He hit the ground, hard, his He hit the ground, hard, his vision tilting as he struggled to stay conscious. He watched helplessly as the car came closer, the lights growing brighter, but everything seemed so far away. As his vision dimmed, he heard a whisper, faint and cold, calling a name that wasn't his own.
"Ethan..."
The sound seemed to echo through the darkness as the world faded to black.
"No ooo let me go, helpppppp!!!!!" Kyle struggled, screaming at the top of his lungs slowly filling with water.
Kyle felt the water choking him, its icy grip tightening as he sank deeper. His arms flailed helplessly, and his lungs burned, desperate for air. His vision blurred, and the murky depths below seemed to stretch on forever. Panic surged through him, and he kicked his legs furiously, trying to claw his way back to the surface. But something, or someone, had a hand pressed firmly against his neck, shoving him downward, deeper into the cold darkness. He thrashed with every ounce of strength left, but it only seemed to pull him further away from the light above.
As his energy drained, he felt a strange calm wash over him, like he was fading into the dark abyss. His muscles slackened, and he let himself sink. The water began to fill his lungs, and he surrendered to the cold, letting the blackness swallow him whole.
Then, out of nowhere, a hand reached out from beneath and grabbed him. It was rough and cold, and as it pulled him upward, the pressure on his neck vanished. His head broke the surface of the water, and his lungs heaved in a breath of air, just as everything around him snapped into blinding brightness.
Kyle's eyes flew open, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath. The room was silent except for the rapid beeping of the heart monitor beside him. His pulse pounded in his ears as he stared up at the ceiling, the fluorescent lights overhead casting a harsh glare. He blinked, disoriented, as he tried to piece together where he was. A sharp, sterile smell filled his nose, and he felt the prick of an IV needle in his arm.
He was in a hospital room. It was just a dream, the same recurring dream of him drowning again.
Kyle pushed himself up on his elbows, wincing at the pain that shot through his ribs. His throat was raw, as though he'd actually been struggling for air. He scanned the room, taking in the white walls, the closed blinds, and the stillness that hung in the air. But it wasn't just the ordinary silence of a hospital room. There was something else, something unsettling in the quiet.
His gaze drifted to the corner of the room, where shadows seemed to pool unnaturally, darker than the dim lighting should allow. As he stared into the blackness, a sense of dread crept over him. His skin prickled, and a low growling sound reached his ears, almost too faint to hear but unmistakably real.
"Is… someone there?" Kyle croaked, his voice barely a whisper. He tried to lift his hand to press the call button for the nurse, but his limbs felt heavy and unresponsive, as if weighed down by some invisible force.
The growling grew louder, and Kyle's heartbeat quickened. It wasn't just a sound, it was a presence, something hiding in the darkness, watching him.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and the fluorescent lights flickered on. Kyle blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness. A doctor in a white coat and a man in a police uniform hurried into the room.
"Kyle, you're awake," the doctor said, his voice calm but firm as he approached the bed. He glanced at the heart monitor and the IV, checking everything quickly. "You gave us a bit of a scare."
"Someone… there was…" Kyle stammered, his eyes darting to the corner. But now, there was nothing there. The shadows were gone, and the corner was just an ordinary part of the room again. "There was someone there," he insisted, his voice hoarse. "I heard… a growl."
The doctor frowned, glancing at the darkened corner and then back at Kyle. "There's no one here but us," he said, his tone reassuring but edged with concern. He switched on the overhead lights, flooding the room with even more brightness. "You might be experiencing some lingering effects from the trauma. It's not uncommon for patients in your condition."
Kyle's mind spun, trying to remember exactly how he had ended up here. The last thing he recalled was the sound of Adam's shotgun and the searing pain of the bullet ripping through his side. Then the darkness had taken him, and there was that voice, calling him Ethan, a name that wasn't his.
The man in the police uniform stepped closer, eyeing Kyle carefully. "Kyle, my name is Officer Grant. You were found unconscious on the side of the road. You were bleeding pretty badly. You're lucky you were gotten before you were lost." He glanced at the doctor, who nodded slightly, before turning his attention back to Kyle. "There's something we need to discuss with you, if you're up for it."
"What… what happened?" Kyle asked, his voice barely above a whisper. His throat tightened as fragments of memory flickered in his mind, Adam's angry shouts, the smell of gunpowder, and that hand forcing him under the water in his dream. It all blended together, making it hard to tell what was real and what wasn't.
The doctor took a breath, his expression growing more serious. "Kyle, you were brought in with a gunshot wound. It wasn't life-threatening, but it was serious enough to require surgery. You lost a fair amount of blood."
Kyle's fingers instinctively traced over the bandage wrapped around his abdomen. The memory of the pain returned with a sudden jolt, making him wince.
The officer looked the doctor and then at Kyle and sighs saying "there's one more thing we really need to tell you".
Kyle looked at him puzzled wondering why all this fiasco, what was important that they wanted to tell a lowlife like him?.