When I wake up, everything is dark.

There is no noise, no people there, nothing to see or hear save the faint but constant beeping coming from somewhere beside me. But now, no, there is noise, and the faint murmur of voices is rousing me from the darkness, and there is something there that I cannot quite remember, something that lingers on the edge of my subconscious.

Voices, voices talking and yelling and shouting and arguing...

One voice above them all...

Noah..

Noah?

"Lillia?"

Did I say that out loud?
I can't quite remember

"Lillia, stay with us"

It is too much work
Noah it is too much work

And I let the tides carry me back underwater.

***

"Lillia woke up before, I'm telling you!"

"That's highly unlikely."

I wake up to the sound of squabbling and rain pattering at the window.

I blink, faintly, and open my eyes, rubbing them to get the sleep-sand out.
"Noah? Mom?"

"Oh, thank god," my mother says, rushing to me. "How do you feel? Do you want a drink? Food? Us to leave? Us to stay? A-"

"I'm fine."

"I can't believe-" she breaks off and shudders "-it's just.."

"Hard," I supply.

She laughs, a tearful, relieved laugh. "Yes, I guess."

I hear a thud, and remember Noah's still here; sure enough, when I turn to face him, he's rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and trying to avoid looking at the glass he just knocked to the floor.

"Lucky it didn't break," I tease, and he smiles.

"Hey, I need to talk to you about something." He looks abnormally serious.

"I'll leave you to it," my mom smiles, and leaves the room.

"So, what was it?"

He kneels down by the bed as if to be eye level with me, and somehow, I'm not sure I like it. He looks too serious. "Do you remember anything from right before the accident? During it?"

"What?"

He remains silent.

"Um, not really. It's a blur. I remember us walking to school together, like normal, and running into the road. That's it, though." I can't shake the feeling there's something I'm missing. "Why?"

"It's fine."

I'm almost annoyed at him now. "Noah, spit it out!"

"Seriously, nothing."

I decide to leave it for now, if only because I'm too tired to think straight.

A nurse comes in, bustling over to me, and does a double take when she sees Noah. "Are you sure you want to be here after Christina?"

Huh?

He glances to me for a second, and I could be imagining it but it seems he looks slightly guilty. The nurse looks at me too, and after checking my blood temperature and the like she says she'll leave now.
"You should be able to go home in a week or so, but you've broken your leg pretty badly. You'll have to wear a cast."

Once she's gone, I turn to Noah.
"What was that?"

"What?"

"That Christina girl. Who's she and how come I've never heard of her?"

A shadow passes over his face, and he sticks his hands in his pockets. "Just concentrate on getting better."

I scoff, annoyed at that poor attempt of a redirection. "Helpful."
Before he can interrupt, I continue talking. "Anyway, I am fine," I say wincing. Man, that was counterproductive.

"Sure, Lils."

I smile at the childhood nickname, and he smiles too.

"Hey, wait! You can't just distract me like that. I need to know who this girl was!"

His smile vanishes as quickly as it appeared. "Don't push it."

"But-"

"She was my girlfriend, and she was terminally ill, and I broke up with her, and she died at this very hospital," Noah snaps, and immediately looks horrified at himself.

Shit.
What did I just do?

He walks out of the room without another word.

//

Hey y'all!
Sorry for not updating this story in like, four months.
Oops.
I have a lot of ongoing works right now, and this isn't a very high priority, but I was convinced to write another chapter by the wonderful Evangeline273 !! <3.
Yeah, so next chapter will be out soon.
Thanks if you're still reading!