Chapter 150

I woke up to an annoying buzz and distant voices speaking gibberish. Even with my eyes closed, the room was way too bright.

My head felt like I'd been on a year-long bender and the lights and the buzzing weren't helping. Neither was the gibberish.

I got my eyes to open a bit. Then I tried to figure out what I was seeing. The ceiling was white. The section of wall I could see was white too. There were no white rooms in my house. White rooms are for rentals and vacant houses. I'd had every room painted or papered when I moved in. Plus Yann and Janos had done quite a bit of redecorating.

Unless this was a hospital.

If this were a hospital, and I had a massive head wound, then white walls would make perfect sense. Yann was only my gardener. Janos didn't exist.

I closed my eyes again. I knew it was a dream. I knew it. I was going to have to fire the boys; there was no way I was going to be able to look at them the same way. Then again, maybe not. Dreams fade. I'd probably be over it by the time I was released.

"Izz jews avake?" Someone said. "Open z eyez."

German? Did I go to Germany? That would explain how I thought up the twins. I did manage to pry my eyes open. My vision was blurry. And echoed. There did seemed to be two of them. But there could have been six. But he - or they - were blond and cute. The subconscious is an amazing thing.

I tried to speak and moving my jaw sent spikes of pain through my skull. I also began to notice that it hurt to breathe. In fact, generally, I just hurt.

The German nurse moved away. I closed my eyes again.

Almost immediately, someone was calling my name. "John? John? Open your eyes."

I managed to open them again. This time the one-to-six people over me was a grey-bearded black guy. He voice was still distorted, but it was more English than gibberish.

"Very good!" He nodded. "Ok, John, do you understand what I'm saying?" I started to speak and got the pain spikes again. I tried to nod, but that was even worst. "Ok. Let try this: squeeze my hand once." I wasn't even sure where my hands were so I squeezed both just to make sure I had one. The right one was holding something. "Good! Now squeeze my hand twice." I squeezed it twice. "Excellent! Ok, John, you're in a hospital. You were in an accident and you were hit on the head. You've been unconscious for a while, but we've stitched you all up and you're healing right on schedule. Squeeze my hand twice if you understood all that."

I squeezed twice. Of course I understood. I'd been living in a fantasy for two years. Dream time. Who knows how long I'd actually been out.

The doctor checked a few things, poked and prodded. "Well, John, I'm impressed! Your family told me that you did tend to recover quickly." Family? What family. I don't do family. "Oh. Here." He reached beside my head and removed something.

All of a sudden, sound became much clearer. "You were disturbed by even slight sounds when they first brought you in. There was some bruising to your ear canal, but that seems to be healed now. Let someone know if that returns." I started to open my mouth but he stopped me. "Your jaw hurts because the right cheekbone was fractured. You also broke two ribs. I'll go over all the damage when you're a little more focused. For now, just rest. Your mother is here and she's handling everything." He left.

Mother? My mother? My mother lived in California, last I heard. I hadn't gotten so much as an email since she got there - which was fine with me. I didn't have anything against her, I just didn't really care. I guess she did. I fell asleep trying to remember what she looked like.