Finding Home (Zak Bagans Daughter)

Chapter Thirty-Six

When I opened my eyes, the room was dark. The lights had been turned off and the only sound in the room was Zak snoring.

I looked to my side. There he was, holding my hand and resting his head on the edge of my bed. I looked around the room; Billy was in the corner, Aaron in the rocking chair, and Jay was nowhere to be seen.

I felt really groggy. I couldn't remember anything. I just sat there in the hospital bed trying to figure out why I was there in the first place. Then it dawned on me.

It was as if I had been hit with a wrecking ball full of memories. They all just came back at once. I could remember being taken, and being locked in the trunk, and the dessert, but I couldn't remember what happened that led to being in the hospital.

As I was trying to process everything, Jay walked into the room with his hands full of snacks. At first, he didn't even realize I was watching him, but when he opened the first bag of chips I broke the silence.

"Mind passing me one?" I asked. He immediately froze and slowly looked up. When he saw me smiling at him, a giant grin overcame his face.

"Charlie!" he yelled. The noise woke up the rest of the gang, Zak was last. When he rose his head up, he had drool all over his mouth.

I laughed. His eyes immediately widened when he saw me looking down at him.

"Charlie?" he asked. Then he realized he wasn't dreaming. "CHARLIE!" he screamed and tackled me in a hug. When I winced, he let go straight away.

"Oh shit, I didn't meant to-"

"What is going on?" even though I generally knew what had happened, there were a few parts of the story I couldn't remember.

He looked at me with a strange expression. "You- You don't remember?"

I blankly stared at him. "The last thing I remember is standing in the middle of a desert with Jeff pointing a gun at m-" I slowly trailed off and pulled down my hospital nightgown to expose the healing wound on my chest. The healing scar on my chest was the only confirmation I needed.

"He shot me? Wha- How?"

My heart rate raised a small amount due to me being upset.

"Okay. You need to calm down because the last thing I need to hear is that damn heart monitor beeping again"

I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Heart monitor? What are you talking about?"

He sighed and grabbed my hand. "You were shot in the desert. The bullet grazed your heart and collapsed your lung; you died Charlie, multiple times"

Now was when I got the chance to look around and see everyone faces. They all looked like they hadn't gotten a proper sleep in a very long time, and all had small stubbles growing on their faces. I just stared at them without saying a word.

"You died and came back to life, but nobody knew. You were in the morgue for seven hours before anyone discovered you were alive" I was star struck.

"I didn't think you were gonna wake up" he held my hand tighter. "I thought we had lost you forever"

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It had been a few hours since I had woken up, and all my doctors were shocked. After that, I was told they wanted to keep me under observation for a few days and that I had to stay in bed until then. Zak did not want to leave the room in fear that I would go into a coma again.