I didn’t wake up blinded by bright lights, nor did I gradually wake up. I woke up with a start. My eyes opened abruptly, and I gasped, as if I was just waking up from almost drowning. Unlike what you see in the movies, I didn’t look around quietly, analyzing my surroundings. I knew where I was. I knew what happened. I was completely and utterly aware.

“Vic?” He was sitting in a chair close to my hospital bed, his arm on mine and his head on my shoulder.

“Oh! You’re awake,” he looked up at me, then sighed into my shoulder. “Thank you, God,” he breathed.

“Where’s Tony?” I asked. I was still worried about him. That was the only thing I was unclear of.

“Darling, I told you he was okay. Just muscle damage in his right shoulder. Nothing serious,” he said. “In fact, he’s on his way over here right now,” he added.

“How is he supposed to play the guitar with muscle damage in his right shoulder?” I asked. My voice was scratchy and uneven.

“He’s not,” Vic responded. “We cancelled the rest of the tour,” he said.

“No! You can’t do that! You can’t do that to your fans!” I retorted.

“We,” he emphasized. I guess I still struggled with the concept that I was a part of them, too. That I had fans. That we had fans. “And we refunded all of their money and are somehow going to make it up to them,” he finished.

“How? You know they don’t care about the money,” I said.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “But we will, I promise. Jaime was thinking about letters.”

That was so thoughtful, and I knew that a handwritten letter from my favorite band would make up for a cancelled tour. “That’s a lot of letters,” I whispered. It seemed logistically impossible.

“Well, we do have a lot of time, now,” Vic said kindly.

“Are you mad?” I asked shyly.

“Mad? At what?” he looked truly confused.

“That I had to go get myself shot and shit, and now the tour is cancelled. I know that couldn’t have been easy,” I said quietly.

“That was not your fault,” he said firmly. “And want to know what would have been harder? Losing you, or Tony,” he said. “Cancelling sucks, but I think we have a good enough excuse. I’ve already gotten countless tweets and messages from fans, concerned about you guys,” he added.

“Okay,” I said quietly, closing my eyes. My head hurt. Vic brushed his hand across my forehead and cheek. He held his hand on the side of my face, sweeping over my chapped lips with his thumb.

“What happened to… to…” I stuttered, remembering my attacker.

“Shot and arrested. Not dead, though,” Vic said sharply. I nodded. Vic leaned over and kissed my forehead. “The guys should be here soon,” he said. Should I tell him that I knew my attacker before he finds out on his own? That he could easily escape jail and come from me? That we had a history…

“Claire Bear!!!!” Jaime and Mike exclaimed happily, bursting into the room with several balloons, a giant card, and a massive stuffed bear.

“Hi Hi-Me, Mike,” I giggled.

“How do you feel buddy?” Jaime asked, planting a kiss on my forehead.

“Better now,” I smiled. Mike ruffled my hair. “This is cute,” I added, carefully embracing the giant teddy bear. My abdomen was tight and painful from where the bullet had exited, and my back, where the bullet entered, hurt even more. I tried to ignore it, though.

“Here, look at this,” Jaime took the teddy bear and replaced it with the over-sized card. “Feel better, Claire Bear!” it said on the front. I opened the card, and I almost started crying. In the middle were messages from Jaime, Vic, Mike, and Tony, each about a paragraph long. Surrounding the notes, though, were signatures. A lot of signatures. “Is this…?” I began.

Jaime nodded. “We had fans sign your card,” he grinned.

“How did you have time to do this? Oh, this is wonderful! Thank you so much!” I cried.

“Babe, you’re welcome, but didn’t you know? You were in a coma for six days,” Jaime said.

“You lost so much blood, you literally died twice,” Mike added very quietly.

At first I didn’t say anything. Then I turned to Vic, who, looking tormented, buried his face in my shoulder again. I just squeezed his hand, and then all I said was, “Oh.”

“You almost died because you were reacting to my dumb-ass move,” I heard Tony say, who was now quietly standing in the doorway. His arm was in a sling.

“Shut up,” I said. “I’m not dead, so that incorrect statement is irrelevant,” I said. “Come here,” I raised my free right arm, and Tony made his way over to me, hugging me with his left.

“Love you, sis,” he mumbled.

“Love you, too, Tone,” I said.

“So, when can we get out of here?” I asked, shifting uncomfortably.

“A few days, I guess,” Vic said. “Hopefully soon,” he added.

“Can I walk?” I asked, unsure. What happens to your legs when you are in a coma for six days?

“You should probably wait for the doctor to come in before you do that,” Jaime said. I nodded.

“Are you tired?” Tony asked.

“I’ve been asleep for six days, I’ve never been more awake in my entire life.”

Notes

CHAPTER 6!
Thank you so much to all of my readers, subscribers, and comments!

I couldn't handle the pressure of the suspense for you guys, so I decided to go ahead and post chapter 6.
This chapter is kind of short, so i'll be posting chapter 7 immediately after, because it is finished, also.

:)