He woke up alone in the hospital, his name was James Michael Moore and he couldn’t remember why he was in such a place. Turning a window to his bed left side, he saw that darkness had covered the earth once again. Once again? Had he spent other nights at that place?. He wasn't very sure, and the unbreakable silence that seemed to cover the hospital like a soft and suffocating velvet did little to ease his nerves.

The exception to that was the static buzzing sound that came from the television in his room. It sounded so loud, and still, it did little to cover the silence, if anything it only made it worse. It felt like he had dived into a bad dream, that something was trying to pull him out of the real world. And in some way, even the smell of controlled disease only increased that dreamlike sensation. He knew he should be feeling pain, but he couldn't feel it, he could hardly feel anything at all.

There was only a devouring void, inside and all around him.

He had no memory of last night, but it little mattered to him. In his mind, the real world around him had crumbled to pieces. Despite looking the same, he could feel that his surroundings lacked substance; like all that remained surrounding him was a poor trick of lights outlining what once was the world.

He moved his arms and felt the bandage trying to keep his arm stiff; and even this proof of reality seemed something like some distant fact. Touching his forehead he felt the heat emanating from him. It looked like a fever capable of killing a man, but yet he felt like he wasn't ill. Somehow, it was easy for him to tell that his body was whole, healthy even; but that in his mind and soul, there was slowly spreading sickness. He closed his eyes trying to think and forced himself to remember.

There was searing pain and then the darkness.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

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The sunlight and rumbling by his side woke James from some unsettling dreams. And just as his eyes opened, he could see that Tyler was by his side smiling at him.

"You worried us, dude"

"What happened?" James' could feel his voice scratching his throat from the insides.

"They found you unconscious in the old trail...There were superficial cuts all over your body".

After being told, he could somehow remember the old trail. The place where he used to run, and he could remember that he had been running until... a searing pain and darkness. A bitter taste rose to his mouth and he winced at the memory.

"How long I've been...?", James tried, but could not finish the sentence... In the hospital? ...feeling sick? ...sleeping? ...dead?. Questions and words rushed around his head and by each turn they held less meaning.

"One whole week..." said his roommate.

Had it been too little or too much time? He knew the units of time, but they all felt meaningless to him. He could place things in time all right, but why did it matter if it was a year, a day, or a week?. It mattered, he knew it a matter of fact that it did, but that he could not find an answer bothered him the most.

“...and your parents had to leave yesterday”, Tyler had kept on talking, but the part about his parents was all that James managed to hear lost in his thoughts. The pangs of sadness and anger he felt about his parents letting him down once again, it felt so bad and familiar if almost felt good.

“Thanks, Tyler”

“Don`t thank me…you`re going to pay me for each hour I had to waste here”, his friend said with a grin.

“Only if you take me out of here…fast”, the sun shining outside his window seemed to promise a good day, and some reprieve from his unease.

“Dude, you`re not in condition…” Tyler started to say.

“This hospital is making me even sicker, I have to leave”

“I don`t think it`s a good idea…”

“Please Tyler, I'm serious, I need to take some fresh air...”

“Fine, I`ll look for a doctor…”