Stop Being Human

Chapter 26

The blackness in my eyes slowly fades out and I find myself staring at an all too white ceiling. Something is squeezing my index finger and I get a tickle from my nose. I can hear a monitor nearby beeping at a steady pace.

Confusion swirls through my mind with many questions that follow. Where am I? What is going on?

I try to speak, but my throat is dry and irritated. Only a small groan like noise leaves my lips. Near me, an object drags against the floor and then a soft hand is pressed into my own. Melody hovers over me with a tearful smile. "You're awake." She speaks in a soft tone.

I am. I want to tell her but my voice box rejects it. The feeling of speaking burns a hole in my throat. Melody reads my pleading eyes and reaches for something next to her. "Do you want water?" She holds a small paper cup for me.

I use my little arm strength to sit myself up against the pillows. I drink down the water and the feeling is delightful.

I am in a hospital room or something close to that. Everything is white, the bed, the sheets, the floors, the walls, the cabinets. It is all white. I've never been in a hospital room before, but this is what I imagined them to look like.

On the counters, there are more potions and random objects in jars. Then there is medical equipment.

The sun barely shines through the window. I don't know if it is because of the blinds or because of the time.

"What happened?" I am finally able to get the words out. Melody's face drops and she takes a seat at the bottom of my bed.

The slim tubes in my nose irritate me. I want to rip them out, but I am sure that the second my hand goes anywhere near them, someone will be yelling at me.

"You were poisoned, Rei..." She waits for my reaction.

My brain starts to crank slowly, bringing together the words she is saying. "Pois..." I say disappointedly.

"She poisoned you, hoping to distract Brandon. She admitted to the entire thing." Melody's words give me flashbacks.

Pois grabbed my hip to pass me when I went over there. I swore she had her gloves on. I saw them, but I must have been mistaken. There was no other time she had ever touched me. My hip and lower back started to hurt not much longer after that. I should have realized sooner. I should have checked instead of ignoring the pain.

Melody turns her head away from me. "You've been in and out of consciousness for two weeks. After you blacked out, you went into cardiac arrest. Once they were able to... get you back, you just never woke up. The poison has been treated and left your system thankfully." She stands up and heads towards the door. "I'm going to get a doctor to check on you."

I assume it is hard to talk about what happened. She's probably gone through a lot these past few weeks... I can't believe it's been that long. My next question is, where's Brandon? I would have expected him to be here when I woke up.

The door opens again and a new face walks in. "Well, well, well look who decided to wake up!" Axel struts in with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Hey Axel." I smile, glad to see him. "Not to be that person, but do you know where Brandon is?"

Axel sits in the chair across from my bed. He takes no offense and answers, "We've been having to drag him out of here lately. If it wasn't for school, he'd stay here. He comes here almost as soon as he gets out of class. We made him go home last night so he could get some sleep."

I imagine Brandon at my side while I laid here unaware of anything. Darkness was my best friend for two weeks, I guess, even though it only felt like two minutes for me.