An intense pain pulsed through my body, stemming from my left side and head and radiating through my motionless limbs.
Slowly, I opened my eyes; they took a moment to adjust to the bright, white of the ceiling. I was in a hospital, the room itself was quite shabby, the white paint was in places peeling off the walls and had some mysterious grey stains splattered across it in some places.
I looked to my left and noticed that I was hooked up to a heart monitor, I stared at it almost hypnotised by the rising and falling of the green line and the systematic beeping that accompanied it.
Unexpectedly, the door opened, making me jump, the sudden movement shot pain through my aching limbs and I groaned, dropping back onto the bed
My parents appeared through the door, mum in tears. She ran up the dodgy bed and hugged me, the bed creaked and I winced at the movement.
My father grabbed a wooden chair and placed it beside the bed, taking a seat.
"Hey son, how are you feeling?" asked my father, his brow creased with concern.
"I'm in so much pain, what happened?" My croaky voice replied swiftly, I cleared my throat whilst my mother still sobbed on me, fussing about with the bed sheets.
"You were shot whilst coming home from the shops after you brought a gameboy; I've got it in my pocket." Dad answered back fishing around in his pockets for the gameboy.
I felt my eyes widen in shock. 'Who would want to shoot me?' I thought to myself.
My mother slowly straightened up, wiped her face and smiled.
"Would you like a drink of water honey?" she said sniffing, clearly trying to change the subject.
"Sure thing," I responded slowly, "my mouth is a bit dry." I could feel my tongue stick a little to the inside of my mouth.
She nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
My father placed the gameboy on the desk beside my bed before looking at me and smiling gently.
"You're a lucky kid. You know that right?" he queried, "Most people would have died from a bullet."
I have him a shaken half smile, before looking up and down my body searching for a bullet wound. There it was, on my left side, a big white bandage with a small red spot of blood on it. I stared at the bandage for a moment before moaning and resting my head against the pillows and closing my eyes, sudden exhaustion getting the better of me.
I woke up after what seemed like many hours, I looked to the window, it was nightfall. I turned towards the desk to see my gameboy still sitting there next to a plastic bag, I sat up on the bed and reached over and grabbed the bag, and it was slightly heavy.
I placed it in front of me and peered inside; I smiled and pulled out the object. It was a shiny, golden lamp, the kind you'd expect a genie to pop out of.
On it was a note,
'To my loving son, I hope you recover quickly and I hope can come home soon. You're a very lucky boy to be alive and I am so very grateful, I hope you like this little present, I got from that new shop that just opened up, "Pixies Promise."
The guy behind the counter said if you truly want something, it'll come true, but I think he was playing around. Enjoy!
I love you, Mum.'
I smiled and placed the lamp in my lap with the note still attached to it.
'Thanks Mum.' I thought to myself. I paused for a moment, before I grabbed the gameboy from the old wooden desk, trying to distract myself from the fear I felt at being alone, at night, in a strange place with some psycho on the loose with a gun.
I flicked it on, 'Pokémon' popped up on the screen.
"I wasn't playing Pokémon when I brought this," I mused aloud, "maybe it's dads, man it's been ages since I played Pokémon, this is pretty nostalgic," I reflected, laughing nervously as my eyes glanced quickly around the room.
I pressed the A button and the game showed me how long my dad has been playing for, how many Pokémon he caught and so on, apparently he caught sixty Pokémon.
As I read I felt my eyelids begin to droop, I turned off the gameboy and placed it on the desk. I grabbed the lamp from my lap and looked at it for a moment "I wish Pokémon was real." I said to it, smiling wryly, imagining how great that would be.
I laid back down into the bed, pulled the covers up around my neck, and was immediately overcome by sleep.