Blast From The Past

3. THE AWAKENING

“Shouldn’t we have gone with them?” Jane asked as she rubbed her hands over her arms. Her skin was getting cold, but not from the weather, no it was from the secrets she has to keep hidden from her friends and especially Mia. She never ever had to hide anything from her. Although they live in Boston as they study medicine at Harvard, so they were practically the nearest to Mia and Jason, yet they arrived the last ones due to their fight and the secrets they had to brush aside.

“We don’t need to make a commotion by all of us going there,” Blake replied as he was replying to one of his friends’ text from Washington where he studies. “Also, they have Adrian and Ben with them.”

“And someone has to stay home if anything occurred,” Jass added as she descended the stairs holding a broom and a stained cloth with Maya trailing behind her with a plastic bag.

“And to clean the mess upstairs.” Maya held the plastic bag up for Jane who simply nodded.

“I will go check on Damon.” She announced as she made her way to the backyard where she found Damon laying on the freshly cut grass, gazing up at the dark sky.

“What are you dazing in?” Jane took her place in Damon’s extended arm, startling him in the process as he felt her blonde locks tickle his arm.

“Just thinking.” He sighs as he circles his arm around her.

“About?” she pressed, wanting him to voice his troubling thoughts which she already had an idea of.

“About… the secrets,” he whispered. “the lies, the trouble we found ourselves in.”

“Damon…” Jane’s voice is heavy with sorrow and guilt. The same way he feels.

“I know, love. I know.” He sighed. “I know it's for the best. Mia shouldn’t know. We can’t get her involved. But… “ he paused. “the lies, Jane, we have been lying to her for a month now telling her that everything is good when it's not. Pending each gathering, coming up with lame Uni excuses, just to avoid looking in her eyes and lie.”

“I understand how you feel, Damon.” She sniffs. “I feel the same. I also don’t like what’s going on but it’s for the best. She is our only family and has always been backing us up. So, we have to bear it and try to solve everything ourselves without help.”

“But I feel like we are making the wrong choice here by hiding it from her.”

“Sometimes, we have to take the wrong path and a leap of faith to keep our loved ones safe.” Jane wipes a tear as Damon hugs her closer to his heart.

“You are right, love.” He kisses the top of her head as he starts stroking her hair. “Everything will be fine.” He whispers trying to comfort her. “We will be fine.” But it seems as he was comforting both of them. Even though the words sounded so true to their ears, yet they couldn’t grasp the truth in them. They felt fake, like the lies that have been piling up.

They were sitting under the dark sky that’s decorated with the glittering stars with Damon stroking Jane’s hair and Jane getting a hold on her heightened emotions. When out of nowhere screams and yelling came from inside.

They sat abruptly, listening to the yelling then their worried eyes met and in no time they were sprinting inside.

^^^

“What happened, Doctor?” Mia breathed out as she was trying to speak and take her breath after all that running up the stairs, not waiting for the elevator fearing something bad happened. “why did you rush us?”

“You came?” Doctor Fredjeck blinked astonished by their speed. “that fast?” what he didn’t know that they used to enroll in illegal races and till this day they had connections to get them out of trouble regarding this matter, so they had no problem in exceeding the speed limit a little bit. Maybe more than a little bit.

“The streets were empty.” Jason brushed off the subject, aiming straight to the point. “What’s the matter? Did anything bad happen? Is he…?” Ben and Adrian looked anxious after they filled them in the car all about who is this Doctor and what they are rushing to. Or better who?

“You didn’t pull off the life support machines, did you?” Mia narrowed her eyes as she took a step forward towards the gulping Doctor.

“Mia…” Ben caught her arm before she did anything impulsive.

“N-no, I didn’t…” the poor doctor stuttered. “I was going to, tomorr—“ he didn’t get to finish the sentence as Mia growled at him ready to cut him into shreds for going against their will. However. Ben’s firm hold on her arm, stopped her. “Anyway, “ he cleared his throat. “Something happened. I-it’s a miracle, h-he…” the doctor was at a loss of words, reliving one of the rare moments that could happen in his life.

“What? What happened?” Adrian rushed with the questions, his heart jumping in anxiety.

“He woke up!” and that’s when the world stopped for them. Ben’s hold on Mia’s arm loosened as his hand slipped to his sides. Mia’s gasping mouth with Jason’s stiff body and Adrian blinking while trying to recollect what he just heard.

After two years. Two freaking years!

“He…?” Mia’s eyes got blurry, her voice not above a whisper. “Rick… woke up?”

^^^

“You have no right to talk to her like that!” Blake yelled, pointing an accusing finger at his sister. “She was nice to you, despite all the s**t you have been giving her!”

“I can talk to her however the hell I want! And stop taking her side!” Ella yelled back, her eyes flaring with anger. “I am your sister and she is just a girl you have recently met, a girl whom you shouldn’t trust that much!”

“Guys, just calm down.” Damon tried to soothe the air.

“Yes, Blake it’s okay.” Maya rubbed Blake’s arm lovingly, trying to get him to calm down and let it go. She knew from the moment he introduced her to his sister that Ella didn’t like her. even though she liked her for no apparent reason but she tried with her more than once for Blake’s sake and because Ella was just coking out of a relationship, still healing.

“No, it’s not okay, Maya!” Blake’s body was ragging with anger that you could see the flames burning in his eyes. “It’s totally not okay. She has to stop acting like a spoiled brat who does whatever she pleases and acts as the victim!” he knew what he was saying and was going to say will hurt his sister but he has to say it. She needs that wake-up call! “you want me to take your side and trust you? How can I? huh, tell me, how can I after what you did to Ben then came crawling back like a snake acting like it’s not your fault and going all innocent on us?”

“Blake, it’s enough.” Jasmine tried calmly as she saw the tears forming in Ella’s eyes.

 “No, it’s not enough. She has to hear it!” He argued. “And since that damned break up that you are the main reason for, you have been acting like a b***h, insulting everyone, not calling me or picking up when I call to check up on you. You don’t even bother to pick your damn phone and give mom a call, leaving her stressing over you all the while struggling with cancer. Don’t you have a f*****g heart? Don’t you care about your mother, who by the way might die at any moment?”

“Okay, fine! I am a freaking heartless monster! Happy now?” Ella exploded as her tears started rolling down her cheeks as well. “and yes, I don’t give a s**t about anything, I simply don’t and if you can’t accept me like that then f**k off cause I don’t f*****g care!” she screamed, her throat burning at the end then she bolted up the stairs.

“I won’t accept it, because that’s not you!” Blake yelled after her.

“f**k you!” she yelled from upstairs then slammed the door shut, it’s bang echoing throughout the whole mansion.

“That was intense.” Damon let out a breath after a while then took a seat on the sofa with a puff.

Jane glared at Damon who simply shrugged not knowing what did he say wrong. Then she looked at Blake with a reasoning voice saying, “That was a bit harsh, Blake.”

“I know.” He sighs, rubbing his hands over his face not liking that heavy feeling he got in his heart. It was the first time they ever fought like that. “But I had to.” He knew he hurt her but she hasn’t been acting like herself lately and he can’t get to her no matter what.

^^^

“Can we go visit him, yet?” Adrian groaned as soon as he glanced the doctor exiting Rick’s room.

“Yes, we have been sitting here for half an hour now!” Ben complained, already eager to meet his best friend.

“We just had to make some tests and take some precautions to make sure that everything is okay with him. He has been in a coma for two years, you know.” The doctor explained.

“And is everything okay?” Mia questioned as she started biting her nails.

“Yes, as good as it could be.”

“What do you mean?” Jason narrowed his eyes, fearing that there might be something wrong with Rick.

“As we already implied, he has been in a coma for two years.” the doctor huffed, counting the days that they would get out of his hair. As they both have been the most annoying and stubborn legal guardians over a patient, which he still doesn’t know how they managed and took custody of him. “Due to that he will be suffering from some complications in walking and moving his limbs, as he has been laying on a bed motionless for two years.”

“Oh,” Mia nodded. “but he will be able to walk, right?” Mia asked the question that everyone had on his mind. They all held their breath waiting for the determined answer, with Jason slipping his fingers through Mia’s.

“With the required physical therapy, he will be able to walk normally and adjust to everything as before.”

“And how long will it take for that to happen?” Adrian asked as he knew RRick was an impatient man.

“Well, it depends on the patient.” Doctor Fredjeck replied. “Some get fed up of the physical therapy or simply lose hope if the process is taking too long.”

“Okay…” Ben let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as the other three nodded. “So, are we able to see him now?”

“Yes, you may.” Doctor Fredjeck nodded, and for the first time since both Mia and Jason assigned him for Rick, he held a genuine smile. Not the fake or forced smile, no! it was a real, genuine one. They didn’t only witness one miracle today, no! they witnessed two!

Dr. Fredjeck dismissed himself, leaving the nervous atmosphere among them.

“Are we ready?” Ben asked, not recognizing his breathless voice.

“Oh my god, we are really going to see him.” Mia was freaking out. “he is really awake!” She hugged Jason tightly as he wrapped his arms around her, freaking out himself but silently.

“Shall we, then?” Adrian took a deep breath as they all nodded.

“We shall.” And then Jason was opening Rick’s hospital room.

The first thing their eyes landed on is Rick’s body in a sitting position. Not Rick’s motionless laying body with machines attached to him. His eyes were open, unlike every single time they came to visit him. The only thing that didn’t change from the previous visits is his pale skin, thin body, and long hair that reached his shoulders now with the little beard covering his face. Rick always wanted to have a beard, but not that thick and bushy one. He wanted the attractive kind of beard that made all ladies turn his way.

They all were standing by the door, frozen like a statue. They couldn’t believe that they were face to face with Rick. They were looking into his vibrant eyes, those teasing eyes that they missed. However, his eyes held that weird glint in them. A glint that aroused an unsettled feeling inside Mia’s guts.

Something was wrong. She thought to herself as she kept studying the guy that she has been praying for him every single day for the past two years.

“Rick…” Jason was the first to approach. “We missed you man!” his voice with thick with emotions, his eyes getting blurry from the happy tears that threatened to fall.

Suddenly, Rick frowned, mumbling the next words that made Jason freeze in his tracks. “Who are you?”