Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Waking up

I woke up to the vibrations of Giovanni’s chest, and as I began to become more aware of my surroundings, I realized he was talking to somebody.

I slowly opened my eyes and rubbed the tiredness out of them, letting him know I was awake.

“Fix it now and call me later with the results. I don’t want to hear any more excuses,” he growled into his phone before hanging up and running a hand through his hair.

“Good morning,” I said, smiling at him and softly kissing his neck that my head was still buried into.

He tensed from the sudden move of intimacy, and I couldn’t help but smile a little at the effect I had on him.

“Good morning, piccolo,” he whispered huskily.

“Family of Alexander Smith?” I heard a voice ask. I immediately sat up, looking toward where the voice was coming from.

“That’s me,” I mumbled, walking up to the doctor.

“Who are you?” the doctor asked, looking at his clipboard.

“His sister, Luna,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

The doctor nodded once before looking up and past my head at Giovanni and tensing.

I groaned inwardly in annoyance and rolled my eyes. I couldn’t help but hope it wasn’t always going to be like this.

“Well?” Giovanni asked, clearly annoyed that the doctor was wasting both of our times by gawking at him.

“Um, yes, yes, well, we’ve just finished running tests on your brother, and he can be discharged at any time. He’s perfectly healthy and has passed every single one of his tests.

“It’s the fastest recovery we’ve ever seen, actually, but I guess it helps that it was a chest wound,” the doctor said, taking his eyes off Giovanni and looking at me with a small smile.

“That’s it?” Giovanni asked, looking at the doctor suspiciously as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I couldn’t help but feel the same.

“Yes, that’s it. He’s been asking for you,” the doctor said before turning around and leaving us to follow after him.

We soon arrived in front of my brother’s closed room, and I felt the anticipation and nervousness begin to rise.

Giovanni took my hand in his and smiled reassuringly at me before nodding once. I smiled back and took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping in, deciding to just rip off the bandage.

I took in a sharp breath as I looked at my brother. Our sea-green eyes locked onto each other as soon as I stepped into the room.

“Hey, beautiful,” Alex said, smiling brightly at me. I couldn’t move as I looked over at him.

Despite being in a coma, his smile hadn’t dulled. His dimples decided to make an appearance as he smiled brightly at me, his eyes showing the same brightness.

We were identical, and if I was born a year earlier or him a year younger, we could’ve been twins.

I slowly brought my hand up to my arm before pinching myself painfully, trying to make sure this wasn’t a dream. Alex noticed and chuckled while shaking his head.

“This isn’t a dream, and I’d really like it if you came and gave your brother a hug,” he said, sitting up and opening his arms up for me.

I let go of Giovanni’s hand and ran into my brother’s open arms. I cried into his chest, hugging him tightly and hating how his smell wasn’t on him, just the smell of the stupid hospital.

“I-I missed you so much,” I croaked as I began to sob harder. I heard the door shut quietly and knew Giovanni left to give us some privacy.

“I missed you so much more, beautiful,” my brother croaked.

I looked up at him to see tears running down his own cheeks, only making me cry harder.

We cried and hugged for what felt like hours but must’ve been only twenty minutes before we began talking about everything that he had missed.

I looked over the side of the bed and watched as my brother came up as he did another push-up, mumbling, “Fourteen,” under his breath, before going down and repeating the process.

I rolled my eyes as I looked at him.

As soon as we both got done crying, he climbed out of bed and started working out, saying he had gotten fat from just lying in bed.

In reality, I knew emotions made him jittery, and besides, he hadn’t gained or lost a pound seeing as he was fed through tubes and hospitals only served healthy stuff.

I began to tell him everything from when he first went into the coma.

“Do you even remember how you ended up in the coma to begin with?” I asked, stopping myself in the middle of the story.

He grunted as he sat up, and I rolled my eyes as he mumbled, “Twenty-three,” before lying back on the ground and repeating the process.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t. All the doctors told me was that I was stabbed.

“I remember everything except that,” he said, confusion etched on his features as he paused his workout, clearly trying to force the memory back.

“He did it,” I mumbled, looking down filled with guilt as I thought back to the day I almost lost my best friend for good.

“What?” Alex asked, stopping his workout and turning to give me his full attention.

I took a deep breath and looked down at my hands.

***

~Flashback (Trigger Warning)~

~I thought I told you I didn’t want you talking to him anymore,” my boyfriend Johnathan whispered to me, smiling as he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into him.~

~I knew exactly what was going to happen as soon as I caught the dangerous glint in his eyes.~

~Aw, you guys are so cute,” my friend Alissa said, nudging my shoulder playfully.~

~I couldn’t help but wince in pain seeing as the night before, when I was already down from the beating I had received, he kicked me in that exact shoulder.~

~Alissa frowned as she noticed, and Johnathan growled in my ear.~

“I told you about your man strength,” I teased Alissa jokingly, hoping she’d fall for it, and thankfully she did.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, giggling.

I teasingly rolled my eyes as I giggled with her.

The bell rang, and Alissa hugged me tightly, making me hold in a wince.

“See you tomorrow, mama,” she said, kissing my cheek and running off to find her own boyfriend.

Before I knew it, I was at Johnathan’s house getting beat on again.

“You’re nothing but a whore,” he growled before delivering another kick to my ribs.

I whimpered as I heard a crack and rested my head on the ground, resisting the urge to spit my blood on the ground, knowing I’d get even worse than I was receiving now.

“You got blood on my floor!” he yelled, pointing to his white carpet.

I followed his finger to see a little dot of blood on the ground and couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

I immediately regretted it when I was pulled up by my hair and punched in my face, making the blood I was trying so hard to hold in spill out of my mouth and onto his carpet.

I slowly looked up into his eyes to see a murderous look in them.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” I cried as I began to sob harder than I already was.

His eyes snapped up to mine, and I whimpered, knowing what was going to happen next.

He threw me against his closet door, and I lay there saying a silent prayer.

“I’m done with this shit,” he mumbled before leaving the room.

I crawled toward the door as fast as I could, swallowing the urge to yell out in pain before leaving the room and going to the one room he didn’t have a key to: the panic room.

I crawled in and looked up as I saw him making his way toward me with a knife in his hand.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he asked, continuing to walk toward me.

I pulled my body completely into the room before slamming the door shut behind me, knowing it locked on its own and couldn’t be opened from the outside.

The door immediately locked, and I pushed myself into the corner the farthest away from the door.

I slowly reached into my bra and pulled my phone out, being wary of my wrist that may have been sprained.

“Alex, come get me, please,” I begged as soon as he answered the phone. Johnathan kept banging on the door trying to get me to open it, but I didn’t move.

“What’s going on? Who is that banging? Where are you? I thought you were going to Johnathan’s house?” Alex asked, firing question after question.

I could hear him shuffling, which meant he was coming.

“I am at Johnathan’s house. I’ll explain everything when you get here, just please hurry,” I begged, releasing a heart-wrenching sob.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING TO? I SWEAR I’M GOING TO KILL YOU! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!” Johnathan yelled from the other side of the door.

I heard my house door close and knew Alex was on his way.

“I have to call you back, Luna. I need to call the police,” Alex said as he started the car.

“No, no, please, no police. Just come get me, please,” I sobbed, holding the phone closer to my ear.

“I need to, Luna—he’s threatening your life,” Alex said, straining to keep himself from screaming.

I could hear cars honking in the background and I knew he was driving well over the speed limit.

“I just made him mad—it’s my fault. Just please stay on the phone with me and come get me,” I pleaded.

“I’m outside,” Alex said before softly closing the car door.

“He has a knife,” I whispered.

“What the fuck was he going to do with the knife?” Alex growled, obviously trying to keep his temper in check.

“Alex, stop,” I said.

“Stop walking?” Alex asked, confused.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“He’s not banging anymore,” I whispered, moving closer to the door.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Alex asked before I heard more shuffling and knew he was walking again. I looked around the room and scolded myself when I noticed a camera system.

I crawled to the chair before pulling myself into it and turning it on.

“It’s password protected,” I mumbled, trying to guess the password.

“What is?” Alex asked in confusion.

“The camera system,” I said absentmindedly.

“Try, Luna,” Alex joked.

I giggled the best I could without wincing. I slowly brought my hand up to the keyboard again and typed it in.

I began to sob softly as the screen said “welcome” and I started to see everything.

“It worked,” I cried.

“What?” Alex asked, just as shocked as I was. I watched the system, hoping to find Johnathan.

“How did you get inside the house?” I asked Alex, seeing he was grabbing a small knife from the kitchen.

“The door was unlocked,” Alex said, leaving the kitchen to look around.

“Alex, get out—get out!” I cried, trying desperately to save my brother’s life.

“Why, Luna? What’s going on?” Alex asked.

“He’s never left the door unlocked in his life—it’s a trap,” I cried.

As soon as I finished talking, Alex was tackled to the ground by Johnathan. I watched as they began to fight, Alex thankfully getting more hits in, until suddenly, neither of them were moving.

I stared at the screen confused and soon began to hear sirens. Johnathan picked his head up and looked directly at the camera before smirking evilly.

My breath hitched in my throat, and he got up, showing me Alex’s body lying on the ground with a knife in his chest.

I screamed and got up out of the chair before running toward the door and opening it.

I ran down the stairs the best I could with my aching body protesting every movement I made, and into the room I had seen Alex and Johnathan fighting in.

“Alex,” I cried, running to his body and making sure not to move the knife. I felt a hand yank my hair and I quickly grabbed the small knife I watched Alex pick up earlier before hiding it.

My back was pressed against Johnathan’s chest as he squeezed my hair in his hands.

“You see what you made me do?” Johnathan growled, forcing me to look at my brother.

Johnathan’s hand went around my neck and he began to squeeze. I didn’t fight him as I looked at my brother’s body, knowing he was right and this was all my fault.

Alex groaned and turned his head toward me, going wide-eyed as he took in the scene before him.

“Luna,” he croaked.

I looked over at my brother’s face and couldn’t help the tears that began to run down my cheek.

“IT’S THE POLICE, OPEN UP,” I heard before there was banging on the door.

Johnathan tensed and loosened his grip around my neck.

I took a deep breath, forcing air into my burning lungs, before bringing the hand with the knife up and cutting the hand Johnathan had around my neck.

He fully released me and I turned around before stabbing him, feeling my adrenaline kicking up.

Johnathan took a step back before falling to his knees, giving me a chance to quickly open the door for the police to enter.

The officers took one look at me before running deeper into the house.

By the shocked looks on their faces, I knew this wasn’t what they were expecting, making me wonder why they were here to begin with.

I ran toward where I left Johnathan and Alex, knowing the officers were following me.

“Alex,” I cried, running to him again. I gently put my head on his chest as I sobbed.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off the best I could without hurting myself since my adrenaline rush had worn off.

I was gently pulled off him and I started to thrash around in the person’s arms, ignoring my aching body.

“LET GO OF ME. I HAVE TO GO TO HIM. LET GO,” I yelled, trying to get to Alex, but my screams were met with silence.

I was put into an ambulance and injected with anesthetic immediately, putting me to sleep.

“Luna?” I heard a voice ask softly. I turned my head toward where the sound was coming from and slowly opened my eyes to see my mother and father staring at me worriedly.

“Mom?” I croaked in confusion.

“Oh, baby,” my mother cried before wrapping her arms around me and sobbing into my shoulder.

I let her cry as I started to take in the hospital room filled with all my favorite flowers.

“Why am I in a hospital?” I asked.

“You don’t remember anything?” my father asked, staring at me curiously.

I closed my eyes as I tried to remember the last thing I did to make me end up in the hospital but shook my head as I came up blank.

“You were at Johnathan’s house and Alex was there too,” my mother started softly.

“Alex,” I sobbed as everything started to come back to me.

“He’s in a coma, baby. The doctors aren’t sure when he’ll wake up or if he’ll wake up at all. They have him on life support,” my mother said softly.

And that was the last thing I heard before I succumbed to the darkness.