Chapter Text
The morning sun poured through the tall hospital windows, spilling golden light across the sterile room. Dust motes floated lazily in the beams, glittering like fragments of a forgotten dream.
The machines at Tommy’s bedside hummed softly, the heart monitor beeping in its steady rhythm.
His room was quiet, almost peaceful, though there was a heaviness in the air.. the kind of silence that belonged to places where time stretched endlessly.
A vase of wilted flowers sat on the table, long forgotten by visitors who had stopped coming years ago.
The calendar on the wall had been changed and replaced countless times, marking months Tommy never lived through.
His body lay still beneath the sheets, bandages wrapped like a cocoon over old wounds that had healed into scars. His chest rose and fell gently, the only sign of life in a body that hadn’t moved in years.
Until today.
As the sunlight stretched further across the bed, brushing against his face, Tommy’s eyelids twitched.
For the first time, the silence in the room began to shift.
Tommy’s eyes fluttered open, blinking gently against the flood of light seeping through the window. The brightness stung and instinctively, he tried to raise a hand to shield his face.
Nothing happened.
No twitch of muscle, no weight, no movement, just emptiness where strength should have been. A cold wave of dread crawled through him. His body felt heavy and useless, even his head throbbed like a drumbeat echoing inside his skull.
Tommy swore he felt a sharp pain went through his head before..
“...ah...”
He tried to speak, he tried to make a sound, but the only sounds breaking the suffocating silence were the beeping of a heart monitor and the faint hiss of oxygen feeding through the mask over his mouth.
What the hell happened?
With small effort, he turned his gaze downward. His pupils shrink as his chest tightens at the sight of layers of white bandages wrapped around his torso, his arms stiff in casts, his legs weighed down by plaster and straps.
He looked less like himself and more like a shattered doll pieced back together.
Holy fuck does it hurts.
Hurts so bad.
And he looks like a fucking mummy right now.
Taking a deep breath of a sudden memory he remembered, pain pulsed through every nerve.
He remembered everything so well. The way he tried to kill himself, the roar of a truck horn deafen his hearings, hell- even the pain of bones destroyed in his body before he died.
He died.
He swore he died.
He fucking swore he had died!!
He was sure of it. Why? Because he could feel the world slipping away as the air went from his lungs. Even his chest refused to rise, to MOVE.
God fucking damn it!!
If he was alive, then the truth was even worse. Yeah he had fallen into a fucking coma and that was the worst way to exist.
Imagine you’re trapped while your own body is numb and unresponsive. Everyone and the world moving on without you.
Days could blur into months, months to years.
Hell, even Tommy couldn’t tell how long he had been gone.
Hours? Weeks? Maybe longer???
“Fuck this shit man..” He cursed to himself. Now he needs to go through this pain all alone.
From the side, slowly, he heard a door creak open.
The boy tried to turn his head, but his neck refused to obey, so the only thing he could do was shift his eyes instead.
Then, a young male nurse entered, eyes glued to a clipboard as if checking on something. He suddenly glanced up that he froze, gaze locking with Tommy’s half-lidded eyes.
“Haha.. surprise..” Tommy whimpered in a playful manner.
“Oh my God.. Mr. Tommy? Are you… awake?” the nurse whispered as if he’s disbelief in his tone.
“I don’t know man, do you see my eyes open?”
The nurse then quickly spun on his heel, calling for the doctor.
“Oh he’s calling them.. oh well, 3… 2-” He counted down before he heard the room filled with hurried footsteps, “OH WHAT THE HELL MAN, THAT’S SO FAST?!!”
They all loomed over the boy, their faces filled with shock and relief. Tommy blinked, his mind clouded, words from their mouths sounding muffled like echoes from underwater.
Plus, their stares totally don't make it less awkward.
“..how long..” Tommy whispered weakly. He doesn’t want to wait for an answer, he needs to get out of their sight. “..I’ve been asleep..?”
“Mr. Tommy…” The doctor opened his mouth to answer. He hesitated a bit, but the way Tommy stared at him, he sighed in defeat,“..You’ve been in a coma for three years. Your body suffered extensive damage from the accident; multiple broken bones, fractures that had to heal over time. Your skull cracked open damaging your brain. We weren’t sure if you’d ever wake up.”
Yeah this is why he prefers to die after a massive crash.
They sounded painful. The doctor’s words hung in the air like a weight Tommy couldn’t carry. Repeating three years like a broken cassette.
Three years.
Three whole years.
He tried to move, to speak, but his throat burned raw, his lips cracked and dry. A sudden low rasp and cough left his mouth which made his chest felt a sharp pang of pain.
The other nurse leaned in immediately, his expression softening trying to calm him down from the shock. “Don’t try to talk yet, Mr. Tommy. Your throat hasn’t been used in a long time.. let me help you.” He turned quickly, pouring water into a small cup, then slipped a straw between Tommy’s lips.
The first sip was agony and relief at once, his body coughed against the sensation, but the cool liquid soothed the desert that was his mouth.
“Slowly,” the doctor warned, resting a hand on the bedrail. “Your muscles are weak. Even swallowing will feel difficult for now. We’ll start with small sips, then later we’ll move you to soft food.”
The nurse adjusted Tommy’s pillows gently, propping him up just enough to breathe easier. He wiped the edge of Tommy’s mouth with a careful hand as though afraid of hurting him. “After so long, your body won’t respond the way it used to. But the fact that you’re awake now… that’s already a miracle. Congratulations, Mr.Tommy, and welcome back.”
Tommy blinked slowly, exhaustion tugging at his eyes again.
No, he’s not exhausted because he’s in pain.
“Welcome back my ass… I wanted to die.”
But rather he failed to die.
-
It had been months since the doctors finally allowed Tommy to leave the hospital.
He still needed a walking stick tho since his legs were too weak to carry his weight, but that wasn’t what weighed him down the most.
His eyes were empty now, hollow, stripped of the light they once held. Baby blue eyes turned grey as if there was no hope left in him.
Tommy didn’t return greetings from children who waved, didn’t care for the flowers blooming in the gardens he passed, didn’t smile at the animals that wandered close.
He was just… Tommy. But empty.
Even when a butterfly landed delicately on his shoulder, he ignored it, trudging past as if life itself no longer mattered.
Clack.. clack…
The boy’s first destination was a small shop,a flower shop. Once, it had been his pride, the little place he managed to build with his own hands because of his love for flowers, because he couldn’t stop collecting them.
Now, it was simply where he lived after his mother had cast him out.
The shop was dusty, abandoned by time. But it kept him alive—selling flowers was enough to earn money for school, enough to keep him fed.
Yes, That was all.
Nobody waited for him in his home.
Tommy stood before the door, his trembling fingers reaching beneath a clay pot to retrieve the key hidden there.
He unlocked the door and stepped inside. Inside, the air was heavy…. Thick with dusts. The room was dark, cold, and unbearably quiet for his liking.
But alas, he didn't care.
He was too tired to clean, too tired to pretend this was a home.
He then slumped into the nearest chair, staring at the shelves of flowerpots that lined the room.
Most of them had withered, leaves curled and the pretty petals had fallen because his owner had left them too long.
..All except one.
The stubborn little cactus he had stolen years ago still stood, green and alive.
Tommy’s chest ached.
He prayed to himself, he prayed and he PRAYED that he could wither like those flowers and fade away.
Because if he’s gone, nobody even bothers to find him..
..right?
Exhaustion weighed heavy on his shoulders, dragging him down. The poor boy’s body sagged against the chair as the walking stick slipped to the floor with a dull clatter.
Tears hugged his face with warmth as the boy slowly closes his eyes and let himself fall asleep.