Lights | A Forever Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Days After

The world took shape around me, the sterile bluish whiteness distorted by the fog. In the distance, a figure stood. We stared at each other, waiting for the fog to dissipate. It slowly dissolved into nothingness, and as it did, I saw the face in the mist. Brown curly hair, brown eyes, and a lips slightly parted with confusion. I knew him, but... I didn't. Faint recognition was mirrored in each of our faces, and then the memory slipped away, sliding into the ambiguous depths of the dream.

Suddenly, I remembered where I knew him from. He was Dr. Morgan. I tripped forwards, through the mist towards him, and he turned around and slowly walked away. I ran after him, but he just kept getting farther and farther away, until he was gone.

The mist returned, clouding around me, but this time, it seemed alive. It moved, it breathed, it spoke, whispering softly in an incoherent tongue. I wept silently, not sure why, not sure what was even going on. The mist took shape, first it was a woman - full, pale, translucent lips, and eyes that should have been harsh and silver, not dull and white. Her ghostly fingers reached forwards, embracing me as the mist swirled away, and she, too, was gone. I was terrifyingly alone.

Suddenly, the world faded, the mist vanishing. Darkness rained down, melting the dream down into nothing, nothing, and even more nothing. After a while, the confusion and sadness of the dream was replaced by a dull throb in the back of my eyes, and light pressed against my skull, warm and constant. My eyelids fluttered open, revealing the world around me.

A hospital bed. A window, with the blinds open. Jo and Hanson. A doctor.

I stirred slightly, their expectant eyes watching me with concern.

"Hey?" I said uncertainly. The three of them sighed with relief.

"Lights," Jo breathed. "You're okay."

"Kid, how stupid can you be?" Hanson mused at the same time.

"When we found you you had a lot of bleeding in your brain," the doctor said in harmony with Jo and Hanson. Jo and the doctor glared at Hanson. "We sent you to surgery, but the bleeding was centred in the part of your brain that controls your speech and memory, the hippocampus. We did manage to relieve the pressure, but we weren't sure you would maintain your memories. We're glad you're okay."

"I'm great," I mumbled. "Aside from the pain shooting through my skull." I propped myself up, and the doctor turned up the morphine just a tad. "So, where's Doctor Morgan?" Jo and Hanson's faces fell. They glanced at each other, and then at the floor. "What? What is it?" I felt a bitter taste slip into my mouth, as I remembered the dream.

"Henry left, a few days ago," Jo mumbled unhappily. I could hear the pain etched into her voice, raw and heartbroken. When she looked up, her eyes were like two crystalline shards of ice, full of anger and regret, unspoken words.

"What?!" I demanded. "How long have I been out?!"

"The better part of a week. The doctors wanted to keep you sedated, to make sure you healed properly," Hanson explained.

"I'll just wait outside," the doctor muttered, excusing herself.

"I think I'll go, too," Hansom decided uncomfortably. "I'm really hungry. I'll leave you two to, uh, catch up."

I began to protest, but he was already gone. Disappointment settled within me, nestling amongst all of the pain and sorrow already collected there.

"Why did he leave?" I asked quietly. "Why?"

"I don't know," Jo replied even more quietly. I saw tears spark in her eyes. I had only seen Jo cry twice: on the day she got married, and on the day her husband, Sean had died. "Lights, I think I loved Henry."

I sighed, glancing away. "He is brilliant. He was smart, and... he was a friend. I only knew him for, like, twenty days, but I feel like I've known him forever." The word made my heart break. Forever. He was immortal, and he was a coward. He was an immortal coward. But mostly just a coward.

"I hate him, right now, Lights," Jo whispered. "I hate him. I want to find him and kill him, and then I want to hug him, because he was always there. He was crazy and stupid and absolutely reckless, but he was always there, and he was astounding, and now he's gone." She choked on something, and closed her eyes. "He ran away. I can't even reach Abe." For a long time, we sat there, in a disheartened silence. There was nothing more to say.

-=+=-

THREE MONTHS LATER

I walked out of the courtroom, tears stinging at my eyes and fear searing through me like a passionate flame, devouring everything it could find. I stumbled into the bathroom, my heart racing, as everything I was, everything I knew melted into pure terror. Memories of Adam and my mother flashed through my mind, and my fingers brushed against the sink as I tried to turn on the faucet, to calm myself down.

The prosecutor had grilled me mercilessly, not stopping for even a breath. He had devoured every inch of my story until there was nothing more to tell. I tried to tell him, I tried to explain. He wouldn't listen. My father's killer was still alive. The Maverick was still alive. But with the three main leaders dead, I had no proof of the Maverick's survival. But I knew the truth.

And Dr. Morgan... he had left me there to rot. I would never forgive him. Never. He sent a letter to explain his disappearance. Only a coward does that. A coward like him.

My fingers tightened around the edges of the sink.

I'd become the best damn person possible. Better than him, better than everyone. I had nothing left to lose.

-=+=-