When people say they have out of body experiences, you think they’re insane.  But now that I’m in effect, looking down at myself, I think it’s probably one of the most awesome experiences like ever.  It’s like you’re high, flying above the clouds.  You can see everything but they can’t see you.   The artificial lights of the hospital room seem dull compared to the light emitting from you’re body.  Nurses and Doctors walk through you as they bustle about your body to try and save you.  You feel at peace.

Then you’re yanked back to reality as they restart you’re heart, and that sucks.

“We have a heartbeat!” they yell above me.  Well no fucking shit, I mean you’d be shocked back to life if they electrocuted you!  They’re not very nice people at the best of times but now I hate them even more.  I crack one eye open, those hospital lights suddenly even brighter than before, “Shh, no yelly…” I managed to whisper, the drug they injected me with making me feel relatively high.  The nurse closest to me, the one who’s been trying to molest me since I was carted in, flashing me what she assumes to be a flirty smile.  Too bad it reminds me of the Grinch, creepy.

Then they’re gone and I’m alone.  I glace sideways at the charts, the IV drips and the machines.  All hooked up to keep me stable and alive.  They’d left me a radio, which was playing Christmas songs in the corner.  It was obviously meant to soothe me and put me in the Christmas spirit.  

Ho-fucking-ho.

Wait a minute, if it’s playing Christmas songs, then I’ve been unconscious for almost three weeks!  Oh my fucking god, I think, slapping my forehead.  I would be so far behind in my schoolwork it would be near impossible to catch up.  I manage at strangled groan, which sounds more like a growl before closing my eyes.  Yeah, cause sleep’s exactly what I want to do.  I want to know how my friends are, maybe finding out what the fuck happened would be nice you know.  The soft lyrics to ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ float on the air and I glare at the radio and I want to throw it at someone.

Maybe the flirty nurse.  

“Justin?” comes a quiet voice from the door and I cock my head, squinting in the darkness, “You’re not the ghost of Christmas past are you?” I asked, feeling immediately stupid as the person laughs softly, “No Jester!”

Well it’s a girl and only one girl calls me that.

“Hey Mollusk”, I say, shifting into a sitting position as my sister hugs me tight, “I snuck out the house and got here as the machines flat-lined, I was so fucking scared”.  Normally I’d have told her off for her language but I was glad she’d come to see me.  Craig had banned her from doing so but she was like me, I’d even snuck her onto Liberty once.  

Mom’s face had been priceless.

“You’re being sent home tomorrow.  Mom says you’ve to stay with her, but Brian’s allowed to visit…”  Molly likes Brian, she seems to have adopted him as her ‘brother-in-law’, he almost had an aneurism at that fact.   I grin at her, running my fingers through her feathery blonde hair as she lies on the bed beside me, snuggled against my side.

And that’s how the nurses found us in the morning, they weren’t sure how exactly Molly had snuck in unnoticed but when they woke me for my pain meds, I was glad she was still there.  Between us, we managed to manoeuvre me into moms car to head home.  My arm was in a sling and I was given a new form of anti-virus to inject once every two days until the virus was out my system.  What fun that will be.  Somehow, my sister managed to persuade mom to drop us at Liberty for a few hours.  I was still slightly high on pain meds, so an arm was slipped round my waist as we entered the diner and sat at a booth.

“Christ Sunshine, what happened to you?”

I look up at Debbie with heavy lidded eyes, a dopey yet tired grin on my lips as I shrug, “I’m not quite sure but please, don’t yell, I’m not in Bermuda…” I grumble, resting my head on my arm as I close my eyes ready for a sleep.  But sadly, my so called ‘friends’ have other ideas as Michael, Emmett and Ted bustle to the booth and sit down.

“Hey baby!” comes Emmett’s happy squeal which causes me to wince, “Shhh!” I whine, pouting slightly as Ted nods his hello and Michael grins, “Someone’s high”, he sings, only causing me to glare at him, “Someone’s tired, grumpy as hell and feels like shit so shhh!” I hiss, closing my eyes again as they three start to interrogate Molly, “Is he okay?  What happened?  He looks like shit?  Is he still up for Babylon?”  I roll my closed eyes, “No, he’s not okay, none of you’re business, thanks a lot and no”, I say loudly, causing them all to jump.

Obviously they’d forgotten I was there, what nice friends.

The door opens again and someone walks in.  Have you ever had the feeling you know who it is just when they walk in?  Well that’s what I felt and I knew it was Brian.  A few guys eyed him up, but he made a beeline for us, “Hey losers and baby Taylor…”  Oh surprise surprise, I wasn’t noticed.  Am I invisible?  I grunt, “Hello to you too Kinney!” I snap from my hiding spot.  Brian blinks and peers over Molly to her lap where my head had ended up cause it was quiet and dark on her lap.  Comfy too.

“Sunshine?”  Aww I confused Brian-fucking-Kinney so I take pity and glance up, “Boo…”  I feel awful, my stomach is crawling.  Literally and that’s when I know I need my injection.  “Molly?  Where’s my vial?” I ask quietly sitting up, looking at her as she digs into her bag and pulls out a syringe with the pink liquid in it, passing it to me discreetly.  It looks like something Emmett would like, and I’m giving it a wary glance.  Considering I’ve never used it, hell only knows if I’ll have an allergic reaction to it.  Slipping it under the table, I find my vein with the needle point and, staring at the wall, stab it into my vein, almost yelping in the pain as I inject myself.  I bite down on my lip, hard as I screw my eyes shut.  Molly looks at me in worry, the rest looking on in confusion as I open my eyes.

“Jester!” Molly all but screams, watching after me as I run for the bathroom, slamming into the side of a stall as I throw my head over the sink, puking up anything and everything I had in my stomach.  I look up into the mirror and my eyes widen. 

My normally bright blue eyes are now tinted slightly with titanium red.  And that can’t be a good thing.

And why the hell do I have Wednesday 13th ‘I walk with a Zombie’ in my head?!