Discovery

Did you ever get that feeling where you felt like you know somebody, yet you can't put a finger on it? Well, that's my situation…except it has something to do with the situation I was just in. I couldn't explain it. It was like being in the dream world, but I had all of my five senses. It felt so real, yet it couldn't have been. Surreal, that was the word to describe what had happened. As I opened my eyes, I took in the reality around me.

I was lying in hospital bed much to my surprise. I thought was in the taxi with Nathan. Shouldn't I have been? Wasn't I supposed to be in school? How did I end up here in the first place? I lifted my head to get a better look, but stopped when a strike of pain went through my head.

"Whoa, slow down there."

My eyes looked up to see Nathan giving me a serious look. Great, here I am on my death bed and the last person I want to see is here.

"Where am I?" Wow that was a stupid question.

"You're at the hospital."

For some strange reason it was difficult to talk with the pain in my head, but I managed. "Why?"

"Don't you remember? Peter jumped off the building and you climbed up the fire escape to catch him, but you ended up falling and hitting your head."

"I don't remember that."

"You probably don't remember a lot. You had a concussion."

That explains the headaches. "But why did Peter try to jump?"

Nathan paused before continuing. "He tried to commit suicide."

I may have had some memory loss, but that didn't sound right. Peter committing suicide? When did that ever happen? I knew Peter could feel lousy sometimes, but I never knew he would come to that conclusion.

"What was the last thing you remember?" he asked me.

"I was in the taxi with you and we were talking. Then you get a call from Peter…"

I tried to remember anything past that, but it all turned out to be black. I must've really hit my head hard.

"How long have I been out?"

"Almost the whole day. That must've been some concussion."

I clenched my forehead. "Ah! My head hurts!"

"The doctors said that you'll have migraines for about a few weeks or so. It was a miracle you survived. I thought you were a goner there for a second."

Why did he sound so sympathetic? Last I checked he could care less about me.

"What about Peter?" I asked.

"He's fine. He woke up a few hours ago."

"Is he still here?"

"Yeah, he'll be here for the whole day. You on the other hand have to stay here for about a few days or until the doctors think that you can handle the migraines on your own."

"Story of my life," I muttered to myself, but I was pretty sure Nathan heard me too.

"Oh, I see you're finally awake."

My eyes moved to the doorway to find Angela staring down at me. I didn't know whether or not it was concern though. If you've lived with the woman long enough, you'll realize that you can never read her face.

"I thought you weren't going to wake up until tomorrow."

See, there I couldn't even tell what she meant by the tone in her voice. So it was still a mystery whether she was concerned for my wellbeing or not.

"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" I grumbled.

"Well, yes. From what Nathan told me you hit your head pretty hard falling down that fire escape."

"I-I still don't remember climbing up anything."

Angela came up to me. "Don't worry. It's normal to have a concussion and memory loss at the same time."

"You said I fell down a fire escape, but were there any other injuries besides the concussion?"

"A few bruises here and there, but everything else is fine," Nathan answered.

"You should get some rest," said Angela. "All this talking is making your head even worse."

"But I feel okay," I mumbled.

"Rest will make you feel even better. Now c'mon Nathan, we need to get home if you want to make on time for dinner."

Angela exited out of the room before Nathan did.

"Goodnight, Danni," was the last thing he said to me before he left.

Despite the time, I couldn't find myself to go back to sleep again. For the most part it was because of the headaches, but for the second part it was mostly because I was trying to remember what had happened before I hit my head. I didn't know why, but Nathan's explanation didn't seem to satisfy me. It seemed as if he was trying to cover something more than explaining to me what had happened. Before I even knew it, I fell right to sleep.

Once again, I was awakened by the blinding light that came into my room. I looked around the room realizing that I was to be there for the next few days. Welcome boredom.

"Miss Petrelli," a nurse came in through the door carrying in my breakfast. "Some one's here to see you. He said his name was Cole Bowman. Do you know him?"

My eyes brightened at the mention of his name. "Oh yeah, send him in."

The nurse put my breakfast on the tray she folded out in front of me and left the room. It wasn't a moment after she left that Cole came rushing in.

"Oh good, you're still alive," he gave a relieved sigh.

"What? You thought I was the one who committed suicide?"

"No, but I had feeling since you made that comment about dying and people not noticing until weeks later and yeah."

"I wasn't being serious. I was being hypothetical."

"So, how are feeling now?"

"The headaches hurt like a bitch, but other than that I'm alright."

"That's good."

I took my first bite into the bagel that sat on my plate. "You know you can sit down if you want to."

"No, it's alright. I need get to school soon. Anyway, I came here to give you your school work that you missed yesterday."

Cole quickly searched his backpack and took out a short pile of papers.

"Oh and Mr. Jenkins said he'd extend the due date for that history paper for you until you returned to school."

I placed the papers he handed to me on my lap. "Thanks Cole, you're a lifesaver."

"No problem, but how did you get your concussion in the first place?"

"I don't remember, but Nathan told me that Peter jumped off a building, I went up to catch him, but I fell down in the process."

"What was Peter doing on a building?"

"He tried to commit suicide," the words poisoned my tongue as I said them.

"I'm sorry. Is he okay now?"

"Yeah, he should be home by now."

"So how long are in this place?"

"For few days or until the doctors think that I can handle the headaches."

"I see. Look, I hate to barge out like this, but I gotta get back to school. Plus my mom's waiting out in the car."

"You have your license, but you're still driving around with your mom?"

"I'm working on getting a car, relax," he stuttered.

I laughed. "I'm just kidding. I don't have a car yet, either."

"You really need to work on whether or not you're being sarcastic. I've hung out with you for years and I still haven't figured it out."

"But that's the funniest part."

"Before we get into another conversation, I need to go. I'll come after school to help you with your homework, if you like."

"I would actually. Thanks," I smiled.

He smiled brightly at me. "Great. I'll see you at three then."

I looked back at the clock. Six thirty. I'm gonna be here for a while.

For most of the day, I actually did my homework. I know shocker. Well, since you don't know me that well yet, it doesn't come as bit of a shock as it would to someone like Cole. Usually, I procrastinate until the last minute about homework and such. But if I was in a special case like this, I would get it done right away in fear of work piling up more than it usually did. The other reason I was busy at work was because of the lack of visitors that I expected to receive. As much as the Petrellis "cared" for me, they had better things to do than check on me. I'll bet that the only reason Angela came to visit me was because Peter begged her to check up on me. He was always her favorite. If there was one thing you needed to know about the Petrellis' parenting style, it was that they always picked favorites. As I mentioned before Peter was Angela's favorite and Nathan was my foster father, Arthur's favorite. Where exactly does that leave me? Well right to a land called, Nonexistentville. It puzzles me to this day on how social services put me in the hands of people who already thought that they had enough children.

A knock came from the door. Funny, I thought the door was open.

I looked over to find Peter standing in the doorway. "Hey, Danni. Can I come in?"

"Sure, I can spare a few minutes from Algebra."

Peter grabbed a chair and brought it next to my bed before sitting down.

"So how's the concussion?" he asked.

"Okay, but the headaches really aren't making it easier for me to do my homework."

"I can imagine."

That's what I couldn't understand. Why would Peter try to commit suicide? He seemed happy enough. He had a good job, a place to live and a family that clearly loves him. What would drive him to that conclusion?

I smiled weakly at him. "So how are you?"

"I'm all right, but I've been worried about you."

"I just got a concussion from being clumsy."

He looked at me as if I were crazy. "What are you talking about?"

"I climbed up the fire escape to save you, but I fell."

"You didn't climb up anything. Do you even remember what happened?"

"Not really. Nathan told what happened. Peter, why would you even try to take yourself away from this world?"

"Nathan told you that story, didn't he?" his lips tightened. "Do you remember anything at all from the incident?"

"Not past from being in the cab with Nathan. Why? Is there something wrong?"

"Yes. Nathan lied to you. That's not what happened."

I expected as much from Nathan. "Then what really happened?"

"When I jumped from the roof, I was trying to fly like I did in my dream. I didn't, but Nathan flew up to catch me. Unfortunately I was too heavy and he ended up dropping me. Then you jumped up and caught me. You must've jumped like eighteen stories or something. But when you finally became aware of what you had done, you lost focus and ended up falling to the ground with me. Nathan came down to help, but by the time he did you hit your head against the rail of the fire escape and I was out by the time we hit the ground."

I looked at him like a madman. "I liked Nathan's story better."

I wasn't lying when I said that. It seemed more logical for me to slip and fall than to jump up eighteen stories and fall.

"I'm not making this up," Peter defended.

"Your dream did get to you. Now you're making up stories about what you really did."

"I did fly, Danni. And so did you for a few seconds."

"I can't fly. Trust me, I was in that day and age when I tried to imitate Peter Pan and I did not fly one inch off the ground."

"But you did yesterday! I can't believe you're taking Nathan's side on this."

"I'm not taking anyone's side on this, but my own. Aside from yesterday, have you even flown anywhere?"

"I did. Last night. I was arguing with Nathan and I ended up flying up a few feet."

"Are you sure that wasn't in your dreams?"

"I'm positive. Look, what you did was incredible. I just wished you could've remembered it."

"What would've been the point, Peter? Say if I could fly what would I do with it? So far it's only causing me trouble."

"Once you get out of this hospital, I'm gonna prove it to you. Both you, me, and Nathan can fly."

I didn't say anything to him at that point. There was no way the conversation could continue without an opposing side showing up. I loved Peter, but I worried about the fantasy he was trying to live. I knew from experience that if you live in your fantasy long enough, the more likely chance you had of getting hurt in the end.

Peter sighed. "Before yesterday, was there anything different that happened to you? Something that you would've thought to be impossible."

I thought back to that time when I was with Cole. Something strange did happen, but I didn't feel that it was relevant to what we were talking about.

I shook my head. "No, nothing happened."

"I'll prove it to you, Dan. Once I've got the flying thing down, I'll show you and prove to you that you flew."

"Not to be rude or anything, but I have to get back to Algebra. It's a pain in the butt, but at least it's not as painful as my headaches right now."

"I'll convince the doctors to let you out by tomorrow, but until then just hang on. I'll see you soon."

"See you."

I continued with my math homework in attempt to forget the conversation that we just had. Unfortunately, I finished my homework within the ten minutes Peter had gone. I really didn't like arguing with Peter, but he needed to know the truth on what he was attempting to believe. I didn't fly. I couldn't fly. I would never fly. I'm Danielle Petrelli—not Supergirl. I needed to stay on the ground where reality was or else my life would be thrown out of balance. You see, I already had most of my life planned out. Graduate high school, go to college, get married and have kids. That's it. This fantasy of flying could ruin that cycle. I really didn't have time to go to a mental facility.

As promised, Cole came later that day to help me with the homework. It really wasn't that difficult, but I didn't want to be alone with my thoughts about my conversation with Peter.

"And we are done," Cole finally said.

"Thank God. I'm so tired at looking at words. I had to do that all day."

"You didn't take a break in between?"

"I sorta did when Peter came to visit."

His eyes lightened up. "Peter? How's he doing?"

"Okay…in a sense. He's claiming that he didn't commit suicide."

"Then what is he saying that he did?"

"He saying—and don't laugh—that he was trying to fly. And the crazier part is that he's claiming that Nathan and I flew too. I have a feeling he hit his head. What do you think?"

Cole was completely silent.

I looked at him incredulously. "You're not actually thinking about this, are you?"

"I'm just thinking about that incident that we had after the eclipse. We floated over the ground for a good few seconds."

"I thought we weren't gonna talk about that anymore."

"It looks like we have to. There is a similar tie to what's happened in the past couple days."

"There is no tie, Cole. I did not fly. Peter and Nathan didn't fly. No one flew. ¿Comprende?"

"I'm about to show you something, but you need to promise me that you'll keep an open mind about it."

"I make no promises, but I'll make an attempt to."

Sighing, Cole pulled out a comic book. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I took it from him. It was another issue of 9th Wonders with a girl flying above New York City and the title, Air Maiden. I looked inside and saw the girl staring out into space in class, but her teacher had caught her and…wait. Haven't I seen this before? Or better yet, have I lived it?

"I'm sorry. The headaches are making it very hard to understand. What exactly are you showing me here?" I inquired from him.

"Don't you get it? The Air Maiden is you. I found it this morning when I passed a stand. She looks like you and she has the same name as you."

"That's just a coincidence, Cole."

"Really?" He took the comic book from me and pointed to a page where the girl and a blond boy were floating just two feet from the ground. "Because I'm finding that hard to believe as I am continuing to read this issue."

"Okay, so my life story is in a comic book. How does that prove Peter's theory right?"

"I don't know, but you're in this comic and it's telling you that you have powers."

"All right. Who's the author of those things again? Isaac Mendez, right? Once I get out of this hospital, I'm gonna call him and sue him."

"How? You yourself don't have enough money to even sue a cab driver."

"Oh, I'll find a way. As for you I suggest you drop this. You're gonna end up seeing a shrink if you don't keep your mouth closed."

"I won't have to. I know what happened that day and it wasn't luck."

I moaned. "Fine, if you want to see if the comic book world exists be my guest. Don't drag me into this though. My life is already complicated enough without it."

"All right, if you want to be kept in the dark about this for the rest of your life then fine. I'll drop it, but you can't ask me to forget what happened."

"I'll be able to cope with that. Thank you, again."

"Sure, whatever. I'll come over same time tomorrow to help you with homework. In the meantime," he handed me the comic book, "keep this. Comic books aren't as geeky as you think."

"No, but drama is."

"I can't argue with that, but acting is my thing. Just like dancing is for you."

"It's not just a thing. It's my life, literally."

"Again, I'll see you tomorrow. Try not to let the headaches get to you."

"I'll try. See you later."

And just like that Cole left. I really didn't understand why he and Peter were obsessed with this. They were just chasing fantasies in my opinion. I would just walk away if it was any other situation, but I loved both of them. I couldn't let them drive themselves down to rock bottom. So maybe if I never find out about what actually happened the day Peter fell off the roof, my life will be simple.