Learning to Be Happy Again

When the noise comes back, it's all weird and muffled. The little I can hear, I assume is movement. I can't feel my body though, which is strange. And there's only black.

Then, everything starts fading in. My vision becomes more red as light through my eyelids becomes visible, and I start to feel my fingers and toes. Soon, I feel my body resting on the bed, blankets over it. And so, since I don't think I can talk yet, I turn over. Sound has become clearer.

Footsteps.

Multicolored lights.

"He's stable, but I can't really tell anything else." Elwin's voice comes from above me.

Foster's in the room. Her emotions just fell drastically.

So I try to speak, and it works. "Hey doc." After I say that, I open my eyes and smirk at a shocked Elwin.

He tells me he's going to get some stuff, probably more animal and plant gunk, and runs off.

Sophie comes over to my bed.

"Hey, Foster. You miss me?" She nods, tears in her eyes. "How long was I out?"

"One month, two weeks, and thirteen hours," she whispers.

"And how much of that time have you spent sleeping?" I don't need to ask this, the dark circles under her eyes tell me enough.

She rolls her eyes. "You know me." And then she looks back and beckons at someone else. I prop myself up by my elbows and see Bangs Boy shaking his head. When he sees me looking at him, he freezes and looks down. Shadows surround him.

Elwin comes back with a tray of assorted vials ranging from pale yellow to deep indigo. He looks at Foster, and she walks away.

"Drink all of these except for this one," he says, pointing at the indigo one. "That one I'll put on your marks. It probably won't do anything, but I want to see."

"My marks?" I see Bangs Boy cower out of the corner of my eye.

"Yes. You seem to have gained some scarring from the incident that led to your coma. I'll put it on you, if that's okay."

I nod.

"Okay, I'll need you to take off your shirt then. The marks go down to your collarbone."

Once I down all of the other vials, none tasting too terrible (one did taste a little bit like grease), I sit up completely and take my shirt off. Bangs Boy leaves in a hurry. When Elwin rubs the ointment on me, it tingles, but not unpleasantly.

"We'll leave that on for about five minutes and then see, okay, Keefe? And I'll want you to stay one more night. Just to make sure everything is alright."

"Hey, Elwin? Can you finish with me? I'm going to miss Alchemy."

Elwin rushes off to the voice apologizing. A few minutes later a short dark haired kid walks out, looking a little annoyed.

Elwin sighs. "It didn't do anything. I'm sorry, Keefe."

I shrug. "It's whatever. That's why high collars exist, am I right?" Elwin chuckles at that.

"Okay, I'll get some new clothes for you, but you can walk around the school if you like. Just don't leave."

"Right! Because we're having a sleepover tonight!" Elwin smiles and goes to a back room, probably to look for some animal patterned pajamas for me. I hop off the bed and walk out the door. It's wobbly at first, but after a while, my legs get used to the feeling of holding up my body. I wander the empty halls of Foxfire, it must be a weekend, sort of aimlessly, but I end up at my locker. I continue walking, because I know it's empty.

After a while, I pass a door and hear muffled sniffing noises, so I open the door. It's a bathroom, but the thing that strikes me is how dark it is. Only half the lights are on and one of the corners is totally dark. The noises are coming from there.

"Bangs Boy?" He looks up, glares at me, and runs out, wiping his eyes. I stand in the lightening bathroom for a few seconds more.

Why was he crying?

I walk back into Elwin's room and notice a small pile of fabric on my bed. Elwin's voice comes from the back room.

"Yeah, I've got to stay the night. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but he's only just woken up a few hours ago. It was unexpected. Yup. Love you too. Bye, I'll see you tomorrow." He walks out, smiling a little.

"I'm back!" I wave at Elwin.

"Oh. Hello, Keefe. Uh," he says, a little nervous. "You should put those on," he points at the gulon pajamas. "You can go in the back room, I'll wait out here."

So I change. The clothes are soft, and I suddenly feel sleepy, even though I just woke up from a month and a half nap. I walk out of the room and yawn.

Elwin laughs. "Already, huh? Here, have this tea, you haven't had anything since you went unconscious."

I nod, and take the cup. As soon as I start drinking, I realize how thirsty I was. The tea goes very fast.

Sleep comes almost immediately after Elwin turns the lights off. The world is dark. Shadow tentacles wrap around my wrists and ankles. Tam is in front of me, but not close. He's in the same position, and his tears are black.

I try to move, to yell, but can do neither.