Chapter Twenty-Seven- It's Coming To A Close

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 They found me half a week after my disappearance on a park bench, passed out in an inconceivably large puddle of my own sick and surrounded by far too many alcohol containers for a person without a problem.

 Although I hadn’t physically died yet, some part of me truly hard. When you feel as broken as I felt then… it’s incredibly hard to come back from that. My journey to recovery wasn’t even close to beginning when my unconscious body was discovered. I wasn’t in the same park as the one I had come across after my train adventure- it wasn’t even the same town. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time.

 The exact moment of my rescue will probably always be hazy to me. All I knew in that moment was that it was Bryan who scooped me up and started to walk away with me in his arms. Nobody else had the same tight grip or stomach of steel necessary to get me out of there.

 My head had lolled back, eyes flickering open as I began to claw myself free from the blackout.

 Another person had put a bottle to my lips and for a second I’d panicked, suddenly unsure of everything. Despite being pretty certain that it was Bryan who was carrying me, my sight wasn’t ready to be a viable source just yet. My already scrambled mind began to fear that I wasn’t being rescued at all. My fight against the constraining arms never gave me freedom and when the bottled water trickled into my mouth my body wasn’t prepared for it. Making me cough and splutter slurred curses. It was like I had been in some kind of accident and needed to learn basic functions all over again. The heavy plodding footsteps became a rhythm and I drifted off into nothing once again…

 An intense feeling of déjà vu descended upon me when I awoke fully. Back in my bedroom at my mother’s house, coming out of a blackout… the only difference was that this time a warm hand was clutching onto one of mine; George was there. My mind felt cloudy but I just about managed to prop myself up slightly and almost smile.

 “Morning, love.” I whispered.

 “It’s the afternoon. And I’m mad at you.” he replied quietly.

 My plan had never been to return home to George, although now it had happened I desired a warm embrace and an understanding atmosphere to resonate from him. Instead I simply received an unresponsive stare. And his detachment was understandable, of course; had he been the one to disappear, I would have been losing my mind. Just as he clearly had been. Still, I couldn’t prevent myself from feeling slightly disappointed.

 As my brain slowly started to run as normal, I began to weigh everything up. Was I upset that George didn’t seem happy to have me home alive? Or was I more anguished over the fact that I was still alive at all?

 “How did you guys find me?” I asked him.

 His unblinking eyes looked straight through me as he responded. “A fan of the band recognised you and called Skull. She didn’t want to call the police and get you in trouble.”

 “Did you get her name? So I can thank her?”

 “Yes.” He paused. “Don’t ever make me say goodbye to you again, James. I can’t go through that again.”

 I wanted to shuffle forward and kiss him, tell him I was home to stay. But I was too weak and there was no feeling of romance. George seemed so unknown to me- it was like we were meeting for the first time. Plus I knew that the next step was for me to be sent to rehab, so I wasn’t really home to stay at all.

 “Where is everyone?” I broke the silence.

 “Downstairs, waiting. Matt’s not here, though, he’s at my house. He kind of went on a bender too after you left- I think he just needs some time to recover.” He grimaced. “C’mon, I’ll help you get dressed.”

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