Nick's eyes slowly opened, his room coming into view. I'm awake? I don't even know how I woke up... Did I drift off to sleep in the dream? Did my body just wake up after having enough rest? Did something happen to shock my body awake?
Nick laid there for a second before beginning to lift his arm out of a new reflex to scratch an itch on his head. The 'dream' was so real to him it took him a few second to actually react to the fact his arm worked. He was not quite sure how to react, his mind was racing. All he could do was stare at his now mobile arms in disbelief. Does this mean...
He knew what this meant, it was not just a dream... It was real. It was as real as he was, he was just unable to even think it to be a possibility. He was no idiot, he knew something like this should not be possible, but... How could he deny it? Too much had happened to just write the whole thing off as one big coincidence.
How is this even possible? Am I still asleep? If dreams felt that real there would be no way to tell the difference between dream and reality... It's hard to believe, but there's no other way to explain this. Two impossible things have happened to me two nights in a row.
Nick turned his head to look at his clock. Five in the morning. Guess my mom won't be in to wake me up for another hour. I don't think I can go back to sleep after all of that... Come to think of it... If that was reality, why do I feel rested?
Nick tried his best to wrap his head around the situation for the next hour, though it was a difficult task. He was in shock, trying to rationalize what had happened to him in some way that was grounded in reality, though he failed. The only way to explain how real his dreams felt was the concept of 'lucid dreaming' though he now knew that did not explain all that was happening to him. Nick was not religious, though if there was anything that ever made him think there was a god... This was it.
Man, this entire situation has me questioning everything I know... As Nick continued to think about the situation he began to hear a beeping sound, it was six already. There is no way I can tell mom about this, but how else can I explain this? I guess I can just feign ignorance. Nick quickly thought up a plan as to how he would act when his mom entered the room, deciding to just act shocked. Which was not much of an act at this point.
Nick watched his door slowly open, his mom entering his room. She looked horrible, her eyes had bags under them and her hair was messy. She obviously did not get much sleep last night, if any. "Mom... I-I can move my arms..." Nick lifted an arm up as proof, his mother's eyes growing wide at the sight.
Nick kind of felt bad, he was adding on to the shock his mother must have been feeling. Though, this time his mother looked less shocked and more confused. "But...How is that even possible? You have never used your arms so the muscles shouldn't be strong enough to allow that kind of movement..."
"I don't know... I don't understand how any of this is possible..." He mumbled.
"Is that all you are able to move? Just your arms?" Faith asked, walking over to her son's bed.
"Yeah, I can't move anything besides my arms. Though, if I'm recovering this fast, it shouldn't be long until I'm able to get up and walk for the first time..." If the healing magic from that world affected his body in this world, he knew that it would not be more than a day or two until he could get up and walk like he had been doing it his whole life.
"Yeah, but I don't understand how you could possibly be healing this fast. Not to mention that you somehow have enough power in your muscles to move your arms around..." Faith was obviously shaken, she was having an even harder time believing this than Nick. Which was understandable, she only knew one side of the story when it came to his healing.
"I'm just happy that I will soon be able to have a somewhat normal life for the first time ever. Use a computer, play sports, make friends, eat by myself, wash myself..."
"And I'm so incredibly happy about that, but I just can't understand how you are able to have this kind of recovery without any kind of physical therapy..." Faith had to take a seat, the only open seat nearby being Nick's wheelchair. "I guess I will have to enroll you in school, I bet you can't wait to meet more kids your age."
"Yeah, it will be nice to actually make normal friends and not just those people I know from support groups." Nick was excited about being able to go to a normal school, but now that he had an other world entirely where he could make friends he was not sure school would live up to his expectations.
"I'm sure you are hungry, how about those chocolate chip pancakes I promised you?" Faith asked, trying to be happy for her son instead of critical of his sudden and inexplicable recovery.
"I would like that, it will be my first time actually eating by myself." Faith helped Nick out of bed and into his chair. He tried to move the chair on his own, but he did not have enough strength in his arms. Nick was wheeled to the dining room table as his mom began to cook, he was more excited about being able to use his arms than he was about actually eating the pancakes. Though, the pancakes did smell really good.
When the pancakes were placed in front of him he hastily grabbed a fork and knife and began to cut the pancakes up. He had never been so excited about something before, to him even this small feat was a monumental achievement. He quickly finished the pancakes, thanking his mom as she took the plate away. "It is still a couple hours until your teachers start to show up, what do you want to do until then?" Faith asked.
Nick had not really thought about that, now that he can do stuff himself without the aid of others, he could do a lot more than just watch TV or learn all day. There was not much he could currently do, he only had use of his arms and his mother had never really bought him much because he would not be able to use it. Though, there was one thing he could now use that he had always wanted to use. "Um, could you teach me how to use a computer?"
Faith smiled, turning to him after she put the dirty dishes in the sink. "Sure. Friday, when i get my paycheck, I will go to the store and get you a laptop for you to use. For now we have to use mine, but that should be fine until then."
Faith wheeled Nick to her office, a small but well-organized room where her laptop was hooked up. She moved her chair out of the way and rolled Nick up right in front of her laptop, opening it and turning it on. Nick watched carefully as she created him an account to use, taking note on how she used it. He had seen people use computers before, but he had never paid much attention at the time because it was useless information to him. It was obvious it could take a long time to learn how to use the computer as well as his mother, but he was confident he could figure everything out in a rather short period of time.
Before his first teacher came he was able to get down the basics: typing, using the mouse, using the internet, and creating accounts. Nothing seemed too complicated, though computers were designed to be user-friendly. Laptops seemed to also be a good way to take notes, though he had never had to take notes himself because his teaching was one on one and he learned at his own pace. Nothing was different as far as his teaching went, though he did get a lot of congratulations and encouragement from each of his teachers. All of the congratulations felt forced, though he thanked them anyway.
After the last of his teachers went home he was able to use the computer for a few more hours before going to bed at ten o'clock. He laid in bed for an hour just thinking. Most of the day his mind was taken off of this dream world, but he realized something. Time obviously passed when he was not there, but if that is how it works.... What happens to his body in that world?
There were a few options, either a body double stayed in that world asleep much like how it was in the real world, or he just disappeared from that world completely for the entire time he was awake. If he disappeared that could cause problems if he went there every time he went to sleep, vanishing without a trace for most of the day. Though, with a body double, that could also cause problems. What happens if someone tries to wake up the double while he is awake? Would he just fall asleep on the spot? Would the double just not respond?
This was all he could think about as he slowly drifted off to sleep, he had not even realized he was asleep until he woke up in that dream world once again. As he woke up he was met with a white sheet surrounding his bed just how it was when he went to sleep the night before. It was bright outside, so with any luck it would somehow be early morning. I guess this is going to become a regular part of my life, I'll just have to make the most of it. It would be stupid of me to waste an opportunity like this.
Ten minutes of silence passed before he heard voices and what sounded like running heading into the medical ward, he tried to listen to what the voices were saying. "I'm telling you, I went to check on him and he was just gone!" Said a voice Nick had not heard before. I guess that answers one question...
"That's impossible, he can't move his legs. I checked when I first started my healing, there is no possibly way for him to be able to move his legs yet." Nick heard Katrina say. "Maybe you checked the wrong bed?"
"No, I'm sure he's not in bed! Look!"
Nick saw three shadows approach his bed from behind the cloth, two smaller ones and one giant one. He had a hunch about who two of them were. The cloth that surrounded his bed quickly shot open, leaving one of the three wide eyed and speechless. Katrina, Captain Draper, and a nurse were now standing beside his bed. Captain Draper and Katrina both looked annoyed while the nurse was scrambling to find words.
"What is the meaning of this, Isabelle?" Captain Draper asked with a commanding voice.
"H-h-he wasn't here twenty minutes ago when I checked! I swear!"
"That's absurd." Katrina replied, walking over to Nick. She placed a hand on his chest as a now familiar feeling coursed through his body, a second later she removed the hand. "I just checked, he still would have no use of his legs. You must have checked the wrong bed."
Captain Draper sighed heavily, turning to walk away. "Please, don't bother me with stuff like this unless you are sure."
"B-but I was sure! He was gone!" The woman, who he now knew as Isabelle, gave Nick a seemingly hateful look as she pleaded to the captain. She seemed to be slightly shorter than Katrina and had blonde hair and blue eyes, though she looked much older because of Katrina's slow aging.
"Nonsense, you heard the doctor." Captain Draper began to walk away, the nurse following after him as she tried to explain something that made no sense to anyone other than Nick. Though, it did not make much sense to Nick either.
"Sorry about that, I don't know what's gotten into her. It might just be because there is a stranger in the castle. She was probably too quick to jump to a conclusion without double checking."
"It's fine, it doesn't bother me." Nick said, it seemed he had dodged a bullet by waking up when he did. Or, rather, going to sleep when he did.
"Well, now that you are up, we can get a head start on healing. Today, if we spend all day on healing, we can get you up and walking!" Katrina said, smiling excitedly.
Nick felt he should be more excited, but so much had happened in these past few days that developments like this had kind of lost their impact. He was still excited, sure, but not nearly as excited as someone should be when told they will be able to walk for the first time ever. "Let's get started as soon as possible, then."
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful if you don't take into account the healing milestones. He just laid in bed all day, eating and drinking when being brought food and water. He slowly regained feeling and then function of his other body parts: first his abdomen, then his thighs, then his lower legs, and then his feet. His feet took the least amount of time to heal, while his thighs seemed to take the most time.
"Finally finished, And it is only 8 o'clock." Katrina said, looking outside to the now black sky. "Try getting up and walking, you will probably fall down a few times but you will get the hang of it quickly."
Nick nodded, slowly sitting up and pivoting his body so his feet touched the cold wooden floor. It was such a strange feeling, sitting up like a normal person and finally having full control over all of his body parts. He began to slowly stand, using his bedside table and bed to keep him from falling over. It took almost three minutes, but he was standing up for the first time in his life. As the reality of the situation slowly began to set in he began to laugh.
He could finally walk, and it was not thanks to science and technology, but thanks to magic. His entire perception of reality had crumbled around him, and it had not truly hit him until now. He was so happy, though instead of crying or thanking the person that had healed him, all he could do was laugh at the situation. A woman with cat ears and a tail had done more for him in a couple days than humanity had done for him in his entire fifteen years of life. It was too much.
"Why are you laughing?" Katrina asked, breaking Nick out of his daze. She had a confused look on her face, probably expecting tears instead of laughter.
"Oh, sorry, it's nothing. This situation is just so strange to me I couldn't help but laugh. I can't thank you all enough for all that you have done for me."
"Well, you will have to. I'm going to have to go report your recovery to Captain Draper, so you will have to hold up your end of the deal tomorrow."
Nick had almost forgotten, he promised to give them information on where he was from in return for treatment. Man, this is going to be hard to explain... I can't lie, if I do that there is no doubt I will get caught. But, if I tell the truth, they will either think I am lying or crazy. God, I've never been so nervous before.
"Get a good night sleep, Captain Draper will probably stop by here early tomorrow to get you." Katrina turned and began to walk away, leaving Nick to his thoughts.
Nick slowly closed the curtain around his bed before climbing back in. He would need to go to sleep early tomorrow. He was not quite sure how time in this world worked when he was away, but if he went to sleep early he should be awake well before Captain Draper came to get him. That would keep anything bad from happening until he was able to explain everything the next day. Hopefully.
Nick got under the covers and closed his eyes, trying to sleep in hopes that it would wake him up. The earlier he wakes up the earlier he can go to bed. Though, suddenly being able to walk would surely also be hard to explain to his mother. He was in for a very rough day.