"You know I," I stopped. My throat was dry. I panicked, scanning the room.I could feel a tugging at my heart. "I love you." It was barely a whisper, and I could feel my body seizing.

There was no air. My mind reeled. I was projecting again, but in the middle of a conversation. I bowed my head down. No. No, no, no, no, NO. My hand was squeezed and I tired weakly to pull it away, the sensation of trickling blood under my skin. But I was imagining it. I was just imagining. My hand felt bruised all over. I just wanted to scream LET GO! My breath was coming out shallow.

No different than ever. So, who thought that I could die at this moment? Like all the other times....the symptoms were the same. The feeling of my blood vessels breaking, my skin inflamed and bruised, the scratch of unknown creatures under my clothes, the shallow breath, the projection.

"Axel?"

I wish death would stop playing with me like this.

"...Axel?"

Loud rings resounded in my ears, the beeping monitor next to my bed going off like a haywire siren. The blood pounded in my ears, a throbbing headache. Another symptom.

"Axel!"

I could feel the tugging at my hand, a hand hitting my face, fingers pulling my hair unbearably. I clenched my teeth. STOP IT, I wanted to scream. I wanted him to let go. To stop touching me.

I opened my eyes.

All I saw was the blue, blue sky. For a long while blinking was not within my capabilities. The sunlight trickled into my body. Peace. Quiet.

I knew.

I knew it was a lie, an illusion.

But I could not blink. I could not close my eyes to this dream.

The feel of his skin was gone. It did not even linger.

All I could feel was the scratch of a dead stem on my cheek. I could not move my limbs.

My eyes slipped shut of their own accord, but the light and noise of the hospital room was gone.