes and bit back a gasp.

"How did you find me?" I mumbled. I tightened my hand around hers, reluctant to ever let go again.

"Determination, true love and a lot of money from granddad." Daniel exclaimed. I looked at him and he smiled back at me, but I couldn't bring myself to smile back. I was inexplicably jealous of the connection he and Amber had seemed to forge in my absence. I looked back at Amber and bit my chapped lip.

"I never should have left you. I told Bevan on the plane before it... I told him I didn't want to do the tour anymore. I told him I didn't want to be a rock star." I spoke quickly, afraid for some reason I wouldn't be able to get it all out. "Getting on that plane was the biggest mistake I've ever made."