Chapter 58: Out of the Dark

I had a sensation of being deep within a subterranean well. Maybe that's being too specific; it would be more accurate to say that the utter darkness and isolation I sensed was reminiscent of being confined within a well, or an underground cave. At intervals, I saw a source of light far in the distance, similar to a round hole of daylight viewed from the bottom of a narrow vertical aperture. Then, the light would disappear in the manner of an unknown object passing in front of a well entrance, or day turning into night. Over time, that light source seemed to on occasion draw miraculously ever closer to me, before retracting and sometimes even vanishing again. During those close approaches of the luminous entity, I could sometimes hear muffled voices, although they remained unintelligible and I could not identify their source. I could sense the presence of indistinct forms that suggested human bodies, but could not discern whether they were known to me.

As more time went by, the illumination moved closer, and actually enveloped me entirely for brief periods. My vision was clouded, however, and I was unable to perceive what lay within. Eventually, however, the state of light persisted. Slowly, things came into focus.

Still unable to move my head, I found myself staring at a spartan light blue wall, from a reclining position. I blinked my eyes. My head was throbbing, although I could sense no pain. Why can't I move? I thought. Am I paralyzed? I wiggled first my fingers, and then my toes, finding I had full control of both. With that question settled, I moved on to the next one. Why can't I move my head? The answer occurred to me in short order: I'd been immobilized somehow.

But where am I? I thought. Forcing myself to calm down so that my still-woozy brain could process all of the inputs it was receiving, I became aware of a repetitive beeping sound behind me. At the very edge of my peripheral vision, I noted an IV bag half-filled with solution hanging from a metal hook, with tubes snaking downward, obviously delivering nutrition into my veins. I'm in the hospital, I thought. In a hospital bed.

But ... why am I in the hospital?

In an instant, a cascade of memories washed over me. I remembered being on stage, singing and playing the guitar, and being smacked on the head. I'd obviously been knocked unconscious, but I clearly recalled everything right up to the moment of impact. At that, another memory popped into my conscious mind, one from much longer ago. What had happened the last time I'd been rendered unconscious?

I'd found myself in another timeline, that's what.

So ... it was within the realm of possibility that I had been somehow sent back to the other life. Or, even worse, yet another timeline. Hey, if there were two timelines in play here, who's to say there weren't three, or even more? Then, an even more terrifying thought crossed my scrambled brain. What if the whole experience had been a dream? What if there really never had been an Eileen or a Seamus? God ... what if my whole relationship with Inez was a complete fantasy!? What if I never really knew her at all!?

"No," I croaked, my voice sounding hoarse from disuse. "NO!" I started to have a panic attack, and I guess whatever monitors I was connected to came alive. I saw a nurse come running in and, perhaps as a defense mechanism, I slipped back into the black void of unconsciousness.

I don't know how long I remained out. I remember coming to, once again, and making a conscious effort to gauge my surroundings. Problem was, my head had been immobilized, which made that task damn near impossible. Unable to look around for visual clues, I attempted to rely on my other senses. I could hear the faint drone of a TV from another room, but no matter how hard I listened, I could not make head or tail of what I heard. I was helpless; I grew more and more frightened. Never mind panic; I actually approached a state of true terror.

And then, the answer to my questions arrived, in the form of a visit from an angel.

My angel.

She passed in front of my sight line, apparently near the foot of my bed. Her lovely eyes flew open with surprise, as she was struck with the realization that I was awake.

"Oh!" she cried, before disappearing from my narrow field of view. Not a second later, I could feel her familiar closeness, could detect a faint whiff of her perfume, could feel the brush of her gorgeous hair against my cheek as she moved in. She began raining kisses all over my face. Then, backing away for a second, she suddenly asked, "This doesn't hurt, does it?"

"Not even a little," I managed to get out. "I don't seem to be in any pain."

At that instant, she collapsed, her head resting on my chest. She began to cry softly; I could feel her tears soaking through whatever hospital garb I happened to be wearing. I discovered that I could move my arms, and I wrapped them around her as best I could. Had I been a little more coherent, I surely would have broken down as well. As it was, my mind was still trying to sort out what was real and what was not.

"Oh, sweetie," she told me, raising her head up slightly. "I thought I lost you. I really thought I lost you."

Despite the fact that I was lying in a hospital bed, being treated for as-yet-unknown injuries, that sentiment startled me.

"Wh-what happened to me?" I stuttered.

Inez hesitated briefly, appearing to measure her words. "We'll talk about that a little later ... doctor's orders. He wants you fully awake and clear of mind before we talk. But everything will be just fine."

"I need to know something," I whispered. "I didn't move to ... you know ... another timeline, did I?"

A soft smile came across her face. "Now I know you're okay. You'd never ask a question like that if you weren't."

I pressed the issue a little further. "I guess that means I didn't move through time again, right?"

"You didn't," she assured me. "And you'll be okay. The doctor said so."

A deep sense of relief overwhelmed me. Now, I was bursting with curiosity; I was dying to know what was going on. However, I decided not to push for any more information. My biggest concern had been addressed. At the same time, a rogue thought passed through my mind. Even if I was in another timeline, I thought, as long as Inez was there with me, I could live with it.

"Stay here with me, okay?" I asked her all of a sudden. I felt a need to have her near.

"I want to," Inez replied, her lovely brown eyes appearing somewhat downcast. "But you know how they are about visiting hours, especially here in intensive care. It's almost eight o'clock in the evening, so it won't be long until they kick me out. But I'm not leaving the hospital. I'm spending the night in the waiting room. I won't be very far away."

She rested her head on my chest for a few moments. I reflected on how much I needed her comforting presence, especially at times such as this.

Then, she moved to get up. "There are a couple of people outside who will be happy to hear you're awake. I think I'll go and send them in." She came around and gave me the sweetest of all kisses. "I love you."

"I love you too, angel."

The two people of whom she was speaking were, of course, my parents. My very weepy mother came in first, followed by my more subdued but no less concerned father. Both adhered to the "doctor's orders" edict, not divulging any information about how I'd wound up in this condition. After they left, a nurse entered the room.

"The doctor will be in to check on you in the morning. He said that he wants you to get a lot of rest tonight. That little panic episode you had earlier is nothing out of the ordinary, so we aren't too concerned about it. But just to be sure, I'm giving you something to help you sleep." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her fiddling with the IV bag. She bade me goodnight, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

In my mind, I could hear Inez screaming right before I'd somehow been knocked cold. She'd mentioned Danny's name. Was this Danny's work? Had he come back in search of revenge, after an absurdly long time? It sure seemed that he had.

As the 'something to help me sleep' pervaded my circulatory system and began to take effect, I asked myself a question. What would I have done if I'd actually been sent back to the previous timeline?

The answer, to me, was patently obvious.

I would have tried to love the other Inez, I told myself. Because underneath that ugly exterior, lurked the same beautiful person I know in this life. I would have loved her, and done all I could to coax that person out.

Although I was still wanting for answers, I drifted off into a slumber that was every bit as deep as the one that had preceded this brief awakening.

I awoke to find a bespectacled, middle-aged man in a white coat standing at the foot of my bed. Obviously a doctor, he was holding a clipboard and jotting something down. As I stirred and began to awaken, he glanced at me over his glasses.

"Good morning, Patrick," he said. "I'm Dr. Brewer. You seem to be doing quite well. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

"Umm ... you can say that again." As those words left my mouth, I discovered that I could now move my head freely. Whatever restraint had been in place had been removed.

"Let me give you an update on your injuries and your condition. You suffered a moderately severe concussion, and sustained a large but superficial scalp wound that required over thirty stitches to close."

"Th-that's all?" I stammered.

"That's all," he grinned. "Our major concern with you was your past history of severe amnesia that was never fully explained. We had to rule out the existence of hidden brain trauma that might have been aggravated by this current incident. For precautionary purposes, we placed you in an induced coma. You were brought out of it yesterday, after which you had a minor disorientation incident, which is entirely to be expected after being comatose for four days."

"Four days?" I spat out in astonishment.

"Yes," said Dr. Brewer. "Today is Wednesday the 29^th. Now tell me. How much of what happened last Saturday do you remember?"

"Pretty much everything." I gave him a detailed description of what had transpired, right up to the point where I'd lost consciousness. "The thing I'm dying to know is ... exactly what happened to me that night?"

"I think I'll let your family members – and that very devoted girlfriend of yours – tell you that part of the story," he said with a vague smile. "You're doing quite well. Quite well indeed. You can see that we removed the brace. Plus, I'm very encouraged by your total recollection of what happened. I'd like to keep you hospitalized for a couple more days, but I think I'll authorize your transfer from ICU to a regular room. Let's leave the gauze and bandages in place for now, though." I gingerly touched my head; I hadn't realized that the entire upper part of my head was wrapped in gauze. The doctor made a few more written notations, then once again turned his attention my way. "We'll have a couple of staff members move you downstairs, and I'll drop by later to see how you're doing."

Soon, I was wheeled down into my new home for the next two days, at the very least. It was a double room, but the other bed was vacant, at least for now. I couldn't get over it. I was out for four days? I've lost four days of my life, I thought. And it was completely unnecessary, at that. Then, I reconsidered the point, realizing that I had many years of 'extra time' that more than made up for the four days lost.

It wasn't but fifteen minutes after I'd gotten settled in my new digs when two visitors walked in. Two visitors that, although I was certainly happy to see each of them individually, I was thrilled to see arrive together.

My girlfriend ... and my sister.

Inez leaned in and gave me a kiss, and then sat on the side of the bed. Eileen, who was of course seeing me for the first time since I'd awakened, threw her arms around me, giving me a teary-eyed hug. "I was so scared, Pat," she sniffled. "So scared." She moved around to the other side of the bed, sitting down next to Inez. I was very touched to note that the two of them were actually holding hands.

"How do you feel today?" a concerned Inez asked me.

"Fine. There's almost no pain, and no dizziness or anything like that. Then again, the injuries have had a few days to heal." I looked back and forth at them both, and then pointedly at their hands. "You two seem to be doing much better," I said with a wry smile.

"Mi amor," said Inez, "give your sister a chance to speak to you. She wants to talk about her feelings about her big blow-up, and what happened afterward. I now understand what she was feeling, and you need to as well. Eileen has also volunteered to tell you the details about ... how you ended up in here."

A brief silence ensued, before Eileen broke it.

"It was Danny who put you in here."

"I knew that," I replied right away.

"You did?" said Eileen, sounding surprised.

I smiled over at my girlfriend. "I heard you scream, 'No, Danny!' right before ... it happened."

Inez nodded at me affectionately. I sensed that she was feeling a little guilty about Danny's involvement; that would have to be remedied as soon as possible. Perhaps that was why Eileen had volunteered to tell the story.

"Anyway, let me tell you what happened," began my sister, sounding a bit tentative. I saw Inez pat the back of her hand in encouragement. "Let's start from the very beginning. The cops filled us in about what Danny's been up to over the last couple of years, ever since ... you know.

"You remember that Danny was sentenced to probation. He was on it for over a year. He had to stay away from both Inez and our band. It sounds like he really went into a tailspin; the cops said he got heavily into alcohol and drugs. He also dropped out of school. Remember that he was a senior at the time, and he never graduated. But after his probation was up, he started to get his act together a little bit. He became curious about what happened to the band he used to belong to. He did some digging, and found that our band was way more successful than he could have imagined. And he found out that you, Pat – the one who broke his arm – had taken his place, and had stolen Inez's heart. It sounds like he flew into a rage. We know he's troubled and a little unstable. Once again, he started to backslide into drugs and alcohol. He began to plot revenge against you. He actually scoped us out a few times, hiding in the shadows while we played. He told the cop that he was at our Valentine's Day show, and just about every show after that, waiting for a chance."

Eileen paused to collect herself. Inez was looking away, biting her lip, appearing to be on the verge of tears.

I looked tenderly at them both. "Go on," I said softly to my sister.

"Well, obviously, last Saturday night he made his move. He was high on drugs at the time. 'Cocaine, and maybe one or two other things, ' the cop told us. He hid himself in one of the folds of that big tent, not too far from the stage, a little bit behind us. All of a sudden, I saw him come charging out. The look in his eyes, Pat – he looked like an absolute maniac. He was holding a wooden baseball bat."

"A baseball bat?" I blurted out in horror. "He hit me in the head with a bat?"

Another pause. "He was playing for keeps, Pat. There's no question about it. Dave was the first one to react. He jumped right over his drum set, and got there just as Danny was taking a swing at you. Dave got his hand in the way, and deflected the bat just enough to keep it from ... causing even worse damage. Dave ended up with three broken fingers on his right hand from the force of the bat."

"Jesus," was all I could mutter, too dumbfounded to say any more.

"Everyone agrees that Dave might have saved your life," my sister said in a voice scarcely above a whisper. I looked at Inez, wondering if maybe my sister was embellishing her boyfriend's heroics just a little. However, Inez nodded once again at me, a nod of confirmation.

"And then," Eileen went on, "Paul charged at Danny. Little Paul, the mild-mannered nerd, tackled him to the ground. That's when Dennis got there. He was watching from out in the audience. Dennis wrestled the bat from Danny, who was cursing and shouting like a madman. Dennis pretty much sat on Danny until the cops arrived and took charge."

As frightening as this whole tale was, I couldn't help but chuckle at that mental image. "When Dennis sits on someone, they aren't going anywhere."

Inez and Eileen exchanged nervous giggles; for them, nothing about this was a laughing matter at this point. And for me, the seriousness of the situation was beginning to sink in. Dave, Paul, and Dennis, my three best buddies, had unflinchingly placed themselves in harm's way in an attempt to protect me. They'd charged a drugged-out, bat-wielding lunatic on my behalf, without blinking an eye.