I woke up gasping for breath and immediately regretted it. My back ached. My hairline was soaked in sweat. I tried to blink the blurriness out of my eyes and had a moment of panic not knowing where I was.

Over my mouth was one of those plastic oxygen things that people wear in the hospital and my arm was connected to an IV.

I could see a TV in the corner that was turned on but the volume was muted. I turned my head and saw Mike sitting next to my bed passed out in a chair.

I tried to move but my body was so achy and everything below my hips were numb. My lower back now was throbbing and I started freaking out. I couldn't move and there was too many wires and things stuck to me. In the room there was only one window and two doors. The doors were both shut and the window's blinds were closed so I started feeling very claustrophobic.

I tried to say something but my voice was gone and my lips were chapped. My hands clawed at the sheets and I let out a scream that came out more like a croak.

Mike shot up and had a moment of confusion before seeing and hearing me and started freaking out,

"Finn! Oh my goodness! You're awake! What's wrong?! Are you in pain? What do you need?"

I started to calm down, "Where's mom?"

"Mom had to go take care of Charlie and pick dad up from work. I'm using dad's car because mine, well..." He trailed off, "Do you want me to go get the doctor?"

I nodded my head.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"Thirsty." I whispered

"Alright. Is apple juice fine?"

I nodded my head again.

"Alright I'll be right back. Just stay calm okay? Everything's going to be fine." His soothing tone made me feel better but as soon as he walked out the door the claustrophobia and terror kicked back in.

I clenched my jaw so hard it made my head hurt and I wanted to just go back to sleep. But as soon as my eyes closed the door opened again and in walked Mike and a man I had never seen before.

"Hello Finn, my name is Doctor Grey. How are you feeling my dear?"

He was a darker skinned man maybe in his late forties, early fifties. He had a big and warm smile that kind of made me feel better. But the lab coat and stethoscope around his neck ruined it, I despise anything to do with doctors.

"My back hurts." He wrote something down on his clip board

"Mr. James why don't you go ahead and call your mother to see what she says, alright?"

"Okay." And Mike flew out the door

"See what my mother says about what?"

"Moving you to a different room my dear."

All of a sudden a thought came into my head,

"Where's Carl?"

"Who?"

"Carl. He was working in the ambulance that drove me here. I want to talk to him."

"Well I'll see what I can do. For right now though let's focus on you, alright?"

"Okay."

"On a scale of one to ten how is the pain in you back?"

"Ten."

"Alright where on you back?"

"My lower back."

"Now is it sharp pains? Or aches? A deep throb?"

"And achy deep throb. I get sharp pains when I move though."

"Alright." He stood there for a long time writing things on his clip board until Mike came back in. The doctor turned to looked at him and Mike nodded.

"Finn, do you remember what happened?"

I racked my brain. I know that I remembered what happened, it was somewhere in my brain, I just couldn't bring it to the surface.

"Kind of."

"Well there was a shooter in the school." Memories came flooding back

"Yes... And the freshman teachers were already at lunch and all the doors were locked so we ran outside. And I got shot. Oh my goodness. I got shot. There was a shooter. What about the others! Did anyone else get hurt?!"

"Well seven students were injured inuding you, and you were hurt the worse. So-" I cut him off

"Who?! Max Richards? Chealsea Savannah? Grace Hearts?"

"No those names do not ring a bell." Relief flooded through me

"Except Richards, hmm where have I heard that name before?" My heart began to beat faster and I felt like I was falling apart until Mike jumped in,

"He was the boy who kept calling here."

"Oh yes. Well you got shot in your lower back Finn. What happened then?"

"Carl he- he and a bunch of other people put me in the ambulance. It was a really bumpy ride and it hurt a lot. We hit a big bump or something and it hurt so bad I passed out and I woke up here."

"Yes Finn, your body went into shock. Carl and the other paramedic had to restart your heart. When you got to the hospital we took you right into surgery. After the surgery we let you rest for a couple of days. Then we took you back for another mandatory surgery and while in recovery you slipped into a coma. You've been in a coma for two weeks." My heart was pounding in my ears and I couldn't breathe. It felt like I was only asleep for a few minutes. Not two weeks?

"Why did I have to have the surgeries?" Dr. Grey turned to look at Mike who looks like he was about ready to burst into tears.

"The first surgery was to take the bullet out and repair the area of your back that was damaged but we realized that the bullet went too deep and it fractured your spinal cord." He took a deep breath. "Finn, something like that causes paralysis." He took a deep breath, "Finn honey, you're paralyzed from the waist down." My heart broke, my insides crumpled. I looked down at my legs and tried to wiggle my toes but they were numb. A tear ran down my cheek and I took a deep breath.

"But there's good news." Dr. Grey said. "If we all work hard enough, you may be able to walk again."

"I'll do anything." But that's when a thought occurred to me, what about school? I am not repeating a grade.

"Except missing anymore school then I have to. I am not repeating a grade. Everything can be done after school and on the weekends. Speaking of school, has it re-opened yet?" I looked at Mike and he said,

"They're opening it back up tomorrow. Today's Sunday by the way."

"Well anyways I'll let you discuss that with your family. In the meantime I'll leave you two alone." And with that Dr. Grey touched my hand and walked out the door

"Hey listen Finn, I love you okay? Everything is going to work out. I'll be here if you need to talk or anything, I know you have a hard time talking to mom and dad about certain things." He smiled but tears were in his eyes

"Thanks Mike. I'm always here too."

"Over the past few weeks I thought you would never be able to say that again." At this a couple tears ran down his cheek and I grabbed his hand. He bent down and gently wrapped his arms around me.

We sat like this for a long time. So long that my back started to hurt and I had to lie back down.

Mike wiped his cheeks with the sleeve of his hoodie,

"You know they have some Disney movies here? I was looking through them and they had one of your favorites, Aladdin. Do you want to watch it?"

"Sure." With that he got up and started tinkering with how to work the TV and I asked,

"When is mom coming?"

"Well Charlie is too young to come and visit while you're in the ICU, which is where you are, and dad is working the night shift for the next couple of days so she won't be up here tonight until later. She can spend the night with you and I'll come up in the morning with dad. Charlie will go to work with mom, her boss is being really flexible and is pretty much allowing her to do anything that pertains to you so that's good." He sat back down and pressed play. My brain was going a million miles and hour so I just said,

"Oh okay." And the movie started