Chapter Three

Chapter Three 

‘...Well, what the hell happened to her?’ 

‘I don’t know sir, I was just out walking my pups and came across her’. 

‘Well, something fucking happened! I want to know what!’. 

‘Calm down Sebastian. Just be grateful he got there when he did’. 

A heated discussion cut through my sleep. It felt like I had been asleep for years, a deep sleep at that, but not a good one. I felt awful. My head was pounding and I ached all over. As I started coming around a little more, I could still hear the conversation going on somewhere in the close proximity, but I was more aware of loud beeping. 

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

Where was that coming from? 

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

I blinked a few times with my eyes still closed before I opened them slowly and a bright white light invaded my vision. I had to close my eyes again instantly. It took a few more tries before I was able to open them properly and take a look around the room. 

Everything was white and looked sterile. This was a hospital. I was in a hospital, why? 

….and then everything came flooding back! 

I shot up, panicking, confused, scared. My eyes found my parents and they came rushing over. Mum started pushing my hair out of my face while my dad fumbled to hug me, the affection he didn’t often give. 

More and more memories started to invade my head and it became too overwhelming and I burst into tears. 

‘W-where is he?’ I sobbed. They ignored me and just kept fussing. The door opened, making them both instantly pull away from me. A doctor, an older man, stepped in and asked to speak to my parents privately. 

Privately? It was obviously ABOUT me, why couldn’t I hear too? 

They left the room and closed the door behind them. The curtain was pulled closed so I couldn’t even see them. It wasn’t until then that I realized someone was in the room with me. 

A guy. A guy I didn’t know. 

It put me on edge, which must have reflected on my face because he instantly held his hands up, as if to show he wasn’t a danger... That didn’t mean anything to me right now… 

‘Hi, I’m Toby’. 

‘Hi..’ I heard the wariness in my own voice. 

‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you or anything, I just wanted to make sure that you’re ok’. 

‘Why? I don’t know you’. The comment came across ruder than intended. 

‘Valid point. I um…’ He scratched the back of his head, as if he was uncomfortable, ‘I’m the one who called the ambulance for you. I found you..’ He trailed off again. 

‘Oh’. I was honestly lost for words, but my manners kicked in pretty quickly after, ‘Thank you. Thank you so much… god knows what would have happened if..’ and then I remembered, ‘The dogs! There was a large group of dogs, they attacked Jason, I thought they were going to attack me too!’. 

‘No, no, no, Those were mine. We saw what was happening and they raced over to protect you. They would have never hurt you’. 

‘Your dogs? How many dogs do you have?!’ He smiled. 

‘Quite a few. I couldn’t help but smile back. 

‘Thank you’. I repeated. 

‘You have nothing to thank me for’. We just stayed in silence for a few minutes, but it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. The door opened and my parents came back in again. Mum came rushing over to me, while dad said something to the guy, Toby, I think, and they shook hands. 

‘What did the doctor say?’ I asked, curious. 

‘Now you’re awake, they want to observe you for a few hours but you should be able to leave today’. 

‘How long have I been here?’ 

‘Just since last night’. I found myself watching my dad and Toby, deep in conversation, that is until I heard mum say something about checking out. 

‘Wait, what? Checking out? I don’t want to go home’. We still had over 2 weeks of our holiday left, I didn’t want to go home yet!

‘Your father and I just think it's best if you recover in the comfort of home’. I shook my head. 

‘No, I want to stay!’. I really did. This was our holiday for christ sake! Something I had been looking forward to for nearly a year, since they told me we were coming here. ‘Where’s Jason, what happened to him?!’ I looked back over at the two men talking, and they were looking back at me. 

‘Well..’ It was Toby who spoke, ‘After my dogs stopped him..’He paused, ‘He ran off. He was pretty much worse for wear, so, I very much doubt he will be showing his face around here again anytime soon’. Well, that made me feel a little bit better. 

‘I thought he was staying at our hotel?’ 

‘No, He’s not registered on the guest list of the hotel, and the police said the CCTV shows him coming into the hotel to meet you. He definitely wasn’t staying there’. God, was anything he said true? Probably not. He clearly had all of these intentions when he met me on the boat. 

The thought gave me chills. 

What a monster! 

‘Listen, sweetheart, the police want to talk to you, When you feel up to it, ok?’ I just nodded. Mum smiled sadly and got. ‘We’ll leave you to rest for now’. 

‘Ok’. I laid back down and pulled the covers up. I hope I get to go back to the hotel tonight. I hate hospitals, I don’t want to be here…