The Girl With Five Watches

17: Awake

It turned out that I was never in the snow when I found myself awake in a hospital bed. That was weird. A moment ago I was in the bathroom located in the student union. Trying to move my head around, I began feeling the different parts of my head. My head had never been so cold. At least my heart rate was functioning normally. After I was able to lift my head with all of its might, I noticed that Sara was in the room soundly asleep on a chair. OK, there was no questioning it. This was all real. I actually was in a hospital room. So what exactly happened in the bathroom that led me here? A nurse soon walked in and noticed that I awake. It didn't take long for the doctor to arrive with a couple of other nurses. Sara was thankfully also awake.

"Is everything OK with you Jimmy?" asked the doctor. "Are there any conditions that you may have?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

He found himself sitting down to get closer to me. "Are you aware that you've been in a coma for the last three days?" He sighed and pulled out his phone. "It's currently Sunday night."

My eyes popped open in disbelief. Thursday felt like five minutes ago. "Seriously? What happened?"

"Well, your friend Sara found you passed out in the bathroom on Thursday around eleven at night." Sara stood there looking like she was about to cry. "You had a little heartbeat and your entire body was cold. There's little evidence that shows you had any seizures, but we're still investigating it. And we definitely know that you're not on drugs."

The doctor shared a little more with me and left me alone in the room with Sara after informing me that I would get released tomorrow night. They wanted to keep watch on me for the next twenty-four hours. Visiting hours would be over soon. I didn't know what to say to her. She just stood there putting her hand on my chest. It was obvious that she doing her best to hold in her tears.

"You've been here every day?" I asked hoping she wouldn't walk away from me.

"Every day," she responded and sat down on the same chair the doctor sat on.

"You missed church today?" If only we could've gone to church. A walk would've been nice

She couldn't resist laughing letting a few tears out of her eyes. "Yeah, I did. But don't worry, I sat in this room streaming a church service on my laptop."

I laughed along with her. Part of me wanted to let my eyes cry once the laughing died down. During the silence, her hand found my own hand and took hold of it. There was no letting go.

"I honestly thought you were dead Jimmy," she began crying. "Roger had to comfort me and call 9-1-1. He and Karla spent the entire first night in this hospital with me. And I cried for six straight hours. That entire Friday, all I did was pray that you would make it out alive."

The waterworks began and her head found itself against my chest. Both my hands laid on the back of her head. Something inside of me felt like I let her down. Part of me felt like I failed her. And I hated myself for that. Why did I let this happen? But at least I had her with me for the next half hour until visiting hours were over.

"I'll see you tomorrow Jimmy. Roger and Karla will also be here."

She kissed my forehead and left. At this point, I really was alone. Not one person in the darkroom besides me. Not even Emily paid a visit. Everything inside of me couldn't be more thankful for that. Unable to sleep, I turned on the television but found myself out within minutes.

"Hello Jimmy," greeted an old-looking man with open arms.

Looking around me, I saw myself surrounded in pure white. This old man looked like my grandpa. "Grandpa? Is that actually you?"

He began laughing and hugged me. "Yes, it's me." He pulled away from the hug and we both sat down on a rock. "Don't worry, you're not dead," he smiled being able to read inside my mind. "You would've been dead though if it wasn't for Sara. She's a wonderful girl."

"Emily was trying to kill me. And you know, I don't see how she wouldn't keep trying. If I'm not dead now, I'll be dead sooner or later."

Licking his lips, he got closer to me and touched both my shoulders. "Emily would never try to kill you. She had such a kind heart." He took a moment to pause. "I think you're remembering her the wrong way. There's something deeper going on inside of you. Something you really shouldn't ignore."

"Well, how do I stop it?" I needed answers.

"Talk to Sara," he smiled. "Tell her everything going on. She'll listen. She won't think differently of you like you think she will. If you don't tell her, you might just continue to suffer."

"But I can't. If she knew... I don't know how I'd be able to live with myself. I just can't. I can't."

Crap, it was a dream. Was it a dream? It felt like a dream. Was my grandpa actually talking to me? There wasn't much time to think about any of this once Sara, Roger, and Karla arrived. It was already late morning.

"Hey buddy," greeted Roger giving me a fist bump. "Glad to see that you're alive and well."

They literally spent the entire day with me. We talked and laughed. Sara also seemed to be in a good mood as she made joke after joke. She was impressively delivering laughs from all of us. She never looked more beautiful. Once late-night arrived, we all headed back to campus in Roger's car with silence from everyone.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Jimmy is still alive. Let's hope he gets better! Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!

Did Jimmy actually meet his grandpa?

Will Emily continue to haunt Jimmy?