*JANIE*

My eyes flung open to the blinding light in the room but I was forced to shut them back momentarily.

Letting out a small groan, I let my mind dwell on my Parent's disappearance and then Mr Luciano being shot.

"Mr Luciano?" I tried to say but it came out in a hushed whisper.

Tears gathered in my eyes as I tried to move, but found it quite difficult. Have I been shot too? Am I going to die?

"Janie!" I heard someone's voice call out to me. It was a familiar one. Straining my neck toward the direction of the voice, I saw a worried Mr Luciano walking across the room to me. But. . . But he was just,

Was that all a dream?

His hand touched my arm and it was surprisingly soothing.

"Don't try to move, just lay down," he urged me, as I lay down trying to comprehend what was going on.

"Luciano?" I found myself repeating, obviously surprised to find him in good shape when he had just been shot a few minutes back.

"I'm here," he said, his hands squeezing mine softly.

For some reason, I looked away from him to the ceiling as though it would give me answers.

I had been staring blankly at the ceiling the moment I opened my eyes from that terrifying play, a dream that got me scared, but now I was beginning to analyze the environment, and what kind of room I was in. The room's walls were painted a soothing shade of pale blue. My bedsheet was crisp white, with a soft blanket underneath. A tangle of wires and tubes snaked from the bedside, a lifeline to the machines humming and beeping in the corner, their steady rhythms a reassuring heartbeat. Finally it hit me, I was in a hospital.

"What happened? Why am I here?" I asked Luciano, who looked extremely worried.

"You got shot, Janie," he responded.

"I need to-" I said, as I struggled to try to get up again, but he immediately told me to stop.

"I said not to move. You barely survived this shot and I wouldn't want you stressing," he urged. I sighed, laying back on my bed after another failed attempt. He leaned forward and kissed me on my forehead.

"I'm scared," I managed to let my thoughts out, my voice still a low whisper.

"It was a dream though, but it still felt so real"

"What happened in your dream?" He asked, his face an epitome of worry.

"I just got back from school and went to see my family. My dad was there, and so was my mum," I explained, as tears gradually pooled in my eyes.

"We had some family time, and I went into the kitchen to see my mum, got some toast and went back to find my dad gone and so was my mum. But then you showed up and came to help, but-but," I sniffled. My breath became unsteady, as tears began to freely fall from my eyes.

"You were shot dead" I managed to complete it before I totally broke down in front of him.

"Hey, hey, hey" he spoke calmly, still holding my hands softly. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?" He said, and I nodded. The feeling of assurance was something I could feel at this point because of the way he stared at me, trying to stop every tear from falling.

"Can I ask you something, though?" He asked.

"Sure," I sniffled again while nodding my head.

"Why did you step in for me?" He asked, and I went calm for a moment.

"I tried warning you at the time, but it was already too late," I responded.

"Could you do me a favor?" He asked and I nodded. "Don't do that again, or else I won't be able to forgive myself if anything bad were to happen to you."

Acknowledging his words, I gave him a slow nod then I asked;

"Have you been able to find out who did this? Who was trying to kill you?"

Luciano shook his head, seemingly disappointed.

My brows knotted into a frown. The answer was obvious. "That man in the restaurant, he could have something to do with this, I'm sure of it"

For some reasons, still unknown to me, the thought of that particular day made me angry and was somewhat able to give me the energy to keep talking, even though I felt weak on the hospital bed.

"Unfortunately, it's not him," he replied "As a matter of fact, it is someone else. Though I'm trying to figure that out," he concluded.

I wondered who this person could be, but my thoughts were cut short the moment I found Luciano smiling. He leaned forward, still with a huge smile on his face, as he stared at me. He seemed super excited, and I didn't know why.

"Why is there so much smile on your face?" Curiosity led me to ask.

"I'm just glad you've regained consciousness. You know it took us a lot of time," he said. "It's been three days already, since they took out the bullet while you just laid in bed looking pale. You had me dead worried," Luciano's words almost felt like a lie, but I could see how genuine he was, through his eyes and the way that he spoke.

"So what would you love to eat?" He asked.

"Uhhh"

"Name anything you'd like to have and that's what we'll get," Luciano proposed. "But first, I need to get the nurse to check up on you. Is that alright?" He asked, and I nodded. He pressed a red button that was right next to my bed and some minutes later, a nurse walked in.

"Welcome back" she said, her face all cheered up as she checked my pulse, asked me a few questions and decided to take my blood samples to run more test. After this was done, she left.

Not long after she left, Luciano's phone rang, and he stepped aside to pick his call. He looked a little worried as he spoke, and I wanted to know what was going on.

"What's going on?" I asked him after his call had ended, but he didn't say anything.

"What's happening?" I asked again, as he pressed the red button by the side of my bed again, giving no answer to my question, as the nurse rushed in. She looked worried. Probably she thought something had happened to me, but I didn't even know why she was called in.

"Help Janie get ready," he instructed as we both looked at him a little confused.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, but he didn't say a word to me.

The nurse gave me a worried glance before speaking to Luciano. "But Sir, she has just —"

"She needs to be transferred now!" He bellowed angrily.