Damian flicked his eye’s open while half asleep, the surroundings were unfamiliar but he saw Jackson there with him, and he knew he was safe, so he drifted back into a deep sleep.

Damian awoke in a strange room, with his whole body aching. His whole body seemed to have no energy, and he felt like his head was splitting in half. Gradually he waited for the pain to subside before slowly opening his eyes. Startled by the fact he didn’t recognize his surroundings, he tried to move, only to be met with a wave of intense pain through his ribs and right leg. He took a deep breath and flicked his eyes around, taking in the sight, the blue curtain surrounding him like prison wall, the whiteness of the ceiling, and the fact that he wasn’t wearing his normal clothes.

Am in in the Dreamscape?

Then it hit him, he was in the hospital, but why, he racked his brain for a couple of seconds, even that seemed to function slower than usual, then all the memories came rushing into his head.

The mysterious man in black who’d attacked him. The knife poised above his body. Jackson snapping the man’s arm. Lying on the ground unable to move while being bandaged up.

I wonder where Jackson is now? The guy who attacked me must have something to do with blue blood. Wait, does mum know?

He called out, and he realized that there was no one there to hear him. A wave of loneliness washed over him, and for a split second he felt so alone.

Dad would be here right now.

He lay there thinking about everything that had happened this year. A shortly a nurse came in to check on him as he lay in bed.

“What happened, why do I feel so weak?” he asked.

The nurse replied, “You lost a lot of blood, and the paramedics didn’t think you were even going to make it to hospital, but from what I heard Jackson suggested that they do a transfusion to give you his blood. That’s probably the only reason you survived. The paramedics were talking about it, they were saying how the lighting made the blood look blueish.”

“Where is Jackson?” asked Damian,

“He was feeling pretty weak after giving you blood, but he rode in with the ambulance, and waited with you all night. The police came a couple of minutes age and are asking him a couple of questions about the incident now. He should be here soon. How are you feeling?

“I’m in pain and I feel really weak… but other than that I feel okay. Does my mum know yet?”

“We haven’t been able to reach her.”

“Did they pick up my phone,” Damian asked,

“It didn’t come in with you.”

“Far out, Can you call my mum, this is her number, 0431786943?” Damian said.

The nurse picked up the phone and dialed the number, and Damian heard her say “Hello Mrs. Waller this is Prince William Children’s Hospital. Your son is okay… He was in an incident… He’s cracked several ribs, broken his ankle, and he’s pretty cut up and bruised… Yes he’s here, do you want to speak to him?”

“Hey Mum,” said Damian,

“What in the world happened? Why are you in hospital? I thought you had already gone to sleep when I got home.”

“I got attacked by some random guy, I think he was trying to get money or something,” said Damian.

“Are you okay,” she asked.

“Jackson was there and he fought the guy.”

“Why was Jackson there?”

Wait, why was Jackson there?

“It was just a couple blocks away from the gym so I think he was driving home and saw it. I remember hearing the squeal of brakes a couple of seconds before he appeared.”

“Damian, I’m coming to the hospital right now so don’t go anywhere,” she said.

“Don’t worry mum, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.” Damian closed his eyes and breathed a big sigh of relief as the nurse hung up the phone.

“Is Jackson around?” he asked. “I want him to tell me what happened after I blacked out.”

“I don’t know,” the nurse said as she walked out of the room.

Let’s see if I can set up Jackson with her.

Damian waited and waited and eventually Jackson strolled in. His face was pale, and he seemed like he was moving slower and with less energy that usual.

“How are you feeling now little man?” said Jackson.

“Better now some psycho isn’t trying to kill me.”

Jackson chuckled lightly, “Yeah that was really weird, some crazy mugger or something. That’s what the cops think anyway.”

Damian looked at Jackson and said, “Thank you… for saving my life.”

The silence sat in the room for a couple of seconds before Jackson replied, “You’re welcome Dame. I’m really happy I was driving by and saw it, so I could help out. Some good news too, the doctors have said that none of the injuries are life threatening, so you’ll make a full recovery in a couple of weeks.”

Damian asked Jackson what he had seen and what had happened after he blacked out.

“I was driving home after training, chilling, pretty tuned out to everything, and a scream jolted me from my thoughts. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy with a knife so I hit the brakes to see what was going on. They I saw you on the floor, instantly I slammed on the brakes and sprinted out of the car as fast as I could. I crashed into the guy as he was bringing the knife down and he was knocked away. Then he came back for more, so I went a bit crazy and I snapped his arm, and as soon as he realized he was outclassed he turned and ran.

“All I was left with was you lying on the concrete, and a quickly expanding puddle of blood. I dialed the ambulance and the police. While I was on the phone, I tore my shirt into strips and did my best to stop the bleeding, but there was a lot of blood pooling on the ground around you. By the time they had arrived you had already lost a lot of blood and the paramedics didn’t think you’d survive the trip to hospital, you needed blood now.

“So I turned to them and said ‘do you have the equipment for a transfusion here with you?’ They replied, ‘Yes, but why?’ I said, ‘my blood will work let’s do it.’ They were hesitant to do it at first, but I can be very convincing and they soon realized it was the only way for you to survive, so they went ahead with it.”

“But how did you know that our blood types were compatible,” asked Damian.

“My blood type is O negative, so it can be given to anyone. So they hooked the machine up and shot you blood straight out of my body. Then they rushed us to hospital, where you’ve been sleeping all night.”

They started chatting about training, and other things, and soon Damian’s mum arrived.

When she saw Damian, her eyebrows shot up, and her voice raised in pitch, “I thought you said it wasn’t bad.”

“Technically it isn’t bad,” said Damian as he told her the whole story.

Tears began to flow from his mother’s eyes, and they turned to him and said, “I’m so glad you’re alive, I don’t think I could survive losing you too.”

Damian’s eyes started to get moist and he sat there in silence.

Eventually his mother broke the silence, “where did Jackson go?”

“I think he just left to get some food. I’m actually really hungry too?” replied Damian.

“What do you want Damian?”

“Can I have some hot chips?”

His mum headed out of the room, and Jackson walked in a couple of minutes later.

“Here’s a salad Dame, its better to start with something light when you haven’t eaten for 24 hrs.”

Damian looked at Jackson, looked at the salad, and it was all he could do to keep from bursting into laughter.

I’ve almost died and he’s worried about my diet?

Damian looked at the pile of leafy green and took a bite, munching on the lettuce, beginning to eat the whole salad in awkward silence. Soon enough, Jackson began talking again and Damian’s mind was distracted from the taste of rocket in the salad.

His mum walked towards the room with the chips and saw them both laughing and talking, and she paused for a couple of seconds, watching from the doorway where Damian couldn’t really see her.

I’m so proud of him. He’s dealt with major life events so much better than I have. It’s so good he’s got people to support him in his life.

The smell of hot chips wafted in to Damian’s nose and he looked up towards the doorway to see his Mum enter.

She walked into the room and gave Damian the crispy, warm, potato pieces, and sat down on the chair that Jackson had shown her. As she did that she looked at Jackson, and said “Thank you for saving my son’s life.”

“It’s no big deal,” said Jackson, “anyone would have done that for him, he fought hard and never gave up, you have a son that you should be proud of.”

“What happens now,” asked Damian, “how long am I in here for?”

“I don’t know,” said Jackson, “looking at the stuff I’d assume a couple of weeks. And then if you have some broken bones, which I’m guessing you do maybe another four weeks after that to be healed completely. Then it would be rehab.”

They found the Doctor who told them pretty much what Jackson had said.

It hit Damian, he was going to be stuck here for two weeks, and the room had no games, He didn’t even have a laptop he could bring in, he only had a decked out PC at home, at least he had his phone…

Wait I don’t have my phone.

Damian let out a groan and then asked Jackson, “Do you have my phone?”

“Yeah I do. I picked it up right before the ambo’s took us off, but it’s definitely broken,” Jackson handed him the phone where the screen was completely shattered and the phone was slightly bent.

“Far out,” said Damian

“I don’t have a spare, sorry man” said Jackson. “If you’re looking for something to do I can bring in some books for you to read.”

Damian was not a fan of reading as it took him forever to get through a page.

Damian’s face. Jackson said, “I’ll show you how to read faster, A page should only take a could of seconds.”

It often took him weeks to get through a book for school so he had stopped reading.

“Yeah I’ll come in tomorrow morning, with some books,” said Jackson.

“Don’t you have work,” said Damian.

“I do, but its not based on hours so its flexible.” Said Jackson.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Damian.

“Yeah, I guess it is, I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Jackson as he waved bye.

His mum left shortly after as she had to get to work so he lay there bored for a couple of hours and ended up daydreaming about gymnastics, until he finally fell asleep.