Mr. X and I

12- Awoken

Everything was white.

Everything blurred together.

There was an immense throbbing in every inch of my body.

I thought I was dead.

But, sitting in the corner, in an all white chair, was a body. I could only make out the silhouette. I could tell the person was tall, and skinny, but all else was a blank. It was a canvas of skin that my mind raced to figure out whom it could be. My heart told me one thing, my fear told me something else, and my mind said another. It could be anyone sitting in that chair.

Then came the throbbing again. It would get gradually worse with every-other heartbeat.

"Are you awake?" The person asks. The voice was a mixture of feminine and masculine. I raised my hand and shook it, so-so. "I'm so glad you're okay."

I strained myself to answer. "Who are you?"

"Baby girl, I never wanted to cause you so much trouble in life. I couldn't stand knowing that I could potentially hurt you. Please don't hold it against me."

"Dad?" I asked. I heard him chuckle.

"I've waited a long time to hear that. Yes, it's me."

"How are you here?" I asked. Last I checked Marcus Norbard was in lock up at the insane asylum, never to see the light of day.

"The asylum released me. The court declared me stable enough to live amongst humanity, but as soon as I step foot outside the Pen, I hear my daughter has been attacked by a serial killer. So I came here to see you."

"I don't believe that." I said unmoved.

"Good, cause that's not the truth." He laughed. He stood up and walked over, peeling off some prosthetic make-up, and tossing it to the floor. What I saw beneath the mask put me in tears. Complete watershed. George, hovered over me smiling. I tried to scream, but norhing escaped my mouth. He moved to the saline drip and examined the monitor. Then stuck a needle, with some serum, into the tube.

"What are you doing?!" I try to scream.

"Helping you wake up." When George looked back at me, he wasn't George, but my mother. "You won't wake up, so I'm helping you."

"Mom, please help me!" I say. Everything blurred together so quickly I didn't realize what was going on.

************************************

I woke up hurling out the contents of my stomach. Which couldn't be much. One of the nurses ran to my side to help clean up the vomit. Then, she called the doctor in.

"Shhh, shhh." The doctor uttered. " Listen, you've been in an induced coma for two weeks now. The wound on your head was pretty substantial. There was no way, we could do to help you without hurting you. So we induced you and sent you for x-rays." He clipped them up in front of me to see. A whole section of my skull was shattered. One piece actually didn't exist anymore.

"Why am I awake then?" I whisper.

"Somebody, who's been with us since the accident, had to talk to you. So we let the anesthesia work its way out."

"Who?"

"Dr. Jason Cortel."

"Oh, no." I whisper to myself. The doctor leaves the room, and Dr. Cortel enters.

"Hello, Maryanna."

"Doctor."

He sighs, almost too upset to talk. "We had to make an unfortunate decision while you were sleeping. The x-rays here, dont reveal what we look at, so I gave them some special film to take the X-rays. Over the last two weeks, your white area has been quite active, but not stable. Since the blow to your skull, your white area has swollen, and shrunk to the regular size of teenage dreamer initiates. So, after much debating and deliberation, we've concluded that you no longer possess the white area needed to comprehend being a Master Dreamer. I'm sorry."

"No, please. There must be something you can do!?"

"We can't control what your white area does. We can't do anything." Cortel replies.

"Please!" He shakes his head and leaves. Leaving me in tears and pain.

Next, the doctor came back in. He asked me about my pain level and then deacribed the healing process. My world had fallen in two, I might have just lost my dream career and I'll never be the same psychologically. I feel the repercussions kicking on already.

Then it struck me. Where was Sam?!

"Doctor?" I mumble.

"Yes, what is it, pain?"

"No, I was with somebody at the pier. I'm sure he'd be here too."

"What's the name? I can check." He replies.

"Sam Mercies." The doctor hits the keys to the computer across the room.

"Nope, nobody here. Sorry, dear." He goes to close the computer, then stops short. "Wait, says here a Samuel Mercies checked out two weeks ago."

"Really?"

"Right here in bold."

"Could I get his number please?" I ask.

"That's confidential. I can't. Although, I could call him for you let you hold the phone though."

"Please." I said. The doctor dialed the number on the bedside telephone, and handed me the phone. Three rings..

"Hello?" Said the voice on the other end.

"Sam?" I cried.