It sounds like I'm underwater. Like the world is slowly slipping out from under me. It hurts to move. It hurts to do anything honestly.
"I think we should listen to her Vi."
Dad? Why is Dad here? How did he get here so fast? I can barely hear him over the buzzing noise. Why is there a buzzing noise in the quidditch changing room?
"Yeah... I'll go talk to Minnie about it all."
Mum? Now I know I've lost it. I wince and slowly open my eyes. I must have fallen asleep in the changing room before the match or something.
It's so bright. Like so fucking bright. It hurts my entire body. Blood rushes to my head which nearly makes me pass out.
"Did I miss the game?" I manage to say. I can't hear my own voice over the buzzing. Would someone turn that damn sound off?
Dad is standing over me now. He's got a smile on his face and tears in his eyes, "He-ey bubba." He says. Way too loudly. He brushes hair off of my face and kisses my forehead. My head feels like it's going to explode.
"Wh... what happened? Did I miss the match?" I whisper.
Dad kisses my forehead again and I yelp in pain. I can see worry all over his face. "No, darling. You're alright. We're going to take you home okay? You can sleep in your own bed. What do you say hm?"
I don't understand what he's saying. He sounds like he has a sock in his mouth and I'm having a lot of trouble trying to hear him. I close my eyes, the darkness feels like someone just put a cool blanket over my entire body. I open my eyes again look at my father, "Daddy it hurts." I can feel tears well up in my eyes and drip down my face, "It hurts so much, please make it stop. Daddy, please help me."
Dad starts to cry too. He reaches out to touch my face but stops himself cause he doesn't want to hurt me anymore than I'm hurting, "Mumma and I are going to take you, home love. It's alright. You'll be alright."
I close my eyes again and the buzzing dies down just a little. If I listen hard enough I can hear the faint sound of Dad crying. I don't want to make him cry. I want to crack a joke and make all this go away but I can't. I'm so tired. My head hurts more than anything I've ever felt in my entire life. Fuck.
The next time I open my eyes I'm not where I thought I would be. It takes me a second to realize that I'm back home. I'm in my own bed. The buzzing is still pretty much all I can hear. I'm starting to think that only I can hear it. "What the fuck?" I say to myself. My head is pounding.
My door opens, but I can't move to see who just came in. Not till they are standing at the edge of my bed. Annie and I are now face to face. She's just staring at me, till she says. "You don't look very good."
I laugh which only makes my head hurt more and I groan and close my eyes, "I don't feel very good either."
Annie stands there for a second, "Are you lonely?"
"A little."
She then goes over to the end of my bed and crawls up and lies down beside me, "I'm bored. Mumma and Dad are in the shop and Theo is out with Lucy and Aunt Audrey."
It's a lot harder to hear her now that she's on the other side of me. I roll over slowly so I can see her which was a bad fucking idea cause my entire body erupts into pain. I let my body settle before I talk, "Do you know how I got home?"
Annie rolls over so her nose is practically touching mine, "Mumma and Dad brought you home. You got hurt really bad in quidditch."
She watches me as I try to figure out what she means. But the harder I think about it the more my head hurts. I can't remember a thing. All I remember is standing in the changeroom talking to Dom about Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur. "Oh..."
"Mumma wants me to tell her when you're awake. I'll go get her." Annie touches the tip of her nose to mine and crawls off the bed. She closes the door too loud which makes me groan out in pain.
"Hey dude, how're you feeling?" Mum says coming into my bed and lying down beside me.
I think for a second. I don't want to freak her out but I feel like not being able to hear out of one of your ears is something you should tell your mum. "I can't hear out of my left ear I don't think. And it feels like someone keeps hitting me in the head with a beater's bat, like a slow rhythm. And the light hurts my eyes, and loud noises make me want to rip all my skin off cause they hurt so bad." I say it all quietly and slowly so mum can understand what I'm saying.
She brushes a bit of my hair off my face and tucks it behind my ear with the softest touch. "Well between you and dad you've got a full set of working ears so I wouldn't worry about that one too much. At least yours is still attached to your head." We laugh together but it just hurts my head and I yelp out in pain and tears start streaming down my face.
I can tell it hurts mum to see me like this. I want to make it better, I don't want her to have to worry about me, she's got a shop to run downstairs.
Mum's smile fades off her face, "Sorry darling." She says softly.
Mum and I lie in my bed together for a few hours. She's been reading me her favourite muggle book Pride and Prejudice. Even if I wasn't brain damaged it would be painful to listen to. Mum does awful voiced for each character to try and make me more interested in the story.
Someone knocks on the door and Mum stops reading. Dad pops his head in and smiles at us both. "Theo's back and I've got dinner ready. Do you want me to bring you some food in here Leah or do you want to sit at the table with us?"
Mum and Dad both look at me with sad eyes. "Uhm, I think I can sit at the table... but the light hurts."
Dad smiles, "Thought you might say that. Here, I've been working on these all day." He takes a black fabric bag out of his pocket and comes over to give it to me. Inside are very black sunglasses.
I put them on and it feels like my whole brain relaxes. The room darkens significantly. "So?" Dad says eagerly.
I smile, "Yeah, yeah they help a lot. Thanks, Dad."
He helps me up off my bed carefully and helps me walk out of my room Mum following close behind. As soon as Theo and Annie see me they stop talking and watch as Dad helps me sit down in my usual spot at the table.
"Are you feeling okay Leah?" Theo whispers. Mum kisses him on the top of his head before she sits down. Dad brings the big pot of pasta over to the table and starts to dish some out to each of us.
"I'll be fine Theo. Don't worry about me."