Have you ever felt totally lost in the world? It's late and it's dark and you don't know where you are or why you're there and there's no way for you to stop and ask directions... "How do I get back to the place I know." Nope... there's none of that.

That's how Aj felt. He was lost in the darkness with no where to go and no way of knowing which way to turn. He could hear voices, conversations going on around him, but he couldn't speak out to ask for help. He couldn't move... not one muscle in his body seemed willing to work with him... not a finger to point out and say 'Hey, I'm here,' not a hand to reach out for whoever was waiting, not even his head to nod. Nothing worked.

"How's our patient?" He heard a soft feminine voice say as a door clicked open and shut in the distance. He wondered if they were talking about him... and if they were... he wished he could tell them he wasn't doing too great.

"Mr. McLean is stable," another voice, this time a man's voice, spoke into the darkness. "He seems to be resting comfortably."

Now he knew they were talking about him. Why? What happened for him to be here? And he may appear to their eyes to be 'resting comfortably' but he certainly wasn't. He couldn't feel any pain... for that he was thankful, but he also couldn't feel anything at all, and that terrified him.

"Let's allow him to get some rest," he heard the female's voice again, "I'll check on him again in a bit." He trained his ears on the sounds of their footsteps towards what he could only assume was the door. He heard it open and close. Alone.

He listened intently for a few minutes, realizing his senses were working in overdrive. He may not be able to see anything, but he could certainly smell everything -- the scent of dried blood, that medicinal smell of a hospital room, and something else that invaded his nostrils which he couldn't put a finger on. He could hear the smallest of noises; the steady beep of the machines beside his bed, the whooshy breathing sound of the ventilator, people talking out in the hallway... the door squeak open and then close.

"Who's there." That's what he wanted to say... what he would have said if he could have spoken, but he couldn't speak, not for the tube in his throat and the fact that he was pretty sure this was all a dream anyway, and so no one answered.

He felt someone growing closer to him, heard the footsteps, listened as the chair beside his bed protested the weight of it's occupant. Maybe it was one of his friends come to visit him. Maybe they could sort this all out.

"Thought you were gonna get away from me didn't you?" A voice snarled in his ear. He felt his heart rate quicken. He could feel the person's warm breath in his ear, feel the droplets of spit when he talked, smell the scent of something rancid on his breath.

He fought hard to hold his breath, but of course on the ventilator this was an impossible feat. He felt the man's hand around his throat, heard him muttering words of nonsense in his ears and he mentally willed himself with every single ounce of his entire being, to wake up and fight whoever this was off.

As if in response to his own mind's power, his body returned to life. His eyes shot open and his arms reached out for the attacker, the sounds of the machines beeping wildly around him.

But it was too late... the room was empty.

Nurses and doctors came running in from all directions. They pled with him to calm down, begged him to stop fighting the tube in his throat... to lie back on the bed and try, 'just try to relax.' He was growing more aggitated and hostile with each passing moment. What the hell had just happened... what the hell?

Finally a group of them held him down to the bed, assuring him that relief would be coming soon and it was... in the form of a nice sedative that would return Aj to his thoughts of floating high about the clouds, far away from the pain and the agony... but back into the darkness.