Dreamscape

Chapter 1: Awake

I was faintly awake. My body ached like hell and I could barely move my limbs. I was pressed by the heavy weight of the debris and I was sure the rubble was my trashed car. I saw blurry figures above me seemingly attempting to lift me from the burning debris. Then those figures appeared clearer. I could only make out white clothes out of all that I could see. Their faces are still unclear.

Thank God, those were doctors and nurses. But I blacked out as soon as we boarded the ambulance.

What would happen next was something almost unimaginable.

My vision was flickering like a dying lightbulb. I could only make out a hallway of some sort. Surely that must be the hospital. I heard shouts from some doctors and nurses. Then I was placed inside a room. I caught a glimpse of the room name. It was ICU.

I was able to wake up, somehow. I wonder how long I slept, I thought. I was greeted by a familiar woman. The woman was sitting next to me on a white chair. I turned to see who was beside me. And she smiled as sweetly as she did before.

"Lea? It's you.." I whispered. "You came... Thank you." Lea started to frown a bit. As you must know, Lea is someone who will always be worried about anything. She worried about how I'd look like during prom, how I would impress her parents, about keeping in touch even at work. Let's be honest. She can be a worry-wart but that's the good thing about her because you never have to forget to tackle every problem that may occur in a day's work. She'd be great as a wife and I guess she would become overprotective if we ever got any kids.

She slapped me lightly and almost cried. "You made me worry... a lot!" She bursted into more tears as if I was dead already. I reached out to her face and wiped off the tears on her face.
"Lea. It's okay. I'm gonna recover soon." I assured.
I brought her closer and kissed her to let her know I love her.
Our affectionate scene was interrupted by the doctor who came in quickly. The doctor happened to be my neighbor, Dr. Sandra Ichillina, a Russian who decided to live in the States.

"So, Irvin..." She paused for a while and wrote something on her clipboard. "How are you feeling now?" She asked.
"It still hurts but not as much anymore." I responded.
"Good. But you will rest here for a month due to your fractures on your left arm, both collar bones, your left leg and your left foot. Apparently, your right side has been protected by your airbag and a few pillows you kept in the car during the accident. I can just say that you are just lucky to leave with those injuries only." She gave a smile and she told me to rest easy. I thanked Doc and she left in quite a hurry. To be honest, I cannot think of my situation as lucky.
"Irvin, I have to go back to work, too. You be careful, okay?"
"Yeah." I chuckled and dozed off to sleep. She kissed my cheeks and left the room with me all alone.

It was 3 a.m. when I woke up. It was not unusual for some patients to wake up this early in the morning but the stranger thing is that I woke up because I felt someone was coming to my room. Now, I know I'm just being paranoid for I was sure that it was a nurse coming to treat me. The room was very dark so I couldn't see the nurse well.

She turned on the lights in my part of the room and what I saw just froze me there on my bed.

It wasn't a nurse. It was a man with an ANBU mask, like the ones in Naruto. He wore a long brown coat and black pants and shoes.

Most definitely, he'd look like a detective without the mask. And what's scarier is that he held a baseball bat. It was painted black with a few yellow stars dotting the black surface. Plus, there is a name to that bat placed there too. It's called "Sweet Dreams".

I thought he was a serial killer on the loose, targeting the most unfortunate. (And unfortunately, I'm one of them)
He got out of his pocket a vial of some sort with a strange orange liquid inside. He forced my mouth open (for I was to weak to resist at that time) and poured the drink. It tasted like orange juice but I felt something inside it. That was when I felt drowsy. To top it all off, he whacked me on the head with the bat to put me to sleep [literally].

It was ridiculous. He gave me a concoction that makes me sleepy and whacks me on the head to put me to sleep. It doesn't make sense. It would if the potion had another effect on me. But really! What were his intentions? I just hope he didn't try to kill me. Everything just blacked out at that moment.