Chapter 17

To say that Joe was scared would be an understatement. Joe was terrified. Terrified like he had never been before. He had woken up in a strange brightly white room that hurt his eyes to look at. His head hurt and when he tried to remember what happened it was all blank. He couldn't remember anything and that scared him.

He looked at his body and noticed that he was wearing some sort of hospital gown. Lifting his right hand, he saw the hospital bracelet that confirmed that he was in a hospital. Twisting the bracelet on his wrist around he saw a name, Joe Hardy written on the band. Joe Hardy, that name almost seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't remember.

Joe wondered why it was written on his hospital band. It wasn't his name was it? No, he discarded the idea at once. If it was his name, then he would know that it was his name. He would remember his name. Wouldn't he? Joe's head started to pound fiercely, and the thought was gone from his mind just like that. As the pounding lessened Joe got off the bed and when he moved his left arm he gasped in surprise and pain as a sharp twinge of pain in his arm stopped him cold.

Joe's head whipped around his eyes round with some unknown fear gripping his heart. He let out a big breath when he saw that it was just a needle in his arm giving him fluids. He gently pulled it out wincing as he did. He slid the rest of the way off the bed and realized something. He was short. Noticeably short. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to remember how old he was.

The number 12 surfaced in his mind and seemed to have some significance. So, he guessed that he was 12. Joe looked down and saw how short he was once again and decided that he must be the tiniest 12-year-old ever. He shrugged and peeking out from behind the blueish/ white curtain which surrounded the hospital bed he looked out upon the busy emergency room.

As his eyes followed the various doctors in white coats and the various nurses in their colored scrubs, he got the insatiable urge to escape. Escape from who or what he didn't know but the urge to leave and somehow be free was getting stronger. The urge resurfaced the question of how he got to the hospital and why he was in it back to the front of his mind.

Suddenly Joe felt cold, chills went up and down his spine, and he got the irreversible impression that danger was nearby. His eyes roved the room and rested on a tall man wearing a black trench coat standing just inside the Emergency doors leading into the hospital. His face was long, narrow, and in his right hand he held a cigarette. The mystery man put the cigarette out when an orderly told him that the hospital was a no smoking area.

The man looked around the room and Joe closed the curtain hurriedly when he caught the man staring right at him. He peeked out of the curtain again and the man was staring at him sending another wave of shills down Joe's back. Backing away from the curtain frightened Joe's head started to pound. He put his hands on his head, letting them slide through his hair and down to his neck and that's when he felt it.

There were stiches at the base of his skull and when he pressed on it, he got dizzy really dizzy and for a second he got the sensation that he wasn't alone in his mind. He took his hands off his neck and shook the shook his body as if to make the feeling fall from him. The urge to escape rose inside of him again and this time he ran.

Not once did Joe think about the possibility of having a family and of course he didn't remember having one. Willie might have been broken up, but one piece of Willie could still do a whole lot of damage.

TBC

A/N sorry it took so long. I hope you all enjoyed it 😊 and that everyone had an amazing new year. Me some of my family got sick with sore throats so we didn't really do anything. I stayed up though and was reading an awesome fanfic when midnight rolled around. My sore throat is gone but now my nose is all congested and my Dad is starting to not feel well. So, my family is still sick but hopefully we will be lots better soon.

BY for now everyone! You all re amazing and I LOVE ALL OF YOU!