𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟔: 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝

Matthew Perry-Benson

Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...

I'm going to go insane.

The irritating little beeps from the heart monitor continued to ring overhead. 

Matthew couldn't move. His body felt heavy but he couldn't feel his limbs. An aching pain radiated throughout the front of his body, he was pretty sure he was about to throw up again. His eyes were still closed from his attempt at sleep, he could feel his heartbeat in his head. He felt like he should say something or try to do something. Except for the annoying beeps, the room was dead silent. He was pretty sure he was going slightly crazy.

It had been a couple of hours after his operation. Sleep had been less than kind to him, giving him short naps and waking up due to some nurse poking something in him or the pain being unbearable. 

Suddenly he felt hot. He could feel the sweat starting to form across his forehead. He was sure the nurse said last time that he would have fevers on and off. A lot of things were going on in his body all at once.

He was trying not to die.

The bleeding came to a minimum when he got transferred. The doctors said he would need surgery almost immediately if he wanted any chance at surviving. 

He cracked his eyes slightly open, squinted at the faint light coming from the windows. The room was empty. Grey walls and grey chairs were set up around the bed.

His memory was still slightly fuzzy from the incident. He remembered Vanessa, the three teenagers and the gun. He didn't remember what had happened after the second sound of a gunshot. He could remember the shock of the immense pain rumbling throughout his body. His legs gave in and he fell, hitting his head on one of the pews in the church. After he closed his eyes, he couldn't open them. He could hear faint sounds of panic, yelling and a bunch of hands touching him.

Then he blacked out. Couldn't hear, couldn't move, couldn't speak. Nothing.

Not until a rough voice started to whisper. Hours had gone by. Matthew tried jerking himself awake. For a moment, he thought it had been a nightmare or hallucination. But it was very real and very terrifying.

"Don't worry, I know why you're really here, Matthew. I know you're angry at everything. I know you're begging God for your life back... but in reality, you know that nothing will ever be the same again."

In the distance, a clock kept ticking. Matthew could sense the person move around the room a bit, maybe even closer to the bed. It startled him even more.

"One day,"  the voice continued, softer, scarier, "one day, you'll be sorry. You'll be sorry you fell into the trap you set up. I'm not going to hurt you, Matthew. But I will hurt more people like you... Starting with everyone in that stupid agency."

Hard footsteps, the kind from some sort of boots, started and a door shut closed. He waited for a few minutes to go by.

After that, Matthew's eyes were too afraid to open again. When they did, he realized he wasn't in the same room as before. The nurses were different, the smells were different and the atmosphere was different.

It felt much worse than it did before and he didn't know what to do about it.

Vanessa.

He desperately wanted her to come in at any point. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He just wanted her to talk to him, tell him everything. He dreamed of her smiling as she said the mission was complete and there would be no more Walter Warner.