Chapter 28: Pain

"He has a fractured rib in a few spots, his elbow was pushed out of place and pushed back into place in the wrong direction. He had multiple infections in his blood, his wrist is broken, he seems to have a concussion that has entered his mental state. His body had lost a lot of blood due to the injuries he sustained, it had gotten worse by getting up and causing his stitches to open back up." The doctor shook her head at the parents and police who stood outside of the patient's room. "You are causing him stress, he had gotten up because you were not watching over him."

"That is not our fault." The father crossed his arms.

The doctor gave a slight glare, annoyed at the stubborn man. "You were in the room with the patient, therefore had the right to make sure he stayed in bed where he would not get himself hurt." She turned away from the parents, facing Officer Terry. "I am sorry, but I cannot allow you to enter the patient's room right now. He is still reeling from the trauma, questions will force his mind to react defensively."

"I don't think you understand," the grown man shook his head. "He is the only one that can help solve this case and find the one responsible."

"I do understand," she responded firmly. "If you continue to interrogate him, his mind will become defensive, which might result in memory loss."

The man sighed, his eyes rolling ever so slightly. He turned away, leaving with final words. "I need to speak with him when he is ready."

As he left, Cameron's mother came forward to take his place in front of the doctor. "He is my son! You cannot keep me away from him."

"I have evidence to believe you are causing him more bad than good." She quickly stopped her from pushing past. "If you do care for him, you will let him rest alone."

"None of this is our fault!" The father joined her to argue with the woman. "He has a mind of his own. So don't blame us and let us back in-"

The arguing continued, from inside of the room, Cameron was laying sideways on the cold mattress. His hand was cuffed to the bed, he tried to rip it off, pulling hard against the restraints which only made his wrist below through the bandage to bleed even more. It was too much pain drilling into his head, that along with the drugs in his system made his strength melt away.

Which left him to lay lifeless in the bed in the now dark room. He heard everything from outside, his parents shouting made him squeeze his eyes shut. His head pounded hard against his skull, he felt like throwing up.

The IV was connected to him once again, so he was basically fully trapped in the room. He was cuffed to the bed and his body was connected to the machines next to him. The darkness swarmed in, the need for silence caused his eyes to tear up. His parents screamed like a banshee, they were always so annoying.. always fought over stupid things.

They didn't care..

Cameron only wished to be with the people he did care for… But he couldn't. They were gone, and he had to accept that.

He was alone, alone once again but this time for good.

His fist tightened up, turning his knuckles white at the force. He teared up once again, biting his lip hard.

Why did it have to hurt so bad? Why did he have to lose them?

He wanted to apologize so badly to Loire, he was a total jerk to her at the very start when all she wanted was to be friends. He would never get the chance to apologize to the bright faced girl, he wondered if her parents would care? He wondered if it even mattered to them that their little girl was dead…

He didn't know Vinh that well, she never really talked to him or anyone for that matter. What he did know a lot about her was her love and loyalty to the ones she cared for. He figured that she had gone through things in life that had harmed her since he had witnessed her freaking out.

He wished he could have known more about her, to sympathize with the girl who was going through so much pain alone.

But that is where Marie came in, she gave the sad girl something bright to look at. Cameron could see that the way she looked at her, that she cared deeply for that child. It was why he believed that Vinh sacrificed herself to save Marie. When they had found her… Marie was hidden, safe.. that left the older girl for dead…

Cameron closed his eyes tightly, curling on himself while his heart raced. His eyes watered

from under the roof of his lids.

The more he thought about it, the more pain he was experiencing. He will never get to see them again.

"Hk.." The boy sobbed, darkness swarming his blurry vision. His body felt so weak, so lifeless with the drugs overtaking his vision.

His hand slowly lifted to his face, his bandaged fingers rubbing his cheek gently. It was nowhere as warm as Kim Seo's fingers were. The older boy had touched him so gently, he looked at him with hope and happiness. He hadn't seen that boy look actually.. peaceful..

Why did he have to look peaceful during his final seconds? It wasn't fair.. the boy didn't deserve that, none of them did.

No one deserves that…

His hand fell from his face, his eyes looking off into the dark room casted in blue light, it was so unwelcoming. So cold and alone. He was alone, the grownups who didn't put effort into raising him meant nothing. The only ones who actually seemed to mean anything to him were gone.

"I promise to protect you.."

Kim Seo had promised him that he would protect him. And he had, he had protected the other boy with his own life.

But Cameron couldn't help but ask the same thing over and over again.

Why?

Why did he go far to protect him, to keep him alive? He had no purpose in life, he meant no use to anyone. He was useless, unable to defend himself, unable to keep the ones he liked safe. Both Marie and Kim Seo, he failed both of them because he was just useless in helping them. 

So why was he still alive?

Why was he the one to survive?

WHY did he have to live and the others didn't?

WHY WAS HE THE ONE HERE?

…And not the others?

"I promise to protect you…" The boy whispered under his breath, his eyelashes soaked with his own tears. He couldn't help but scoff, turning his face into the wet pillow below him. 

"What a joke…"

He was unable to keep track of the time. He was kept locked in the room, the doctor allowed the cuffs to be taken off as long as the doors were always locked. Cameron had only been able to see her along with a couple of nurses coming in and out to bring food and extra bandages.

Other than that, he was left alone in the room. It had a TV, though nothing was interesting on it, the teenager was unable to focus on anything. He had noticed that some officers stood outside of his door, talking loudly to the nurses to be allowed to question him a couple of times.

They were turned away from the doctor who was watching over him. His parents, it was his choice if he wanted to see them or not. The lady asked him a few times if he wished to see them, some part of him did want the company, the loneliness was suffocating him in the room

But when he did allow them, his father was spitting rage at him.

"I know you're hurt, but keeping us out? Don't be fucking selfish."

"We only want to help. Let us help you." His mother would chirp in from time to time.

They continued to nag him, causing the boy's headache to spike and body to shake from anxiety at being yelled at. The next time the doctor asked if he wanted them in, Cameron sharply shook his head. The woman understood the answer, going out to shoo the parents away.

The teenager winced slightly at the angered voice of both of his birth givers.

"So that's how it's gonna be?" His dad yelled out from outside of the door. "You're an ungrateful brat, you know that?"

"Alright it's time for you guys to leave-"

The shuffling and final words of anger soon disappeared into the void. Cameron was curled up in the bed, his knees holding tightly into his chest with his arms covering his ears. His eyes were held tightly shut, trying hard to block out all the noise.

It was weird. He didn't like the silence, but when there was noise, he chose to cover it up.

Along with being alone, he didn't like the feeling it brought him. But he hated being around them, his own parents caused him to tense up and stress even more.

The only good part was the distractions it gave him to think about something else. He didn't want to remember what he had just gone through, where his friends ended up. How their gruesome fate took place, and how he had failed to help anyone to survive.

Being alone was a big enough reminder for his poor brain.

The days continued to travel by quickly. The nurses would come in to feed him, along with helping change his bandages and clothing. They had to go in pretty often to change his bandages that continued to fall off or get consumed in his blood. Cameron couldn't help but stare off with his anxious and absent mind. He would rip them away or itch some of his injuries under the bandages.

Along with that was the drug he was given. Well, it was medicine, but it might as well be drugs to him. He was pumped with them through the IV machines, entering his blood every night where he was trapped in the bed by the long IV. It made him drowsy, it made him feel limp and defenseless in the cold room.

To say it felt bad wasn't too true. It did help to numb the pain, very well actually. It numbed it just enough for the boy to fall into an endless sleep. The sleep that took away the hours and days, forming into weeks that he couldn't keep track of. He thought that maybe the doctor was doing it on purpose to make him more docile.

It didn't matter anyway, he had given up on trying to escape. He had nowhere else to go, his parents obviously weren't happy with him. He had no other choice than to stay here.

It was bringing him a sense of familiarity.. everytime he pulled on the door just to see if it was open. Everytime he sat as close as he could to the window to peer outside into the darkness. 

It was like a prison.

It was a prison. He knew what it felt like, back at Michi… The feeling of being trapped, of being monitored, his every step and move was watched and tracked. He knew he was never truly alone, he felt it, but he wasn't alone.

He knew he was never alone. The darkness swallowed him whole, it was just a peak of his life hanging out above from him, looking down at him sinking deeper and deeper. He was there the whole time, he was never alone even when he was with them. They made it obvious that he wasn't alone. 

Cameron had found himself sitting in the bed, his arms crossed around his knees, his eyes sore from crying and mind fuzzy with drugs. He believed he was seeing things, that he was hearing people talk who weren't even there.

He was feeling crazy and more hopeless.

The only thing he had was the memories of them and him. That is all he could think about, and all it did was make him feel worse. It made him claw at his skin, rip his clothing and tear his own hair out of his head just to get fucking rid of it.

He rocked back and forth on the bed, his hands holding onto him limp and weightlessly. The soft knock from the window caused him to flinch, turning his eyes to move. It was the soft *tuk of the rain, hitting the glass and running down onto the seal. The window was anchored shut, not able to let any of the soft pounding to come in, all he could do was stare out at it in the safety of his bed.

He should be safe. Being alone means you're safe..

The boy watched the water run down, his eyes following tirelessly. He thought that maybe he was seeing figures dance from outside of it. The darkness of the night running through his eyes. He knew it wasn't real, that nothing was there since he was alone.

He continued to watch, to observe. The rain hit harder, the soft clank of the window tilting effortlessly up and out made his eyes go wide. Nothing was opening it, there was no one there. He was the only one in the room..

The rain grew louder, the water running down onto the floor with more soft sounds. Cameron shook his head, the window tilting more up and forward, allowing a dark figure to start and make its shape from just outside of it.

It was big, covering up the whole view from the night sky into just a black void. Cameron shook his head miserably, the figure causing his blood to run cold and fingers to tremble. His eyes were red, sore and bruised from the endless sobbing. He quickly looked away, turning his head into his bare knees, forgetting about the blanket that hung from the side of the bed.

The rain was in the room, steps forming loud on the cold surface that allowed the water to run up onto the cold tiles. The steps were heavy, loud and clunking its way closer to him. He kept his eyes sewed shut, ignoring the cold presence that was stepping closer to him.

The sound was getting louder, the rain pounding hard on the glass, almost shattering it into splinters.

"No.. no no nononono…" He refused to look.

Cameron's body shook, his head constantly shaking back and forth as the sound just got louder and louder. Closer and closer he came, cold breaths falling towards his hair that caused his skin to shiver.

Just as all the sound grew to a peak, it was suddenly swallowed up by silence. There was no sound, only the soft sound of his monitor slightly beeping. Cameron kept his body curled up, his hands over his ears to block the eerie sound from consuming him. He stayed curled, his body numb to the pain and feverish cold climbing up onto the bed and over him, almost as a blanket made of water.

He couldn't have known how long he stayed, or how long he refused to make a move. There was no sound, his hands slowly moving away from his now numb ears. Slowly falling back onto the bed, Cameron took in gulps of air, allowing his pumping heart to spike up.

Air blew through his hair and into his ear, causing his body to buckle up and eyes to turn in the direction of the blowing air.

The large black figure was there. Staring right at him only an inch away. So close that his whole black abyss could consume all of the boy with one little more forward into his face. To suffocate him, grab and claw at his skin, forcing his mouth open wide to push its black smoke right into his throat, clogging his nose and pressing hard into his chest until he broke.

His body fell hard, smacking into the cold floor to desperately escape the dark abyss. His legs pushed him away, eyes wide and sweaty with fear as he watched the man glitch closer. He wasn't moving, he wasn't there!

"No! Please! Please no- NO!"

He tried to protect himself, curling back up into a ball to push more distance over the looming monster just above him. He couldn't see, his vision swarmed with darkness, his breaths felt labored and trapped in his own body.

His own body decided to abandon him, to leave him for dead.

He was suffocating, eyes trying to find something, something other than the endless darkness that took over his vision. His arms reaching out for something to hold onto, legs kicking useless at the consuming black smoke just over him, coming to his pitiful form in the forever darkness.

Why was it so loud?

Please just leave me alone… Please just make it stop!

Clawing at his own ears, scrambling on the floor to the wall trapping him from the back. He was just hoping for it to end.

He was grabbed at, pulled up and off from the coldness that tried to glue him to the floor. The noises became clear to him, shouting from the familiar voices of the nurses, the doctors that forced light to enter his vision, that forced the room to take shape back into his mind. 

His surroundings became clear, his eyes searching for the black figure, the man that was haunting his mind. He found no black mass, the window was still closed tightly, no water or even rain was evident to even exist. Only the sound of the people around him speaking, their words jumbled together, his arms pulled apart and away from his ears that felt sore and hot.

His hair was soaked in his own blood, though he couldn't even feel it. He could feel nothing but the numb pounding in his chest from his rapid beating from his heart.