Pen Pal Project [Alex Gaskarth]

Chapter Eleven

Eventually, I'd had enough.

Silently, I was begging my body to move, to give me back some of the control. It felt like that my brain had shut down that side of me and there was a brick wall.

I was just too weak to get through.

But I wanted to see, taste and smell everything. Listening wasn't good by itself, I wanted the full picture. I wanted to know where I was, how long it had been since I got pulled from the canel.

'C'mon, just move god dammit.' I thought to myself, focusing on my hand. I don't know what happened, but I did something right because I heard a reaction.

But after putting so much effort into that one thing, I could feel my awareness slipping, like a tidal wave of exhaustion hit me over the head.

I don't know how long I had fallen back asleep for, but when I was next aware, it seemed that they still had hope in the fact that I was more aware than ever.

"C'mon Charlia. We all miss you here. Life isn't the same without our little ball of sunshine." If I could have smiled, I'd of had this shit eating grin on my face by this point.

I pulled my attention to the sharp pain in my hand. It was repetetive and irritating and I wanted it to stop.

"Did you see that?! You can't have missed that, her hand is in a different place!" The american accent seemed gleeful.

But it wasn't the american accent that I was used to.

"Yes, yes. Charlia? Can you hear me? If so, what I want you to do, is move your hand away from the pain." Instantly, the irritating prodding started and I really wanted it to stop.

Clearly I had done something right.

"She's on her way back!" Jake's voice was music to my ears.

I don't know how long I was in this state for. It was like I was trying to do one thing, but my mind would just give up and go to another thing. I could never focus

But it was when the lead weight which was on my eyes, were moved away. It felt like I could breathe again and it felt great.

Very slowly, I inched my eyes open, feeling strangely weird like I couldn't remember what had happened to cause all of this. My mind was blank.

The room was dark. Once my eyes were adjusted, I noticed that it was pitch black outside. Next to me, there was a light snore which caused me to jump, my head twisting to see who was sat there.

As I looked at the man, his features became recognisable. He was resting on one arm whilst holding my hand loosely. I caught sight of the tattoo on his hand and my mind made the connection. It was a Rose. Which meant that it was Alex.

Gently, I squeezed his hand, wondering if I'd be able to gain a reaction out of him, but it seemed that he was dead to the world. So I searched the room with my eyes and I finally found the button that I was looking for, hooked onto the rails of my bed.

Not even seconds had passed and a nurse was walking in. She looked shocked for a split second and then she was smiling, like she knew something I didn't.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Charlia."

In attempt to reply, I found that my throat was scratchy. She smiled and left the room, coming back a minute later with a cup and straw. Once I'd had a few sips, I cleared my throat.

"How long have I been out?"

"Just under a month." I let out a shakey breath and slowly lifted my hand, running it through my hair. "I'm going to just get the Doctor so he can check your vitals and make sure that there's no permenant damage." I smiled at her as she left and let my hand drop back to the bed.