Chapter One
He couldn't feel anything, everything was in darkness. That was all he could remember. There was no light coming in from any direction to light up the world around him to tell him where he was or what had happened.
At first he thought it was night time but that didn't make sense in his mind at all. For one he could feel a warmth on his face like his skin was in connect with the sun it could only mean that it was daylight. With this small fact he had the strange feeling that he was at home and had overslept again. If that was true Ms Goodwin was going to kill him, it was not that he didn't wake up in time but that he often woke early and would normally lay in bed thinking sometimes for hours. However he knew that if it wasn't for his little brother he would sleep in more often.
Sadly living with his brother also had its bad points; Jay somehow could make enough noise to wake the dead. For being a former ranger Jay was not a morning person. And if there wasn't any coffee ready, he heard about it.
But then that idea didn't make sense; he could remember leaving for work and then the same in getting into work. Also he couldn't feel his face on his soft pillow or his sheets hanging off his waist. The other thing that made him fully believe that he wasn't at home in bed was the pressure against his ribs. It felt hard. His bed wasn't the best nor the softest but nothing like this. When he had told Jay that he was staying in Chicago; Jay had quickly set up ordering a new bed for the spare room as it wasn't really set for people to live in.
But he enjoyed living with his younger brother. The main reason why he still lived with Jay was that him and his father still didn't get on enough for him to live with him and to be truthful to himself he wasn't ready to look for a place of his own just yet. Mainly because he had no idea how long he was going to stay in Chicago.
Jay had called it in the past 'running away', however emotions and the Halstead men never went well. He had learnt over the years that showing his feelings never worked, not with his family. His father always called him the weak one of the family, and that didn't help at all. Because he knew that it was true, he was weak.
He was the odd one out in the family, his brother and father had both served in the military and were both Rangers. And so did most of the male members of his family past and present. And been the oldest he knew that his father wanted him to follow him in his footsteps. When he had turned eighteen; his father had pointed out that it was time for him to serve his country and join the family tradition but that wasn't for him.
At the age of ten, their mother had been given the news that she had cancer. It was seeing his mother laying in the hospital bed that made him want to become a doctor. His mother loved the idea. However even with his mother's blessing his father worked hard in getting him to sign up every chance he got. And when he was accepted into college to study medicine, his mother was proud of him for following his heart. But with his father he was meet with his coldness and the military was brought up every time he stepped though the door.
Soon his mind went back to working out what he was laying on. The ground underneath him was rough and cold. He was laying on it made no sense to him, why was he on the ground?
He had been knocked out in the past but at the moment he couldn't feel a headache which he often had when he woke up on the ground. In school, he was often attacked and bullied. He was one of the few in the school with such a high IQ. And along with his love of knowledge he was often the target. He often found himself more settled in the library or in the classroom then outside as there he was safe. He did play sports with his brother but his heart wasn't alway up for it.
On the other hand, Jay was so different to him. He was very much like their father. Jay was a fighter. But unlike his father, his brother cared about him. When he had found out that people were attacking his brother he started to watch him like a hawk and often stepped in to help his older brother.
He had been taught self-defence by his father however he hated using it. He only used it when he knew that the fight had gotten out of hand and was going to end with him in hospital. He never wanted to hurt anyone. It wasn't in his nature. However that didn't mean he didn't have a hot headed irish temper but that didn't often come out.
Often when he was left alone with his mother, she told him that he was born with a pure heart and was too kind. He was very much like her. His fiery hair, his love for knowledge and his kind heart all come from her. It was another reason why he didn't get on with his father. Unlike Jay, he was a reminder of his loss. And as he had followed his mother's wishes and his own dreams, he and his father butted heads. It had been one of these arguments that had cost Jay his relationship with their father once and for all.
Soon the world around him started to become brighter; sadly at the same time he felt his chest scream in pain as if he was been scorched by fire. Then pain came all at once, like his nerves had been turned off and they had only just been switched back on. The burn started in the center of his chest all the way down to his stomach.
He hadn't felt anything like this before, he knew in that moment that he hadn't been beating up. He knew what that felt like, and as another wave of pain exploded in his body he felt the need to scream as loud as he could. But couldn't. Tears filled his eyes he opened them to see the world around him.
The light nearly caused his head to explode with pain. He quickly closed them trying to stop his head from throwing him back into darkness. He knew he needed help, and as he could hear the sound of cars and the sound of city life he knew that he had a chance. He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs for help but as he tried to take in enough air into his lungs to shout, he couldn't find it.
Something was seriously wrong, he could barely push enough air into his lungs to breath or move. Along with his lungs not working right, he could taste iron in his mouth like it was filling with blood.
Now the worry had started to take over him, he was in trouble and couldn't call anyone to help him.
His whole day was now so mixed up in his own head he couldn't work out what he had done or where he was. But one thing that he knew was true was that he felt upset, like he had done something that now he wished he hadn't or something had happened which he could not stop.
He couldn't work out where he was and why no one had found him yet? He knew that he was still at or around the hospital as he could feel his badge in his pocket and normally it ended up in his bag before he got to his car. Also he could feel his scrub label on his neck.
He hated wearing his scrubs outside of work, normally when he got home, his scrubs felt like a thousand pounds more heavy than they were when he put them on. He had once described it to Jay a long time ago, that it was as if his scrubs were being held down by the people he couldn't save; for that he wanted them off as soon as he could.
He also knew that if he tried to get changed in the hospital he knew that it was more likely for him to fall asleep in his car in the car park of the hospital. And that was not a comfortable place to sleep.
He opened his eyes once again but this time he was ready for the pain that he knew was there ready to crack open his skull. But this time, the pain in his skull was joined by another scorching pain erupted in his chest.
Been able to see where he was showed him that he was at the side of the hospital, in a little courtyard. But now all he wanted was to be back in the darkness of no pain. The tears from his eyes were flowing freely down his cheeks.
He moved his hand down to the location of the pain to see why it felt like his body was in fire and quickly he felt a warm liquid flowed slowly through his fingers. He looked at his shaking hands he found them now stained crimson red.
He was face down on the floor with a growing pool of his own blood that had started to seep into his clothing. He was bleeding out but he couldn't remember how. But he knew that he needed to find out from where. He quickly moved from a someone who knew he was bleeding out to a doctor. And the only difference was that he, himself was the patient.
His mind quickly ran over the symptoms of blood loss, to work out what symptoms were from the blood loss and what other come be from other injuries. The symptoms were tiredness, confusion, sensitive to light and of course the pain from a wound. The one thing he knew for sure was that whatever had happened and the fact that he was still alive meant that an artery hadn't been hit.
Quickly and carefully he pressed his fingers in where hurt the most and soon his fingers came across a long straight line from where is his ribs meet to his diaphragm. He had been stabbed. Now he understood why breathing was so painful and why he was tasting blood in his mouth, he had been stabbed and it could have hit one or both of his lungs.
He needed to get to the ER as soon as possible or he knew too well that he was going to bled out. Taking in a deep breath he pushed the fabric of his jacket into his wound, gasping as he did so. His body screamed in pain for him to stop and quickly he felt like he was going to pass out again.
With two more harsh breaths he pushed himself into a sitting position, the world soon started to spin. Slowly and painfully he pulled himself to his feet and staggered to the wall of the hospital to stop himself from hitting the ground again.
He could feel his eyes start to water, the pain was getting worse. But he had to move; he didn't want to die alone. With one hand stuck to his wound he slowly staggered towards the ER.
No one noticed him as he entered and went past the front desk. It wasn't busy and no one was at the desk due to an old couple sat in the corner asking question after question. He didn't know why but he didn't care that no one noticed him as what he needed was inside the ER.
As the ER doors opened he tried his best to work out who he could see and who he couldn't as his world was now turning fuzzy. With what was left of his strength he was able to drag himself the desk and gripped the edge hoping to hold himself up a little longer. It was then that he hear his name being called.
"Hey Will, you ok?" It was Ethan. He couldn't speak; he wanted too. He wanted to tell his friend what had happened but he couldn't. Soon he felt the darkness start to take him back. And the next thing he knew was that he was falling.
He could feel Ethan try to stop him from hitting the floor too hard but as quickly as his head touched the floor his eyes rolled up into head. And he remembered no more.