Dark Dreams - Septiplier

26: Aftermath

Jack's POV

My head was a muddled mess. I could hear words, and I could almost make out scenes of what was going on outside, but for all I knew I was in a deep sleep. I was so sick of sleeping, sick of the nightmares, but this was the first sleep that I'd had in some time that didn't involve a recreation of what was inside Mark's head. Instead, I was listening to conversations outside of my head. They involved a lot of Mark's voice, which was soothing, and sometimes there was arguing and yelling, sometimes there was crying. Sometimes, I could feel someone holding my hand, desperately shaking it as if waiting for me to respond, and despite my brain telling me that I could, I never was able to open my eyes to see what was happening.

Until now. My eyes blinked open, looking around the room as the blurriness slowly faded from around my vision. The room I was in was white, pristine, immaculate as though nothing had ever touched this place. I could hear beeping, which almost made me flinch back, but when I looked at the sound it was just a heart rate monitor. I realized now that I was in a hospital, and I had several needles in my skin. I hated hospitals, but there must be a reason I was here.

With a groan, I shifted in attempt to sit, and suddenly there was a person at my side. I flinched back, looking over and finding Bob staring at me, mouth agape as if he couldn't believe that I was sitting in this bed with only a gown on and attached to all this machinery. He had bags under his eyes, showing that he hadn't slept in some time, and he looked like he'd been sitting in the chair in the corner for several hours, trying not to sleep. Now, he beamed at me and quickly ran from my bed to the door, signaling a nurse.

"Go get the others, right now. He's awake!" Bob ordered happily, and the nurse peered into my room to see me sitting up, looking around. With a gasp, she smiled back at Bob and took off down the hallway at a brisk pace. Bob returned to my side, pulling his chair up close and examining me. He quickly got me a cup of water, and offered it to me. I looked at it, blinking and remembering that I was thirsty. "How are you feeling, buddy?" he asked me, and I reached forward to take the water. That was when I noticed the bandage on my arm. I grabbed the water, staring at my forearm that was covered.

"What happened? Why am I in here?" I asked, frowning in confusion. Bob gestured to my water, and I took a swig of it, curious. As I set it down, I felt something pressing against me under my gown, and I used my uninjured arm to find whatever it was. I realized quickly that there was a bandage wrapped around my chest as well, and I began to sweat. I looked over the tray that held my water and some food, and found that my leg was in a cast as well, around my shin, the same one that Dark had broke.

"Well, you defeated Dark." Bob began, resting a hand on my shoulder and gently pushing me back into a resting position, a small smile on his face. "After you defeated him, though, Mark instantly woke up and was looking for you. He demanded that we take you to the hospital, which of course we didn't understand why, we were just happy to see him." Bob's voice faltered, and he looked at his hands. "Then, on the way to the hospital, all the injuries that you received in battle began to transfer over." My eyes widened, and I gaped at Bob. He nodded slowly, gravely, and swallowed roughly. "It wasn't like they just appeared either, they literally tore themselves open. I've never watched someone break his own shin before, but we got you here in time, just before the chest wound had opened, and the doctors managed to stitch you together before anything bad happened, like too much blood loss or something."

I looked down at all my casts, examining myself. I was okay, all my injuries seemed to be healing. There was a pair of crutches resting against a wheelchair in the corner, and my jacket and clothes were resting on the seat. Bob's jacket was on the back of his chair, and we seemed to be the only ones to ever be in this room save for the nurses and the doctors. I was doing better, and now I was awake.