I hope I have this chapter up fast enough for everyone. I hit several walls and didn't know where to go, but I grabbed my jackhammer and broke through it as fast as I could. Also, we have the return of a certain character in this chapter. It's not who you all think, trust me. It someone way more diabolical.

Last thing, I'm assuming that the bulk of you reading this are teenagers, or older. I'm getting a new phone next weekend, only problem is, I don't know which one. Any recommendations? One with a great battery life would be nice.

Read On!

TJ was put off by the cold staleness of the hospital. The air felt germ free, and it was the complete opposite to what he was used to and how he thought it should be. The world was full of grime and dirt and germs that did more good than bad. The hospital was too much like a sterilized factory than a place meant to heal. But he had to be there.

He sat in a hospital bed with Zack on his lap and his parents sitting next to the bed he was in. He was waiting to be rolled back to the operating room. His fear of something going wrong (the wrong eye being taken out) was alleviated when the surgeon came in and marked above his left eye with a marker. Now, he was working on easing his brother's fears for him.

"Won't it hurt when they take it out?" Zack asked as he squirmed in TJ's lap. He was covering one of his eyes to see for himself what it was like to see the way his older brother did.

"No. I won't feel a thing. They're going to give me medicine to take the pain away," Said Zack. "I'll be asleep when they do it."

"I'd be scared," he said.

"I was scared too, but we have to face our fears. We have to be brave."

"Then I'll be brave too!"

"Good, I'll need it."

TJ continued to comfort his little brother until it was time for him to go into surgery. He was rolled back into the OR. He layed on his back when the anesthetist came up to him and put a plastic mask over his mouth.

"Just count backwards from 100," the nurse said "You'll fall asleep right away."

'100, 99, 98,' he counted backwards in his head. The anesthesia worked fasters than he expected and he started to doze off.

~*~V~*~

'…Ngh…oh God…..why is the world so bright? Am I in heaven…? I'm coming back from the dead and killing that surgeon….' At first, TJ thought that the bright lights that were threatening to blind the only eye he had left were a sight of him showing up at the gates of heaven. This shocked him for two reasons. One, he had gotten into heaven, and two, that meant his surgeon lied about everything going smoothly. The light soon faded to level more bearable, and he could see more detail of the ceiling. Nausea and an unbearable headache quickly settled in.

"What happened?" He asked, too tired to move and look around for himself. "Is it over?"

"TJ you're awake!" he heard Zack voice a thousand times as loud as it should've been. He winced in the pain that the volume caused him.

"Zack, you have to use your inside voice now," He heard his mother say. "You can't be loud. Nice to see you're awake. You've been out of surgery for an hour."

"I feel like I'm gonna be sick," he mumbled, looking around. "Someone's taking a drill to my face…."

"That's completely normal and is to be expected." They all looked up and saw the surgeon walking over to the bed he was laying in, carrying a clipboard with him. "Everything went smoothly without a hitch. Good thing, too. Once we took the eye out, we found cysts on the back. Your only concern now is coming off the anesthesia. You might feel groggy and nauseated for the rest of the day, maybe into tomorrow. The left side of your face could develop a bruise, but that's nothing to fuss over. You're going to have one hell of a headache, but we're going to give you painkillers to soothe it. Make sure to take it easy for the next week. No every lifting, and no strenuous work."

"There's a big gaping hole in my face," TJ mumbled, feeling the bandage over his left eye socket.

"Yes, but your eyelid covers it. The eye helps keep it up, and without it there, it stay down on its own. We're giving you a solution to wash out that socket with every twelve hours. The worst part is getting used to the feeling."

"I'm queasy enough as it is, Doctor. Please spare me the gory details," TJ asked him. "How soon can I go home? Do I have to stay here over night?"

"You can go home in an hour. We want make sure you're coming off the anesthesia smoothly."

~*~V~*~

"Mom, I'm okay, really. I'm not even hungry." Arriving home, TJ found that him mother was going to rush him upstairs and into bed. Right after he was in bed, he closed his eye and focused finishing his nap that he started on during the ride home. That didn't happen, because five minutes later, his mother returned to his room with a bowl of chicken noodle soup she insisted that he eat. He didn't have the appetite to smell food, let alone eat any. But his mother was persisted.

"You haven't had anything to eat since last night," His mother said.

"That was the doctor's order," TJ said, looking at the bowl that was given to him. "I couldn't eat anything because I could've thrown up during surgery. I'm not hungry right now, mom."

"You need something in your stomach before you go to sleep," She said. "Eat."

"If I eat it, I'm only going to throw it back up," He argued. "I want to enjoy it and keep it in my stomach, not toss it back out. I'll eat some when I'm feeling better. Please? I only want to sleep."

"Alright. The food will be downstairs when you wake up," His mother said. She closed the door, leaving him alone in his room.

"What are you looking at?" He asked Duracell, who was looking at him through her cage. She turned and went back to eating. "I need to lay down; the world is spinning." Resting his head on the pillow, he felt as if a ton of weight was lifted off his shoulders, and another ton was about to be lifted when he was closing his eyes. He began to drift off to sleep when the blaring sound of his cell phone alerting him of a new text message blasted through his ears. "Who has the balls to text me right now….?"

He reached over the edge of his bed and searched absentmindedly for his phone. Grabbing it, he checked the message and saw that it was from Gus.

Gus: R u ok? R u home from the hospital?

Yes, I'm home.

Gus: We all want 2 come over and c u

No. No. I'm tired & my head hurts. Come by tomorrow, when I feel better.

Gus: Ok, got it.

TJ turned down the volume on his phone and effectively tossed it across the room. He didn't want any additional, unnecessary noise to aggravate his headache. He covered himself with a blanket and smashed his head onto his pillow, demanding sleep to hurry and knock him out.

"Wake up you bleached-blonde, freckled-faced prison whore. I'm back from vacation."

"Leave me alone, Alex. I don't need your shit." TJ said out loud. He looked up from his pillow and found his tormenting imaginary creature in his room. Alex sat on the floor across from his bed, now an older, more menacing, black haired, red eyed, sharp toothed, devil that had returned after years of absence. TJ hoped that he was gone for good and didn't have to deal with that voice of his in his ear that no one else could hear. "Go back to hell."

"I came back from there, actually. It was nice. And hot," Alex said. "Don't think for a second that I'm leaving. You're too fun to mess with, Freckles."

"Don't call me that. You don't have to the right to call me that. Only my friends call me that, you are not my friend. You're not real."

"Keep saying that. Go ahead. You're still talking to me, though you claim I'm 'not real.' I'm as real as you say I'm not," Said Alex. "I'm leaving now, but I'll be back later. We've got so much to catch up on."

"It keeps getting better and better," TJ said to himself as he rolled into a more comfortable position. "I could use some drugs about now…"

~*~V~*~

He sound of a bell continuously ringing brought TJ out of his sleep. His nausea had gone away during his four hour nap, but his headache was no better than before. He forced himself out of bed and against his urge to crawl under the blankets.

"I get it, you're hungry," He said as he opened the door to her cage. He didn't have a chance to put any new food in her cage, because she jumped out and onto his lap. "You like me now? Why the sudden change of behavior?" He asked, petting her. "Is your cage dirty? No….I cleaned it two days ago. There's your food, your water bottle is full and clean, your bathroom in the corner. And…..what is that?" Spotting something that was not there the day before, TJ moved closer to get a better look. A small pile of timothy hay and fur sat in a corner. On top, were tiny, furless, creatures resting.

"Now I know why you were cranky," He said. "You were pregnant. How many are there….? One…two…..five…..seven…ten. Damn. Ten babies. I forgive you for biting and scratching me. If I was having ten babies I would be pissed all the time, too. Congrats, mommy." He lifted himself off the floor and walked into Zack's room, carrying Duracell with him. His brother was alone in his room, sitting at his plastic table drawing.

"Hi, TJ! Are you better now?" Zack asked him.

"A little. Do you want to see something?"

"See what?"

"Duracell's babies. She had babies."

"Wow! Really? I wanna see! I wanna see!"

"Then you have to be quiet, Zack. Use your inside voice. C'mon." He led his little brother into his room and let him sit down next to the cage to see the newborns.

"They're so tiny," Said Zack. "Are they okay?"

"They're perfectly fine. I read in a book that baby rabbits are born like this. they'll start looking like their mommy in a few weeks. They're why she was biting us. She's nice now."

"That's a lot of babies," Said Zack. "TJ can I have one?"

"….Hmm. Maybe. You have to prove to me that you can take care of one. You can start by helping me take care of Duracell and her babies."

"'Kay! I'll do a good job! You'll give me two 'cause I'll do a good job!"

While Zack played with Duracell, TJ was kicking himself for dismissing all the now obvious signs. He had his suspicious the week before, and felt dumb for not taking her to the vet to make sure. All the signs that he read about in the book the vet had given him were there, but he dismissed it as her being moody or spoiled. As a result, he was unprepared for the arrival of the baby bunnies.

"How am I going to take care of ten more rabbits?" he asked himself. "I have to get a bigger cage, another cage to separate the boys from the girls….more food, bedding, vet bills, toys…." His headache grew as the price he estimated in his head grew. "I could give them away, but they'll grow on me when they get bigger and I won't want to…." His stomach growled, reminding him how hungry he was. "Dinner time. I'll solve this problem when I have a clear head."

~*~TJ's POV~*~

Oh God this is gross. Swirling a solution in my eye socket like the doctor said, it's a nasty sensation of having a gaping hole in your face. Back and forth I swirled, doing whatever it was given to me to do. I'm going to be sick. Time to let it out. I held open my eyelid to let the solution pour out into the sink. I waited for the last drops to fall out. The last time I did this, I didn't let it all out and it looked like I was crying. I wiped what had fallen down my cheek and washed my hands. There's a huge bruise from the tip of my forehead to the left side of face down the bottom of my nose. Looks like someone landed one hell of a sucker punch. It'll go down in a few days. I wouldn't be up this early (it's 9 a.m.) if Spinelli and the others hadn't come over. They're in my room now. I asked them to be quiet because of the babies, and as soon as I said 'babies' they want to see them. There's not much to see. They don't move much until they're a week old, and not that appealing to look at. They're blind, deaf, and hairless. They don't even look like rabbits yet.

I walked back in my room and saw that most of them had gotten over their interest of the little things. Except Mikey. He still has a soft spot for animals, just like back at Third Street and that crazy cat.

"Not that I don't like you guys, because I do, but it's 9 a.m.," I said, sitting on my bed. "What's going on?"

"We said we were going to come over after your surgery. Did everything go okay?" Asked Gus. "You look like you ran into five brick walls."

"You should run him into five brick walls," I heard Alex say. He's sitting on the floor across from me. Of course, they can't see him. I'm not going to answer anything he says, but if I slip up, I'll say it's the medication making m act crazy. Hopefully, they'll believe me.

"Yeah, it'll go away in a couple days. I'm more worried about getting a prosthetic. I hope it's not heavy."

"What kind are you getting?" Gretchen asked.

"Nosey, know-it-all girl," Alex scoffed. "Mind your business."

"A glass eye. I almost don't want to get it, because it looks kind of cool without anything in there. Wanna see?" they nodded and I held open my eyelid for them to see. It's not a black hole, it's a dark pink color, I saw for myself. "I won't get it for another two weeks, but I need that, and the next week off."

"Do you really need the week off? You seem fine to me," Vince asked.

"I had a major organ removed yesterday. I'm taking the week off. But thanks for getting my homework. I owe you guys."

"Think you can still come to my game on Friday?" He asked me. "When we win, we'll be in the finals."

"Friday? Yeah, I can make it," I said, yawning. I didn't get much sleep last night. I kept waking up every two hours and staying up for another two. "What's going on with you?" I asked Spinelli. She's sitting next to be, but hasn't said anything since they came. "How's your life going?"

"It's going great, especially since I was accepted into the state wide contest for junior artists," Spinelli said with a proud smile on her face. "First prize is $1,000 and a $5,000 dollar scholar ship."

"Ugh. Smug bitch. You should've raped her when you had the chance, dude. She's got some nice tits," Alex said, taking out a cigarette. "Had the chance to put her back in her place. But, like always, you were stupid." I had to restrain myself from jumping up and yelling at him. I wanted to punch him, but I know all my fist would come in contact with is the wall.

"That's great. I saw some of your pictures around the classroom. They're amazing."

"Oh stop being a suck-up. You know you want to knock the sense out of that female," Alex hissed. "Better yet, let's have some fun. Her house is right down the street. Go get that lighter out of your jacket and light that shit up like the fourth of July."

"TJ can I have one of your rabbits?" Mikey asked, still looking over them in the cage. "When they get bigger?"

"I have no idea what I'm going to do with them Mikey. If I choose to give them new homes, I'll keep you in mind."

"He's going to make rabbit stew out of the poor thing. Don't you dare," Alex said. That the first time I heard him show concern over anything, but it's not genuine. He's making fun of Mikey, just like the others.

We continued talk for an hour, and Alex kept trying to make me lose it with his smart-ass comments. I thought I was doing good. I held myself back as his comments became more offensive, if that's possible. I became more focused on what Alex was saying than the conversation, and I reacted faster than I could stop myself when he said something that ticked me off.

"You should've killed these people by now. What's taking so long? At the very least you should've taken out that underfoot little thing you call a brother."

"SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH BEFORE I KILL YOU INSTEAD!" I screamed, closing my eyes and clutching my fists. When I opened my eyes, they're all staring at me.

"…..is everything okay, TJ?" Gretchen asked. I shook my head.

"No," I said getting up and walking out the room. "I need some air." I went outside for fresh air. I need it.

…

This isn't happening.

It can't be.

I was doing good.

I haven't committed a crime, lit a fire, or hurt anyone, like I said I would.

This can't be happening. It can't.

"You better believe it's happening," I heard Alex voice in my head.

I thought Alex was gone, Mr. Simmons said so…

Not now.

Not when things are going so good.

I have a girlfriend…

I'm being the best big brother I can be…

Good grades…

Reconciling with those I hurt years ago…

This can't happen...

It can't…

Not now…

Is that a cliffhanger that a left up there? I believe so. Next chapter, I'm not sure what will happen. I'm still organizing the order of events, but it will be more cheerful.

Please review.