The Protector

Chapter 1 (Near Death’s Door)

"Alright class that is all for today. See you all tomorrow." Thank goodness! I don't think I could handle another minute of this. "Also, Ethan please stay after class." Right after the professor finished, it became a sea of people, as most of the class quickly gathered their things and fled through the class door. I was about to follow everyone's example when the professor cleared his throat. "Ethan, can you be sure that you are present on time tomorrow?" "Of course, Sir..." I replied with a bit of uncertainty as I pick up my bag and head out the door.

The air was cold, but the icy breeze that blew through the dark streets made it worse. With a quick sigh, I pull my coat closer as I begin the same trip again. I take this damn trip every day, it seems.  Passing by buildings with "closed" signs showing throughout each window as I turn into a dark back alley. The one shortcut I will always take. As the walk grew longer, the air seemed to grow colder as I continued through the nearly abandoned streets. No matter how many times I take this walk, it still scares me. Well, at least, the poles give a bit of light, so it's not super dark. Bitterly I try to erase the negative thoughts. The sound of my own footsteps, gliding the rest of the way home, is the only sound in the night. Finally, almost home. I just need to cross this last street and then a right. I can feel my bed from here, the warmth that I'm ready to snuggle into.

The intersection was as normal looking as always, but as I near it, a chill, rushes up and through my spine, followed by an intense clinch of my heart as it skips a beat. The feeling grew stronger as I press the small button attached to the pole. Patiently, I wait as the lights change from red to green, allowing me to pass.

I begin to cross the bare street, thinking about how the day would end. I'm thinking of ending today with a plate of nachos and a date with my bae...well my bed. I shouldn't stay up too late...I got a class in the morning. The more I thought, the more I was lost in my own realm. It was only after a horn blew when I shook out of my daydream. The once clear road now had a single car on it. A car? When did that get here?

It wasn't until after the lights came closer that I realized where I was. I'm still in the middle of the street! Why was I so caught up in my thoughts...? I didn't realize...I haven't moved...Why didn't I... My thoughts came to a quick end as tears gathered, collecting at the edge of my eyes. The same cold feeling as before came back, but worse than before. It was pure, intense, and fueled me full of fear. The headlights move closer towards me, but I'm stuck. The fear, so intense it froze me in place. I can't move. Why can't I move? My legs, they feel like lead. Glued to the pavement. Lights from the car are close, so close they burn. My eyes.

The sound of the tires, screeching, trying to stop, floods through my ears. The once dark night became filled with lights as the car pummels against my chest. It was fast, too fast. So fast it took a few minutes for the pain to hit. Pain so strong it seems to flow through my entire core. For a moment, though, it was nice. I was floating through the air. Am I flying? Falling? It only seemed to last a bit before I felt the cold, hard concrete of the road.

Shortly after, I felt cold, but mostly I felt wet and the feeling it was spreading? It felt as if something was leaving, flowing out of me. My clothes felt the same as my body, cold and wet, but there was something new. It was stinky and it was kind of thick. I try to move, any part of my body, but all I could manage was a small tilt of my head. The ground beside me was dyed red. Was it the same thing that I feel on me? It wasn't long until the last of my strength left, and I couldn't move at all. I even lost the ability to tilt my head. All I saw before my sight gave out was the bumper of the car as it speeds away. All I thought was: Am I floating? Afterward, it all went dark.

Slowly, lights start to appear through the cracks of my eyelids. The lights, it was bright...it was annoying, but I was awake. The same street was in my view, but I was not on the ground? I was up and I mean up, above the scene. It was like I was flying, maybe even floating. I can see everything from up here. The road is dark, and it's wet from the rain the day before. The only change that could be seen was the newly, wet, red trail which looks to be made from paint. I felt as if I knew it wasn't paint, but that the red substance was more sinister. It was, what I believe to be, blood. Well, a blood trail. Looking closer, I could see black skid marks. Was it from the car? Wasn't that a dream? This is all too weird...I'm just dreaming, just a very realistic one. Yeah, that sounds right. I'm dreaming. I try to convince myself of the more comforting outcome, the one I hope is true and not me lying to myself.

A bit after I woke, flashing lights began to appear. The lights were all from different angles, each close by but not exactly in front of me. The blue, red, and white flashes filled throughout the street, covering the sky and created a barrier to anyone around who is uninvolved. Then people in uniforms seemed to jump right out of the many emergency vehicles. One after another seems to appear as they separated into different groups. One to the end of the road, maybe to find the driver or to set up roadblocks...I don't know. The other group went to a figure on the road, laying lifelessly among the concrete, surrounded by a red substance.

Taking a closer look at the mysterious figure, I noticed similarities between it and myself. The short, messy hair that screamed "I need a brush," and the black, leather boots that are falling apart at the seams, and those eye bags that never fade.   Aren't those what I was wearing? It can't be...I must be dreaming. How can that lifeless person be wearing exactly what I was? It's in the same place that I was...No...No...It can't be. I'm not dead. I'm not DEAD! I can't be...no.

It was only after a few minutes when I realized, I wasn't crying, well It was as if I lost the ability to. The feeling was there, and it felt like I was, but there were no tears, then the realization came and hit me like a truck.  That the person laying horrible still on the concrete was me. I'm dead. I'm the one laying in a puddle of my own blood, alone on the abandoned street, nearly past midnight.

Looking back down at the scene, I see myself, or what's left of myself, being loaded into the back of the ambulance. The lights continue to flash as it starts its engine and a small team follows my body into the back of the ambulance. As the doors slam shut, they're off. Maybe I can follow them, it is my body they're taking.  It seemed that just thinking about following them gave me the ability to do it, because the next thing that I knew, I was right behind them, following their every move. They turn right, and I'm close behind. They turn left, and I following until we reach their destination.

The hospital's emergency drop-off zone came quickly into view, and it wasn't long until my body was unloaded from it. I follow as roll "me" through the halls, passing door after door and hallway after hallway until they turn into a dark room. The room lit up as soon as they wheeled "me" to the middle of the room. The nurses come in shortly after "I" arrived and hooked my body up to a few machines, mainly the one that monitors my heartbeat. The nurses rush in and out, preparing for something, waiting for someone. The doctor, or maybe it was a surgeon, came into the room, wearing gear, and looked ready to do some work. A mask was placed over my body's mouth and the doctor began to treat the road burns that's slashed throughout my body. Nurses and other doctors soon create a wall around "me" until I couldn't see what was going on. There's no point to stay in here, plus watching them work on me is making me uncomfortable. 

I was about to leave when a loud beep sounded, it was coming from one of the many machines surrounding me. The nurses turn to the doctors with a look of what seemed to be a mixture of shock, fear, and sadness. One nurse tells another doctor and he looks at the machine that's collecting information on my heart. With what appeared to be a look of horror, the doctor yells at the nurse about something involving chest paddles? Not sure what they mean, wait do they mean the things like off of a tv show? The "let's shock him into being alive" paddles? Am I that bad, well I am floating above my own body, so it can't get worse...I think?

Minutes passed and the once steady beep of my heart continued to decrease. The flow of the green line changed from one with so many ups and downs to one with two to three beeps. Time seemed so slow as the final beep past and the once hilly-looking line became a horizontal straight line, signaling the end of someone's heartbeat. The last breath from my body came shortly after and the doctors, nurses, and myself stared at the lifeless body for a few seconds, which felt like years, as one doctor pipes up, "Time of death?" Another nurse looks at the clock and says, "It's 1:58..." but before she could finish time seemed to stop, and the temperature dropped.

This is extremely creepy. What's going on? The people are all frozen, the clock isn't working? So many thoughts pass as the nurses and doctors remain frozen as if they were a statue or a glass figurine. The room continued to grow colder and colder as it felt as if years went by. Waiting for something, or maybe it's someone to come out from the shadows. The shadows seem to grow as "time" goes on. I wait, floating in a corner, for something to happen. What's going on, what's happening? It was about what would seem like five minutes when a deep voice spoke. "I've finally found one, a soul for the deal."