Chapter Two: Stay Blessed

Amelia

I closed my eyes, listening to my heart beat with every shaky breath. Everything was still. Quiet. Too quiet. I opened my eyes, immediately taking in my surroundings. There was no sign of the boy, Charlie, and the thought of him missing sent chills leaping up my spine. I held my breath, clutching the large plastic gun to my chest and prepared to fight.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" I cooed hugging the wall. My voice was eerie, waving in and out of confidence and adrenaline as I slowly slid into a crouching position. I poked my head outside the door and waited. "Charlie! Come on out to play. I won't bite, I swear!"

"Like I believe that!" I whipped my head backwards aiming my gun upward. Charlie was towing over me, perched neatly on top of a cupboard decked out entirely in the finest paintball gear. Camouflage cargo pants and a solid tan T-Shirt and terrifying mask. I didn't hesitate to dive out of the way and pull the trigger at the same time letting a shrill battle cry out as I hit the ground. Unfortunately, I painfully underestimated my opponent. Charlie dropped, rolled, and started rapid fire. I kicked my feet at the wall, the momentum sent me flying out of the way barely escaping his rampage.

"Is that the best you've got?" He taunted wheezing like an old smoking addict. "My grandma plays better than you!"

"Your grandma must be an ex-Navy Seal because my moves are flawless!" I screeched back army crawling to a capsized twin bed in the far corner of the room. A couple of bullets grazed past my head, fortunately enough for me, Charlie had crap aim. I froze, allowing reflex to take over, and vainly checked my amo. Here in our imagination, the laws of physics simply didn't exist. We were closest to gods we could be.

"Don't tell me you're scared." Charlie spoke confidently, his voice reverberating off the walls making him impossible to pinpoint. "I'm just a kid, remember?"

"Oh no, don't pull the kid card on me!" I laughed scanning the room. "I won't be fooled."

"Well, that's good to hear." I could hear the grin in his words. And he was close, too close.

"Charlie!" I cried, but it was too late. A single bullet hit my torso, staining me in blue paint. I fired back, hitting him in the leg. Green oozed from the wound. He ripped off his mask, scolding me with his eyes.

"No fair! I already won!" He complained.

"Sorry! Don't blame me, blame instinct! If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me."

"Fair enough." He sighed snapping his fingers. Right before my eyes, he transformed. His war clothes swiftly turned to casual wear. "Now what?"

"Anything to distract me from the horrid scene unraveling in real time." I whined pulling myself to my feet. I glanced down at my clothes, then back at Charlie. "Remind me again how this works?"

"Just imagine yourself in different clothes." He sighed pinching his index finger and thumb to the bridge of his nose.

"Oh! Right, right, right!" I giggled. I closed my eyes and imagined myself in the outfit I was wearing earlier: a white lacy dress, gray knit leggings, brown combat boots, a jean jacket, and a gray knit beanie. "Ta-Da!"

"Sh-should I clap?" He asked sarcastically. "Wow. You changed."

"Oh, ha! Ha!" I scoffed. "You forget, though I black out often, I am no expert."

"Are we seriously doing this right now? Are we arguing at whose best at the in-between?'

My face lit up with delight. "You used my word!"

"In-between? I'm pretty sure that's already been invented."

"Are you this sassy with everyone, or am I special?" I grinned placing my hands on my hips.

His cheeks reddened. "Ah, don't flatter yourself. I'm pretty sassy all the time."

"Mhm." I hummed spinning on the balls of my feet. I flipped the bed over and flopped down on my back. "So, Charlie, now that we've successfully shared life stories and attacked each other, what should we do?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Well, I suggested paintball, so common curtesy dictates you decide next. Besides, you've lived here longer. What do you usually do for fun?"

"Oh, you're not gonna like it."

"What? Why?"

"I spy on people." He murmured. I grimaced. "You can still hear and feel everything in here."

"I don't wanna listen to the real word." My chest hurt. I contorted forward, shaping myself into the fetal position. "It's so painful."

"Understandable." Charlie said sitting next to me. He stroked my hair. "But, I'm going to have to be the voice of reason here, you can't hide from your past forever."

"I know." I huffed sitting up. I turned to him and pouted out my bottom lip. "I just hate this. Hate all of the attention. Hate the pity. Hate the heartache. Hate all of it."

"That's a lot of hate."

I nodded. But could you blame me? It nearly destroyed me hearing Blake's panic as they raced me to the hospital. I could see the pain on his face as they forcefully asked him to leave. He shoved Kailey away, charging after me. Tears streaming down his face, snot everywhere. It was far from pretty. I thought I was ok. I liked being under examination where I couldn't directly feel or hear people around me. But then Joey. Oh my gosh, when my brother came sobbing though the door with Winston- tears. So many, many tears. Then Blake had the bright idea to text everyone I'd ever interacted with ever that I was in the hospital and suddenly my coma turned into some deranged social gathering. Almost like a party. It started in the waiting room, and the second I was allowed visitors, the selfies began. Blips and bings and shutter sounds everywhere. And for whatever reason, Joey decided to play nice. Sitting in a chair next to my bed patiently stroking Winston, the boy didn't make a sound. It was all driving me crazy!

"So this must be the famous Amelia Grace I've heard oh so much about."

The unfamiliar sound caught me completely and totally off guard. Out of sheer dumb instinct, I almost punched Charlie in the face. Fortunately enough for the boy, I had enough common sense to know and understand he wasn't a threat and instead, responded with a very mature, "Holy flippin' freakshow, Batman! Who the- what the flip-flop is happenin'!"

A cackle errupted on the other side of the room. Charlie went running towards it and I, like the lovely lady I am, remained perfectly still skeptically eyeing the new stranger lurking in the doorway.

"Leo!" Charlie cheered. "Amelia, come on over! Meet Leo!" I gave a sheepish wave still not finding enough energy to move my lead feet from the ground. Charlie rolled his eyes. "She's not usually this shy." He explained. "Just a little startled."

"I bet, with all the chaos happening up there, I can't blame her. Are you aware of the party raging on over there?"

They both laughed. I took the opportunity to one over Leo. He was a great bit older than Charlie, not quite a man though. He still had a boyish face, high cheekbones, and a quite pale complexion. His hair was gone, no doubt due to chemo, but his eyebrows, as bushy as they were, remained perfectly intact like giant caterpillars over his deep grayish eyes. It should also be noted that the boy-kid-man was missing a leg. Again, my best guess, due to cancer.

"So," Charlie dragged out the word, "Amelia, are you going to continue staring or are you going to stand up and introduce yourself."

"I'ma what now?" I croaked. Leo shook his head, staring.

"You're a bit of a daydreamer, aren't you?" He guessed. "So what's your story? Why are there so many people freaking out over this?"

"Oh, no!" I screeched covering my face in my hands. I fell back into the bed. "Please, no. Don't mention the party again."

"Yeah, I heard your hatred over it earlier. And, I'm glad. If you were a stuck up glory sponge, we might have a problem here."

"She's far from that." Charlie piped in. "See?"

By 'see', what Charlie really meant was, 'watch her wallow in embarrassment on the bed'. I curled back up into myself and groaned occasionally rocking in grief. I could hear Leo's distinct snicker.

"I can see that." He chuckled. "So, another Red Band Member?"

"You're asking me?" Charlie asked, obviously thrilled. I pulled my hands down my face, pressed my palms to the bed, and pushed myself up. Leo nodded.

"Of course! So, is she worthy?"

"Well, yeah! I mean, I like her. Are you, are you sure you want to ask me that?"

"Dude, come on! You've spent the last four hours with her. And Dr. McAndrews mentioned he wanted to keep her for a while after she wakes up. She's going to need all the support she can get. You know, real support from people like us who actually understand what she's going through."

They were speaking like I wasn't ten feet away from me, which honestly irked me quite a bit. Especially since, you know, Leo blatantly mentioned I wasn't leaving. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. I knew I was sick. I knew this coma was bad. Common sense would say that I wasn't leaving, but every fiber of my being wanted to be optimistic and say I'd get to go home with Joey. But Leo dashed that dream.

"Amelia, are you alright?"

I'm not sure which boy spoke, all I knew was that I was staring. Not at anything in particular, but past everyone and everything. My hands were shaky, my body unstable. I was a mess, which was sad considering I was in my own mind. Leo's face slipped into a frown. Charlie stopped moving. And the next thing I knew, I was on the ground letting violent tremors rip through my body.

"Amelia!" Leo screamed racing to my side. "Amelia, I think your physical body is going into some sort of shock. I need you to stay calm. Charlie. Charlie! Come here."

After Leo spoke, I felt a second pair of hands wandering along my side. Leo let out a heavy breath. "G-g-guys." I choked. "T-thank y-y-you."

"Stop talking!" Leo said, and through blurry eyes I could spy a tiny smirk. "Thank me when you wake up. Dr. McAndrews is with me now, but there are lots of other really great doctors who will be right with you. Don't worry, just stay calm."

"D-don't stress." I whimpered. "St-stay blessed."

"That's right." Charlie forced a smile. "Stay blessed."