Laura and the Oak tree

"Get him...operation room...doesn't have long." The voice crashed through me, suddenly there were a thousand things all happening at once. I had a mask over my mouth. I was laying down but I was moving so quickly. Double door after double door. It jutted the bed I was on, shaking me about, everytime that little bit harder.

"What's his name?"

"Jack!" This voice was familiar, I couldn't see her though, I couldn't see anything. What was happening?

I opened my eyes, they were frightened by the light, taking a few seconds to adjust. The noise had stopped. I was all alone. There were so many people a second ago. I pulled the face mask off and let it drop to the side. I was rigged up to heart monitors and all sorts of sensors. There were wires attached to me and drips, they were uncomfortable and I wanted to rip them out but they may be keeping me alive so I left them. My head was screaming at me, my brain feels like its swelling up and pushing against my skull. I must be in a hospital. The pale blue walls and the sickly white floor was a big clue. My body felt so rigid, I couldn't sit up, everything was so tight.

"How you feeling?" A voice said behind me, it took me by surprise.

"Huh." I said, not really saying anything, it was more of a grunt.

"Yeah, I know how you feel."

"Who are you?" I said, trying to turn my head to see him but he was right out of sight. Hiding in the shadows behind my bed.

"I'm a friend. How's that head?" He said.

"I think my head is about to explode." Just thinking is angering it.

"Haha, yeah don't worry it soon goes away."

"Where are all the doctors?" I asked, I could see the light of the hallway creep in through the tops of the doors, they had a small pane of glass in the middle. It looked really busy out there, shadows of the people criss crossing the light.

"They will be back soon, do you remember anything from the accident?" He said, his tone changed slightly, it became a little bit high pitched. Accident? I was confused for a moment until I realised I was laying in a hospital bed.

"I think...wait was I...sorry I don't remember. Why don't I remember?" I said, asking this stranger something he couldn't answer.

"Ah, I thought as much, when that headaches starts getting better then it should start coming back to you." He said, his voice was so confident, it was familiar but I couldn't place it, he was young though ,but he was old at the same time by the way he spoke. He had this curious inflection on the edge of his tongue, as if this was all old news to him but he was still standing there confident in his words regardless.

"Can't you tell me what happened? And where's Laura? I heard her on the way in."

"She's still here, she came in to see you earlier but you were asleep." How long has he been in this room with me? My back was freezing, it felt like I was laying on a slab of metal. I tried to wriggle out of the discomfort but my body was still being difficult, deciding to be lazy and not listen to me.

"Why am I awake? Shouldn't I be resting or something?" I said, I assumed after what had happened I should be in some sort of drugged fueled slumber.

"I don't know, sometimes it just happens apparently. You just wake up when you shouldn't. That's why I'm here? How's that head feeling?" He said. It was getting better, the tantrum that my squishy brain was having was settling, my vision was in and out though, they couldn't draw focus.

"Better." I said.

"Shouldn't be long now." He said, he sounded quite ominous, I didn't really understand what he was saying half the time. As if he was talking to someone else at the same time.

"Are you a doctor?"

"Of sorts, you could say. More of a helper."

"What does that mean?"

"Well...it's hard to explain." Wow thanks for that, this guy is getting more ambiguous by the second. The shadows outside the door were slowing down. The light seeping through the door becoming a lot less noisy, clearer.

"Can you come round where I can see you? My necks killing me trying to turn it back there." He didn't say anything, I heard a faint sigh from the shadows and he peered around into my vision. He was wearing a leather jacket, it was the first thing I could see, the rest of him was a blur. I could make out the faint beard he had as if he hadn't shaved this morning. I was expecting a white doctors coat.

"Not what you were expecting huh, I get that a lot. How's that head?" He said, the theme to our conversations starting to wear a little thin.

"It's fine. Why?"

"How fine?"

"What's the matter with you?" The shadows outside of the door were moving faster now, as if they were trying to get in. It was scaring me slightly, this was all too weird. I want Laura.

"Where's Laura?"

"She is waiting for you. Don't worry."

"What the hell does that mean!?" I said getting frustrated, I wasn't getting one clear answer and it was infuriating. My eyes glazed over for a moment, the room began to spin, or was it my eyes?

"How's your head?"

"Erm...I don't know I feel dizzy." I said.

"This is happening quicker than usual. Okay. You're going to get a bit of a shock in a minute but you're going to have to trust me. Everything is going to be alright." He was scaring me now, what did he mean? His voice started to fade into the ether, I blinked my eyes, hard. The soft glaze wiping away slightly. My back was so cold, it was piercing into my body, it wanted to get to my heart, the shiver up my spine being it's weapon. I opened my eyes wider, the man was stood closer to me now, he was looking straight into my soul. "I'm going to be honest with you Jack, you're not okay." He said, the words ripped me in two. I didn't understand, and we fear what we don't understand. He moved back out of my vision. I looked down to my feet. "You're not connected to any heart monitors Jack, that's why you can't hear any beeping." He said. I scanned my arms, nothing. I looked over my shoulder, there was nothing but the blackness. The shadows making their assault on my bed. The room was so dark, just one beam of light over me. I pivoted my head, looking down to my side. The cold I felt. I'm not on a bed. I started to cry, I couldn't control it, my eyes and soul breaking down and giving up. "Everything's okay Jack."

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm on a slab. I'm starting to see things. Tell me what's happening? Please..." I pleaded with him, sobs littering my plea.

"You were in an accident. Do you remember?" He said. Lights and colours flashed across my eyes.

"I don't know. Sort of, I was in a car. I remember the car...I think we crashed...I can see an oak tree." I stopped, the memory was hurting me. I didn't want to know. I refuse to know. The man looked away from me, his eyes dropped to the floor.

"You didn't make it." He whispered, the words lingered in the air for what felt like an eternity. I mumbled some gibberish, I couldn't form a coherent sentence.

"I want to see Laura." I said, managing to scrape a few words together.

"You will, I said she was waiting for you." He said, it dawned on me before he finished his sentence... I wasn't driving.

"Why am I awake?" I said.

"I don't know, sometimes people just linger, they get stuck slightly before they leave. That's where I come in. I ferry the recently past. I make sure you get across safely." Safely? The shadows in the room were closer than before, they were sliding up the table. "Look at me Jack, you have to close your eyes okay, you have to let me take you from here. If you close your eyes, I will disappear."

"But so will I." I said, I was screaming inside, why was this happening to me? This can't be real it's all a dream. I can't be dead.

"Yes but you'll be free of this place. You'll be with the ones you love."

"I'm scared."

"I know." He said, the fear he sees in me, so familiar to him, so normal.

I was staring him straight in the eyes, not breaking contact. My peripherals warning me of the impending darkness. If I close my eyes they'll get me, the shadows will get me.

"They can't get you Jack." He said, reading my mind. "You won't be alone." He said, his eyes showed me his soul. I felt warm, it flowed through my body. My heart rate slowed down. My breathing calmed. I trusted him, a man I've never met. A man I don't even know the name of. But in this moment I trusted him with my life. With my soul. He nodded to me, he could feel the warmth too. "She's waiting for you." He whispered. I hope so. The shadows entangling my legs and making their way up my body. Laura and the oak tree. The last thing I see.

I close my eyes.