::points and laughs like an immature three year old:: You guys must really really hate cliffhangers. While I am very sorry for putting you all through the pain, I'm sorry to say that I found it very funny. But, fear not! Here is the second chapter! Muah.

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"Oh jesus. I'll be right back. Don't move!"

Marco watched with wide eyes as the redhead jumped up from the mattress and sprinted from the room. Odd. What was going on?

The room now felt uncomfortably quiet, and, noticing this, Marco decided now was perhaps the time to figure out where he was. Blinking under the still too bright lights he swiveled his head around in all directions trying to take in everything at once.

The first thing that came to mind was he was in a hospital. Everything was blindingly white or a light sea green, with two chairs in the corner that looked anything but comfy. A TV, a sink, a door to the right that probably held a bathroom. Typical. But then again...it seemed very "lived in." It didn't seem like a room that one stayed in for a short period of time, and there didn't seem to be any fancy little beeping and whirring machines situated around his bed checking his pulse and breathing. It was like a very sterile bedroom.

The only other thing that really gave it away were the voices outside. Happy, carefree voices floating in through the still open doorway. Marco closed his eyes and smiled softly as the soft, tinkling sound of children's laughter reached his ears. The voices were all young he noted.

He was just about to sit up again to check his head, when Ellie bounded back through the door, a man following behind her. The man was in his mid-forties with sandy hair and kind blue eyes, carrying a clipboard in one hand. His doctor, he supposed.

To Marco's supreme surprise, three other people entered the room after the man. A girl his age he'd never seen before, his grandmother, and weirdly enough....Sean. Oh stop it Marco, he thought. Ellie's dating him, of course there was a chance he'd be here if she was.

Instead of dwell on the presence of Sean he turned his gaze towards the mysterious girl. She was a few inches taller than Ellie and made of a more sturdy build. She had inquisitive blue eyes shining out from beneath her hair, that was dark brown and cut in a short bob, curling under her ears. He guessed she was a bit of a tomboy too, at the sight of the too large hockey jersey that was draped over her shoulders and ended just above her jean covered knees.

"Marco?"

Marco jumped out of his silent inspection of the girl and turned to Ellie. Seeing the worry and concern in her eyes, he felt a bit of cold leak into his stomach at the sight.

"Marco, love, Mr. Vaughn needs to ask you a few questions, and um, you need to answer them truthfully okay?" He felt the cold feeling in his stomach expand a bit at her words. There was that lightly flung about affection she had done earlier. It just wasn't like her. This was beginning to become strange in a frightening way. First Ellie started acting different, then Sean and the unknown girl...and now those worried words. This couldn't be good.

Marco nodded mutely, not trusting his voice too much at this point. The doctor smiled warmly in his direction and dragged up a rolling stool to the side of his bed and took a seat. Marco watched out of the corner of his eye as the others took a seat, Sean and Ellie ending up on the floor, Ellie sitting in front of the other girl and leaning her head on the her knee.

He was still staring at the trio in the left corner when the doctor cleared his throat. "Marco? I need you to tell me exactly what happened before you woke up."

And so it went. Marco sighed heavily and layed back into the fluffy pillows, recounting the hockey game and the blow to the head with a little more detail than he had the first time. The doctor's brow furrowed as his story came to a close and he jotted a note down on his clipboard. Strange.

"Thank you, Marco. That was helpful. Now I'm going to ask you a few more, okay?" Marco nodded the affirmative, wondering for the fifteen millionth time what was going on.

"Tell me about you life, Marco. Everything. Home life, friends, dating, likes, dislikes. Absolutely anything and everything you can think of as it comes to you. Do you think you could do that for me?"

"Y-yes. Um, I-I...I live with my ma and pa about two blocks from Degrassi High. I'm best friends with Ellie." He stopped, flashing a soft grin in the girl's direction, before turning back to the doctor, missing the pained smile he had gotten in return. "Um, I was dating someone at the time...it's not important," he said blushing.

Marco sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm so very confused. What's going on? Why are you asking all these questions?"

Looking in the corner he saw Ellie with silent tears falling down her face and the taller girl behind her, whispering into her ear. Ellie was crying again. Unease was coursing through his veins like mercury. From the intense expression on Sean's face he could only guess that the situation wasn't going to look any better.

"Marco..." the doctor started, touching his shoulder to get his attention. "You....well, four monthes ago you were in an accident. A gay bashing from what Ellie has told me. There were five men. Does this sound familiar to you at all?"

Again he nodded.

"Good. But, now I must ask you to retell your memory of the event." Odd, Marco mused. Toto? I don't think we're in Kansas any longer. Looking over at the doctor again he felt the urge to laugh at the whole situation, but just stopped himself.

I don't think we're even on the same planet.

"Well, I was going to Dylan's hockey game..." a muffled sob came from the corner and Marco snapped his head in that direction, seeing Ellie's face buried in the other girl's knees and shoulders shaking at his words. Unnerved greatly, he shook his head and turned back around.

"I had gotten off at the wrong stop. I was in a gay village...and it was dark. All I really remember was entering a grassy area and having all these men show up and start beating me, calling me a fag.....I'm sorry. What does this have to do with anything!" he yelled, voice raising.

The doctor gazed at him with those warm blue eyes for several moments before finally speaking in a concerned whisper. "It has everything to do with this. Because you see, the night you were beaten....was the night you first came here."

What? "No I didn't. A police officer cleaned me up and Jimmy came and made sure I got home safely."

"No Marco. This is where you have to listen and try to understand. There was a night where you were beaten by a bunch of men for your orientation. BUT, on this night you were flung around and at one point your head was bashed into a tree. The blow was taken violently to your frontal lobe and that night you were immediately taken to a hospital."

No. What was this man saying? This was wrong. He had gone home with Jimmy that night. How dare this man say something that was so against everything he knew! Something went against what he had seen with his very eyes, and been a part of no less. But the doctor continued.

"After two days at the hospital it was apparent you were not going to wake anytime soon. You had fallen into a coma and you were moved here, because the chances that you hadn't recieved brain damage were slim to none."

"Wait." Marco pleaded. What? "What are you saying?! Where am I?! Ellie, tell him he's wrong!" The crying girl looked at him sadly, but didn't say a word. "Ellie, you have to....you have to tell him he's wrong! Tell him none of that ever happened!!!"

Ellie only let out a loud sob and buried her head back in the knee where it had been earlier. Ellie....

Ellie believed him! She thought he was right! That Marco was insane and was making it all up!

"Marco! Calm down before you hyperventilate. Just talk to us. We want to help you."

With tears now burning in his eyes, he turned back to the doctor, scared out his mind. "Are you....are you telling me I've been asleep for four monthes? That my whole life....everything I've been through.....I made it all up?"

"Basically, yes. The fact that you can obviously pick out certain people, Ellie for example, shows that you remembered very small details from reality. A type of selective amnesia due to head trauma. In most cases, the patient will slowly gain past memories as time goes on, perhaps even one day remembering everything."

"Oh God, this is an absolute nightmare." he moaned into his hands.

The doctor smiled down at the dark boy and patted him on the shoulder. "More like you've finally woken up from the nightmare. I know this is hard for you. You've been seemingly living your life for years....only to wake up and find that it was all a lie. You've been lying in this bed for four monthes with these wonderful people," he paused, grinning up at the group in the corner. "Whom love you very much, watching over you. Try to focus on that more than the panic. It will get easier with time. I promise."

Clearing his throat the nice man stood up, and jotted a last note on his clipboard before smiling and slipping the pen into his pocket. "I'll leave you all to catch up now. Marco, I think, if you don't black out on us, it would be safe for you to go home tomorrow evening. Not many cases have a relapse so you should be relatively safe from this point out. Now all there is left to do is adjust and live your new life. I'll see you later tonight to talk some more. I'm afraid the questions aren't over yet. We need to find out just how much ,exactly, that you do know. Bye."

The second the door closed with a soft click, he had an armful of crying teenage girl and a silently weeping Nana running a hand through his hair. "Ciao il mio ragazzo."

"Ciao nana. Come siete?" She only smiled at him and ruffled his hair, eyes shining brighter than before.

"El? Um, I can't breathe." She rushed off of him as if he had burned her. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean- Just, sorry.

"Anyway, I guess this is all a bit much isn't it?"

"You always were one for understating things." At his words, Ellie's face fell a bit. He knew she was probably thinking "how would you know?" but he didn't want to dwell on it. Better to try and stick with what he had, at one time atleast, found normal.

"Well," Marco's grandmother, better known as Nana, stated. "Let's try to catch you up, yes?"

Marco nodded. And so it began.....the first shaky step on the road leading to who knows where. Marco clenched his eyes tightly.

Oh, please let me wake up!

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(I used a translator so they are more than likely wrong. Don't hate me. ::shields self::)

Translations:

Ciao il mio ragazzo--hello my boy.

Ciao nana. Come siete?--Hello, nana. How are you?

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