Heroes & Roses (X-ray and Vav)

Chapter 27: Loose End

I'm fully awake but my mind is still foggy from being half asleep, and the current lack of oxygen flowing to my brain doesn't help. Gurgled noises come from my mouth where words failed to form. I grasp at the cold hands around my neck, trying to pry them away as best I could. My vision goes spotty as I try to shoot at the menace, that was until I saw who it was.

"G- G- Geoff? S- Stop! Ple-" However I couldn't get the full word out since he pressed harder then before on my neck. I take one of my hands and try to grab the lamp on my bedstand. I can feel my senses go numb as I grip the lamp with whatever I have left and smash it into Geoff's side. He backs up a bit and bumps into the wall. I gasp for air, taking advantage of breathing for a second. God, I never thought I'd be thankful to breath, but you know, shit happens. I quickly stand up, scrambling to regain my focus and stamina with little success, but I managed to block Geoff. I hear a small knock at the door, but do to my current engagement I couldn't quite answer it.

"Are you alright in there?" I hear Gavin ask from the other side as I duck under a swing made by Geoff. I try to answer Gavin but what comes out is a strangled mess of words. Due to my still ill faith that Geoff might be hallucinating or something, I refuse to use my powers on him. I try to dodge another blow by Geoff but instead walk right into his fist, making me land flat on the floor with a now bloody cheek. The knocks now became a little more frantic. I look up to Geoff from the little light produced from my half-broken lamp that was sprawled on the floor. Geoff lifted his boot off the ground and stepped on my throat, slowly putting pressure onto it. I could nearly feel my trachea break whenever I witness Geoff slouch sideways on to the floor and Gavin holding a tire iron where he was once standing. Why the fuck does he have a tire iron, he doesn't drive.

"Are you alright?" Gavin asked in a frantic voice as he helped me stand up. I nodded and cleared my throat so I could hopefully get some words out.

"Fine, I'm fine, but do me one favor?" I say in a voice that cracked more then a toad, "Don't ever fucking knock again?" I smile and Gavin reciprocates the gesture with a sigh of relief.

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"He's been out cold for two days now. Usually a blow to the head would cause enough head trauma to cause someone to be unconscious for a few minutes. I don't know what's going on," Caleb explained to Gavin and I as we visited Geoff in the clinic for the second night in a row. It was so strange seeing Geoff like this, laying in a hospital bed with restraints on his arms and legs.

"Do you know what happened? Why he attacked me at all?" I ask in hope that there's an explanation, however he shakes his head sadly.

"No idea. He just must have just snapped," Caleb said quietly, "but either way he should be waking up soon. His brain activity has increased a lot since this morning," Considering that there were no wires connected to Geoff besides fluids and morphine with no heart monitor, this only adds to my theory of Caleb having more powers then given credit for. He walks out of the clinic to get more supplies from the supply closet down the hall. Almost immediently after Caleb left, Geoff started to stir from where he was laying. It wasn't long before he slowly woke up, looking drowsy and slow.

"What the f- Gav? What the fuck's going on? Why can't I move?" Geoff asks in a panicked voice.

"Geoff, you're fine. You've had a run in with a lamp. Do you remember anything that happened?" I ask calmly. Besides the initial shock Geoff had by asking up in a hospital bed, everything else seemed to be just confusion.

"Not really.... I mean I remember being here and that's about-" Geoff stopped mid-sentence and sighed largely. If he could bring his hands to his head I'm pretty sure his face would be buried in them.