The Stygian's Eye (Shadow Stalkers 1)
Page 4
CHAPTER FOUR
STRANGE IMAGES FLASHED before Darian's eyes as he tried to adjust to the light in the room. His head hurt and his body felt a bit colder than usual. He wasn't exactly sure where he was, but he could smell the ammonia and cleaner smell that all hospitals seem to have. He tried his best to focus his vision on something nearby in the hopes that the slight swirling effect of his vision would subside.
"Mr. Lane?" a soft feminine voice sounded to his right. "Can you hear me, sir?"
Darian turned his head the best he could to his right to see who was talking to him. He could just barely make out the form of a person standing next to him with one hand holding onto his wrist.
"Glad to see you're awake, Mr. Lane. You gave us quite a scare there when you came in."
Darian's vision started to clear somewhat and he saw the nurse standing beside him taking his pulse. She smiled down at him as he blinked away the last of the fogginess from his sight. Glancing around the room, he noticed that it was a typical room, filled with typical hospital amenities. The nurse looked down at Darian and started to examine the rest of his body.
"How long have I been here?" Darian seemed to recall driving through town on his way to the gas station, and then a flash of light as he was being pushed down a hallway in what he assumed was the hospital. Other than that, he had no idea what was going on or why he was even here in the first place.
"It's been about two weeks since you came in. We had to induce a coma so that your body could relax and start healing. It was pretty touch and go there for a little while. We even had to do CPR on you while we were pushing you down to the OR."
Darian had a flash of the pressure on his chest and realized that was when they were attempting to resuscitate him before getting him in for surgery.
"What happened to me? Was it a car accident or something?" Darian was confused as to why he was there and hoped that his car wasn't completely totaled and hauled off to a junk yard somewhere.
"You don't remember what happened to you?" The nurse seemed confused and a bit nervous at his questioning. "I'll get the doctor to come in and he can explain everything, along with answering any questions you might have."
With that, the nurse briskly walked out the door, closing it behind her as she left. Something bad must have happened, but Darian couldn't piece anything together. It seemed like his entire world was falling apart and all he wanted were answers to his questions. He let his eyes close as he lay there in silence, wondering what was going on, when he heard a sound coming from his bathroom. He tried once more to turn his head to see what was causing the sound, but the pain was pretty intense.
Just as he was starting to turn his head back to make the pain go away, he saw what appeared to be a hand holding onto the door frame of the bathroom with a shadowed face peering out above it.
Darian jerked his head back towards the bathroom to see who was standing there, but saw nothing. The pain shot down his spine and he found himself trying to sit up and open his eyes. He looked around the room and noticed that the clock on the wall had shown him that he had been sleeping for an hour since the last time he checked.