The Woods (Original)

Numb

   I'm walking down a hallway. I'm in... The hospital? How did I get here...? I don't remember anything past running out of my mom's house... Everything else is a blur.
   I walked along for a while until I came across a room with an open door. I peaked in to see Petra, my mom, and... Axel and Olivia? Why are they all here?
   I walked into the room and no attention was drawn to me. I looked on the bed to see a beaten, battered body with lots of tubes and wires sticking out of it. Wait a second...
   That's me.
   But how?! I'm right here!
   "What's going on?" I asked, but nobody answered.
   "I feel so bad..." Axel muttered. He and Olivia were standing by my bedside. My mom was sitting in the chair provided with her head in her hands. Petra was knelt by my bedside, her head bowed and resting on my hand which was being held by her own.
   "I wish there was more I could have done..." Petra said.
   "Petra, if it wasn't for you, he probably wouldn't even be alive. He would have bled out," Olivia comforted her.
   "What in the world is going on?"
   "Guys... I'm right here. Can't you see me?" I said, trying to get their attention. I walked over to Petra and tried to put my hand on her shoulder, but I just went right through her. I sighed in defeat.
   "What do I do now?"
"I feel terrible," Axel said. "For almost a year now I've treated him like garbage and I didn't even realize it... I only wish I hadn't realized too late..." He said looking down as Olivia attempted to comfort him by sliding her fingers between his.
No one else knew what to say after that. Petra was holding my face in one hand and Olivia asked if she and Petra could get some alone time. This was getting interesting... More than it already was.
Petra gazed at my bruised face with her tear-streaked one, her breathing shaky and labored. "How could I let this happen to him..." She said through breaths.
"Hey, none of us could have known this would happen, otherwise we would have all prevented it," Olivia said, trying to comfort her. She seemed to be the one in this group to do that for everyone.
"I'm just glad those scumbags got expelled and sent to juvie..." Petra said coldly. "Even though it's more than they deserve," she said with clenched fists.
"I agree with you on that..." There was a silence before Olivia spoke again. "You love him, don't you?"
   A memory surfaced the waters of my brain. "You really think she likes- let alone loves you?" Aiden... He said that. He tried to fill me with lies. And Lukas helped...
"Yeah... I do. I really do. Love... Is an understatement," she said with a croaked voice.
   "Tell me about him, what you love about him," Olivia said, obviously trying to distract Petra from the situation.
   A small chuckle escaped Petra's mouth. "He's so sweet and he's... Such a goofball," she said, a smile showing through her pained expression. "And his eyes..."
   "His eyes?"
   "Yeah. It's like looking into two diamonds, they're so textured and they just twinkle," she explained.
   "My eyes? I never noticed that..."
   "It must be the way he looks at you, because I've never seen that before," Olivia replied.
Suddenly I felt a sharp pain to my stomach, my vision was blurred and then black. When I was able to crack my eyes open again, I was laying in a hospital bed with Petra's face buried in my chest, one hand still attached to mine. Slowly I began to put one arm on her, and squeeze her hand. It brought a dull pain in my stomach to move, but I didn't care.
She looked up at me and gasped. "H-he's awake! He's awake!" She said as she raised her voice to alert others. A gasp escaped Olivia's throat as she went in the hallway to fetch mom and Axel. Tears of joy escaped Petra's eyes as she began to laugh. "I'm so glad you're okay..." She whispered.
I stroked her soft hair as I gazed lovingly into her eyes. Those eyes that brought me so much comfort. My whole body was sore, and I could tell without a mirror that I had a black eye. I could see fine out of my left eye, but my right eye's field of vision was partly obstructed and it burned. I wanted to talk but all I could do was smile.
"I actually made it."
The doctor came into my room to check my vitals, he said I should be well enough to leave in the morning. Apparently I was in a coma for three days, making today April 26th. Everyone was happy that I was finally awake and well. Sore, but well.
I was surprised Axel was here. He must still care about me. I looked over at him and gave a shaky thumbs up, and he smiled in return.
Night time rolled around and everyone had left except for Petra.
"For the past three days this has been my home away from home," she explained. "I've been sleeping on this couch, waking up for school and going to get both of our work. Then I would bring it here to work on it. At the end of the day I would go home to get clothes for the next day."
"Thanks for sticking with me," I said smiling.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I think I actually feel so much pain that I've gotten used to it... Just kind of numb I guess," I said.
"Jesse I'm... I'm so sorry I let this happen to you," she said, looking at the floor.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said as I lifted her chin up. "This is not your fault. You're the one who saved me. If it wasn't for you I... I wouldn't be here. Thank you for saving my life Petra."
She wrapped her arms around my neck. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you..." She muttered.
"Well you didn't," I said, embracing her in return. I gave her a peck on the cheek and rubbed my hand up and down on her back, letting her know everything was okay. She lifted her face from my shoulder so she was hovering mere inches from mine, the coffee brown orbs staring into my grey ones.
   "My eyes... She- she said she likes my eyes..." I recollected my weird ghost-like experience.
   "I'm gonna tell you something so crazy, you won't believe me..." I started.
   "What?"
   I explained everything, how I tried to get their attention but no one could see me. I even quoted some of them, and her eyes grew wide in amazement.
   "Wait so... you could hear us... and see us... but not touch us?" She asked.
   "Yeah... It was so weird," I answered.
   I saw her face flush a tad from embarrassment. She must have realized I heard her conversation with Olivia.
   "Just for the record..." I trailed. "I love your eyes too," I smiled.
   She chuckled awkwardly as she rested her face on mine. "Don't spy on me again Jones," she said playfully.
   At around 10:00 she went into the bathroom to change into her pajamas, then came out and laid on that uncomfortable looking couch.
   "Petra..." I ventured.
   "Yeah, Jesse?" She answered.
   "Come over here," I replied.
   She walked over to my bedside and I leaned forward, and though the pain in my stomach returned I ignored it. I scooped her up in my arms and set her next to me.
   "What are you- why?" She asked.
   "That couch looks uncomfortable," I said as I turned on my side to face her.
   "Yeah well... That didn't matter these past few nights..." She began to get a pained expression on her face. "I thought I lost you," she whimpered.
   I grabbed her hands. "You'll never lose me. Even if I die, I'll always be with you," I attempted at comforting her.
   I could tell she was fighting her tears, trying to get them to retreat. Petra wasn't a crier, the only time I'd ever seen her cry was when...
   When we talked about her mom.
   I'm so stupid! How did I not realize this?! If she lost me... That'd be two people that were important in her life that she lost. I didn't realize just how important it was that she didn't lose me...

And I would have stayed up
With you all night
Had I known
How to save a life...