REWIND: Tampered (Youtube FanFiction)

Chapter Fourteen

"Enough"

Day 11 – Sunday
9:01PM

||Nathan Smith (NateWantsToBattle)||

My eyes flutter open after the last time travel trigger I will ever experience. I prepare myself to hear the deafening noise of panic in the hospital (haha get it? panic at the...ok I'll stop now); the deafening panic of doctors and nurses, of families and loved ones. Though, as I adjust to my surroundings, I hear nothing but silence. I look around, expecting to find people running in different directions in a rush, or patients on gurneys being pushed into the ER, but I see no one. Instead, I see the moon shining brightly outside a window—my window. I look around further, straining my neck, only to recognize my own bedroom.

I'm...back at my apartment—the one I bought. My hands travel around the space at either side of my body and I realize that I'm lying on my own bed in darkness, alone. But how? Aren't I supposed to be in a hospital with Dan and....

Dawn. Where the hell is Dawn?

I stumble out of bed, nearly diving onto the floor, as I rush out of my room and head for the guest bedroom. Dawn should be there, sleeping or something, with Dan Howell. She's in there. She has to be in there.

I send the door to the guest bedroom flying open only to see...my desk, my computer and my recording equipment. Hell, there isn't even a bed in here anymore! This...this is a studio now. All my YouTube and music stuff are in here, piled up and scattered at the same time. Two adjacent walls are even covered with a black backdrop now, resembling an area where I can record music videos.

No. This can't be. When did I make this my studio? The effects of an elongated time skip are already showing.

I run out of the room and into the lounge, hoping to find them—her—at least sleeping on the couch or watching TV. But, the room is almost pitch black as well. I walk towards the couch until, finally, I see a figure in this hardly lit room. The figure is wrapped in a cotton blanket—the same one I remember giving to Dawn so she can use it.

I feel adrenaline before rushing to turn on the light switch and grabbing a handful of the blanket, yanking it away to reveal the person inside. I expect to look straight into a pair of green eyes but, instead, they're brown. I don't see red hair, either. This isn't Dawn.

"Hunter?!" I blurt out, finally realizing that I'm staring at my best friend's face. Is he really Hunter? But how? I watched him die. He died in my arms.

Hunter looks at me, sleepy and confused, "Dude, what the hell? Can't you let someone sleep in peace? What's going on?"

That's hunter's voice, low and raspy probably because he just woke up. Still, I refuse to believe it, "What...what's happening here?!"

"I asked first, asshole," Hunter snaps at me groggily as he rubs his eyes. "I thought you were tired?"

I only cock my head sideways. Confused. Hunter sighs, "Christ, Nate. We didn't even get drunk and you're already hungover."

"Drink where?" I ask him, still dumbfounded.

Hunter groans, irritated, "We had a night out with MatPat, Mark and Sean, remember?"

MatPad, Mark and Sean? They're alive? How?! I've already seen and heard them die twice! This isn't true!

"Dude, you look pale. What's wrong?" I hear Hunter ask me before he stands up and shakes my shoulders with both hands. His firm grip on me feels...real. I look at him, shocked, and he repeats the question before pulling me into a hug. He's warm. He's here. He's real. It's all real.