"Hello?! Excuse me?"

I woke with a blistering headache, the bright lights of the room making me scream as I threw the bed covers back over my head. I sat on a mattress that lay on the floor with a few blankets wrapped around me to keep me warm. Everything hurt. It hurt to move, to even breathe felt as though I was going to collapse onto the floor with crushing pain.

"Hello? It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you at all." I heard the voice speak again, it was a soft and gentle voice that seemed to calm me a little.

I slowly removed the covers from my head to see a figure sat cross-legged at the other side of the room. He had masses of curly black hair that flopped over to the left hand side with a beanie sat on top and his face was flecked with pain, strange and confused blue eyes peered at me through his hair. His ears were slightly stretched just so that it could be used as a pencil holder and his lip ring glinted as he fiddled with it. A frayed checked shirt was slung over his back and he smiled gently in my direction, though looked away quickly when his eyes met mine.

"Um, hello…." he whispered so as not to frighten or startle me, "um, I-I'm not going to hurt you. My name is JJ and I found you stranded in the early hours in the middle of a road. I will leave you now though because you should get some rest. If you need me then just give us a call."
"Wait…" I mumbled as he stood up to leave, "Wait…how did you find me? Why were you there? What were you doing before you found me?"
"You don't need to know, all you need to do is get some rest…" he replied calmly, stepping outside the room and closing the wooden door slowly on its creaking hinges.
"No!" I yelled ripping the covers from my body, "No! Please don’t leave! They'll find me and kill me for real this time!"

I tried to scramble to my feet after JJ but fell in a heap on the floor. I didn’t realise how weak my legs were until I lay in a pile of limbs on the floor. I heard JJ shuffle back into the room and he sat cross-legged at my side, it look about 5 minutes and a lot of pain to get me sat back up.

"How did you stop me from dying?" I mumbled, rubbing the bruises that blanketed my arm, "Didn’t I get stabbed like 100 times?"
"More like 7 times," he smiled gently, "I used to be a paramedic before um…." he trailed off as his eyes moved sadly towards the wooden boards of the floor.
"Before what?" I asked.
"Um, it doesn’t matter, b-but I, um, I used to be a paramedic so I managed to stitch up your wounds. Some were really deep like the one on your left leg but the others were slightly shallower. Mind you: still had to use the de-fib to restart your heart. Then you just kinda slept for 3 days."
"My heart stopped?" I asked, shock running through my voice.
"Yeah, just for a bit though, you probably noticed it's working again."
"Um, yeah, I did, thanks." I replied.
"Oh! Also be careful with your left arm: it's not broken but I suspect that its fractured."
"Oh okay…" I nodded glumly, looking down to my aching left arm, "Can I go home soon?"
"Um…" JJ froze and his hands began to shake. He leapt up from the floor and ran to the door, sitting back down in front of it, "Not just yet….and besides I don’t even know your name?"
"My names Mikey...or Mikes. Now why can't I leave?" I replied shuffling uncomfortably.
"You just can't!" JJ yelled, "Not yet! You can't go! You have to stay here with me! Please! Don't try and leave! Not yet!"
Tears began to stream down his face as he hugged his knees tightly, "You can't go! It's not safe! Please! No!"
"But I need to go home!" I whined back across the room at him. Why was he so strange?
"Well. You can't! And I won't let you! The only way that you'll ever get out is by completing the 7 tasks!"
"7 tasks?!"
"Oh! Shit! Nothing!"
"What are these 7 tasks and how do I complete them?!"
"Nothing. What are you on about? Haha. I-I just made them up there is no such thing!" JJ tried to laugh it off but he wasn’t fooling me.
"JJ!" I yelled, "JJ tell me about the 7 tasks!"

He quickly jumped up to feet, shaking his head at me before throwing the door open, stepping through the opening and locking it behind him.

Notes

cant think of a name for this crappy chapter, any suggestions welcome.
Thanks for reading, I hope it was okay....the drama will start soon.... :)
-Lou