𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 [𝐉𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫 - 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭]

4 | Januaries

R U N E — 2000

— RUNE AWAKENS TO RESTRAINTS. He's in a hospital — that much he is certain of. He is himself again, he knows.

Rune Buckley is eleven years old — twelve on October 17th. The date is— well, he doesn't quite know, because he doesn't know how long he's been unconscious, but the last time he was certain, it was New Year's Eve, which likely means they've entered into the new millennium, now. He missed the countdown. And lost the bet he had going on with Jake, who claimed Rune wouldn't be able to stay up 'til midnight, because he hasn't ever managed before. Which means he has to hand over his 86th copy of Peter Parker: Spider Man. It's the one issue in all of Volume One that Rune has that his best friend doesn't — and now he'll have to see Jacob Black's stupid, smug face when he claims his winnings.

Back on track, he admonishes himself.

He's restrained — why would he be restrained in a hospital? — and panic shoots through him as he launches back inside his head again. The walls aren't a bruised purple, and the restraints aren't all that tough — black velcro strips on the white transportation bars — and there's a grainy television mounted in the corner of the room, so he reassures himself that he's safe, that he's him.

He is Rune. Not Jay — not whatever it was he'd remembered — dreamt — seen. He's definitely alive, thank you very much.

Rune Buckley has two siblings; Nick (adopted in 1997), who is eight, deaf, and painfully shy, and Adam (adopted in 1994), who is five, dyslexic, and painfully not-shy.

He has two parents; his mother, Virginia, who is forty-five and lovely, and his father, Jim, who is forty-four and hare-brained.

He has only one friend aside from his siblings (which is embarrassing in itself so he doesn't consider them), and that one friend is the aforementioned Jacob Black. Adults don't really count, but he gets along well with the town Sheriff; Charlie Swan is like an uncle to him.

They're all here now. Not in the room with him, but they're in the hallway outside. He can see them through the ugly slatted blinds that cover the internal window. The bed beside him is empty, because even though they wouldn't be able to afford a private room, Forks General Hospital sees so little action that one usually gets a big room to themselves. His mum's leather brick of a handbag sits on the sheets, and there's a dent the precise size of his dad's torso that indicates he'd fallen asleep against the spare bed at some point during Rune's stay.

Rune sighs, going very limp. His parents won't leave him alone for long — he can spy them just outside his room, heads bent together, exchanging murmurs with a nurse. His siblings and Jacob dose against each other about Charlie's legs like chicks crowding a hen. They'll probably be sent home soon.