Back Inside

A/N: Here's the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy and as always feedback is appreciated.

The sound of footsteps and a monitor beeping caused him to open his eyes. The world around him was spinning. Everything was bright and out of focus as he blinked a few times to adjust to the light. For a split second he thought he was dead and not coming back. Slowly his surroundings started to come into focus and initial brightness dissipated enough for him to not have to cover his eyes to see. Feeling weak, he managed to prop himself into a sitting position before feeling something tug on his right arm. Alex looked to his right and noticed a monitor showing his vitals, at least that's what it looked like if only somewhat distorted. He looked around the room as everything began to settle and he heard someone calling his name but it couldn't pinpoint where until he felt a hand on his shoulder which seemed to bring fully back into reality.

"Alex."

Looking in the direction he thought he could place it, he saw her. It was a nurse. Her brown hair was tucked neatly behind her ears underneath her cap. Her face was heart shaped as she had rather high cheekbones and somewhat big light blue eyes that were easy to get lost in. If anything she looked like an angel. Had to be at least twenty-three maybe twenty-four. If only he was older but that wouldn't stop him from trying. "Yeah?" His voice came out as weak as he felt.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. We thought we'd lost you outside." She checked his I.V. and made sure everything was still properly connected to him.

Alex laid his head back on the pillow "You did, and I honestly didn't plan on coming back but they made me."

"Who's they?" The nurse flashed him a warm smile as she adjusted his pillow and made sure he had proper neck support. Her hands felt soft and cool against his skin as she checked his temperature and glanced at the monitor.

"Demons." Alex joked "But I'm glad they banished me because I woke up back in my body and the first face I see is yours. You have the eyes of an angel you know that?"

She giggled and shook her head "Your real sweet kid but you're too young for me. Try me again in a few years and if I'm still single we'll go from there. I could tell before you opened your eyes you'd be a charmer."

Alex felt his face getting red "Yeah? How so?" He asked her.

"Your father used that same line on me when he took me out to dinner back in the summer."

Hearing that almost killed his mood and any motivation he had to try and flirt with her. However if his dad didn't close the deal, then it's still game on. It was odd hearing his dad be talked about by someone else who isn't his mom. She's usually very nonchalant when talking about him as if she didn't want to tell him her true feelings about his father when he sees her for the holidays. She adjusted his blanket and tucked in spots of the sheets that were loose from him tossing and turning. Alex read her nametag.

"Mary, how come someone as sweet, smart, and beautiful like you agree to go on a date with Jim?"

This question surprised her as she shot him a look "Like I said your father can be very charming, we went out on two dates and I decided I didn't want to be tied down to something serious at the moment."

A smile came across his face "That's good to hear, neither do I."

"Your persistent, that's part of how your dad got me to go out with him." She grabbed the clipboard that was hanging on the foot of his bed "Like I said Alex, in a couple of years look me up and if I'm available we'll see what happens however it looks like you've gotten quite a few people interested in you who care more about you." Mary pointed to a handful of get well cards and a few balloons tied down in place by weights.

"In case you don't know what happened, you had a seizure at a friends house, they drove you here and we revived you. You've been stable since early this morning, today November 9th. We moved you out of ICU at 4:30pm. It's currently 6:33pm."

"Surprised you didn't keep me in ICU longer like on a 24 hour watch."

Mary let out a yawn "We kept close eye on you for 12 hours and at that point made the call to move you out of ICU into the general populous. If by chance you have another seizure we're right here so don't worry Alex your in good hands."

She was sweet and it felt good to be in the care of someone as sweet as her. "Glad to know I'm in good hands, am I allowed to eat? because I'm starving!" Alex exclaimed.

"Sure, want some chocolate pudding? I figured you'd want something sweet since you got banished by the demons." Mary smiled at him.

"I'd like that, but I'm looking at something pretty sweet right now."

She laughed "The boy is back from the dead and has one thing on his mind." She put his chart back in the clear tray outside his room "I'll be right back with your pudding." Mary's laughter trailed off down the hallway.

'Two years tops, I can do two years just to take Mary out.' Alex imagined how that would go. She'd probably be married by then, someone as beautiful and kind like her, in a way she's almost too pure for this world like an embodiment of St. Mary or something. Alex looked over at the nightstand and grabbed all the cards began reading them. Some of them were just very simple with people just signing their name. A few of them were from various people he knew at school. One of them was from Mr. Edwards his English teacher and it was signed by not only him but a handful of the staff members at school. He found that odd considering he's been a Hellraiser since he's gotten here. Still it was nice to see that despite being an asshole, these people cared about him or at least made the effort to sign his get well card even if they're feigning sympathy.

Of course Nancy changed her plans at the last minute. Something came up but Barb couldn't blame her. She was overcome with high school popularity, going to parties, grade A student. Her whole life was almost laid out before her and Barb like the others were just watching from the sidelines. Barb had been so caught up in her thoughts, the sound of her fathers car shutting off snapped her back to reality. If she wasn't worrying about Alex, she was just not here today mentally. If anything her father told her that Alex was out of ICU and stable. Which that was a wave of relief that washed over her but she couldn't help but wonder how exactly he was still in the real world but maybe sleepwalking or having audio and visual hallucinations of the upside down. It could be PTSD.

Her dad opened the glovebox and pulled out a flashlight, he turned it on as the light flickered a few times before he smacked it once and it stayed on. Zipping up his coat all the way he looked at her "Alright, let's go find that tree." The two of them got out of the car and stepped into the cold, dark night. She waited for her dad to come around the car and shine the light so they could see where they were going. A streetlight in the distance illuminated some of the road but not much. Barb carefully stepped down the slight slope and onto the crunchy, leave covered floor of the earth.

"It's freezing tonight." Barb exclaimed as she rubbed her hands together.

Her dad sneezed "Sure is, can't wait to get back home and eat dinner with your mother. Jim isn't going to be able to make it, he said he had an investigation to do. Here." He said, handing her the flashlight "I figured you'd lead the way since you know where the tree is."

Barb held onto the flashlight tightly as they began walking into the woods. The events of last night still fresh in her mind "And if this tree isn't open to the upside down will you still believe me?"

"Sweetheart I wouldn't have come out here if I didn't already believe you. I don't need convincing but this tree will just be verifiable proof to your story, the thing is do we tell people or do you think people already know, and how long do you think this tree has been like this or here?" Her dad's words reassured her and like her, he to had a curious mind and fascination with the what, how, where, and why aspect of many things. He's where she gets her curiosity from.

The sound of crickets and owl hooting somewhere in the night made her a bit more at ease. If she didn't hear that, she'd be a bit on edge as that typically means something is wrong or dangerous if the crickets aren't making noise. The two of them trekked deeper into the woods. In the distance to the right, they could see the faint glow of the Harrington's house, the pool was lit up and casting a ghoulish blue glow as fog seemed to start setting in.

A branch snapping in the dark somewhere caused her to jump. Her dad put his hand on her shoulder "Honey it's okay it's probably just a squirrel or a raccoon or something."

"I know your probably right but, dad please tell me you have a gun or something." She didn't want to go further into the woods with nothing to defend themselves.

"I have a flare gun which in the dark will look convincing enough. I kept it from my time when I was a park ranger. It's in my jacket pocket, don't worry sweetie I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." David tried his best to reassure her daughter that they'd be fine but if he was being honest he was a slight bit on edge himself.

He kept his hand on it just in case. Barb led him deeper into the woods and slowly the moonlight seemed to dance of the lake and illuminate part of the woods as the fog started roll out almost as soon as it rolled in. "So how tall did you say this creature was again?" David asked, trying to get a idea on if he could fend off this creature should they happen to come across it.

"Between 6 and 7 feet tall." Barb replied, knowing he'd have more questions about it she continued. "It looks human enough except for it's skin and head, like Alex said it kind of looks like a Venus fly trap plant if you cut it vertically and split it into 4 sides.

"You said fire hurts it?"

Barb stepped over a large fallen down tree limb "From what I've seen yes, I think if someone were to keep it constantly on fire it'd probably die."

She shined the light along some of the trees and recognized one that kind of looked forked. They were getting close to it now. "We're getting close." Barb announced as she began surveying the trees with the flashlight. She found it funny how last night she could point it out with pinpoint accuracy but now it's as if she knows the general area but not the exact coordinates of it's location, 'Alex could lead them right to it with no flashlight.' She thought, and she'd probably be right considering he most likely walks these very woods when getting home.

David began looking at the trees as well trying to see if there is any indication or marking to figure it out. With one hand still on the flare gun. He surveyed the area in which Barb shined the light on. He couldn't see anything. They both walked a few more feet when Barb stopped in front of him and pointed the light at something. She aimed it at the ground in front of her, she could still somewhat see hand and shoe imprints on the ground.

"Dad I think this is it right here." Barb said, slowly aiming the flashlight up from the ground towards the tree. David had to admit he was a bit nervous about the outcome, either way he believed his daughter but if this tree was true about having an opening then that would really throw his world upside down as he was a what you see is what you get kind of guy. As the light hit the tree and lit part of it up, neither one of them realized they were both holding their breath until they gasped for air as the light lit up the tree revealing nothing out of the normal.

"Nothing." David exclaimed. Part of him was relieved that it was nothing out of the normal. He could tell Barb was a bit upset about the hole not being there but it didn't sway his opinion.

"Honey I still believe you. Maybe it's only around a certain time that it opens and maybe the only reason that creature was able to grab you was because the veil between our world and the upside down was thin enough to do so. You know these lands used to be filled with Native Americans and they believed that there are some spots on earth where the veil between our world and the spiritual one is thin like a piece of paper. Now I don't know about all that but I do believe there is truth in everything, it's up to you to decide how much there is. Don't be discouraged sweetheart, I guess we should be glad we didn't stumble upon it when it's open, only god knows what would crawl out of it." He put his hand on his daughters shoulder "Come on sweetheart let's go home where it's warm and eat supper."

Just as they turned away to start walking back, she heard that familiar sound again and quickly turned around and shined the light at the tree. "DAD LOOK!" Barb shouted. Her dad almost didn't want to turn around but did so anyway. As he did he saw part of the wood splitting, going in opposite directions at a 45 degree angle. In short, he was almost speechless.

"What in gods name is going on here." David asked as he slowly walked closer to get a better look.

Barb followed behind him "I told you! But Dad now that you've seen it, I think it might be best if we leave. I don't want anything coming out of there." She grabbed hold of her dads arm.

"No, no you right Barb. Your mother and I almost lost you once had it not been for Jim's son." He looked at her "I don't want to risk losing you, you are the most important thing in the world to me besides your mother. I believed you before but this only confirms my belief. Now let's go home and get some supper before your mother yells at us. Boy do we have a whopper to tell her!" David said as the two of them began quickly making their way out of the woods and back to the safety of his car, his hand still resting on the flare gun. "I'll inform Jim tomorrow morning on my way to work I'll stop by the station."

"Thanks for believing in me dad."

At hearing this a smile formed on his face "That's what dads are for, to love, raise, protect, and believe in their kids."

A/N: Hope you guys enjoy, as always feedback is appreciated.