Authors Note: It's a short prologue I know, but I didn't want to start any of the real drama in the opening, and I wanted to leave it on a cliffhanger. Hope you enjoy.

In The Blink Of An Eye

Chapter One

The receptionist of Albuquerque General hummed gently to herself whilst filing her nails. Tonight had been a slow night, surprisingly. She had been on duty for an hour, and all she'd seen was the occasional old lady. It had been the last day of senior class, and she had expected lots of kids coming in excessively drunk, or with minor injuries that were the result of stupid pranks. She sighed to herself, staring at the doors of the emergency room. It was really quiet. Too quiet. She was about to sit down to log onto an instant messager program out of boredom, when the doors to the emergency room swung open, and voices all tried to shout over eachother.
"This is Troy Bolton, he seems to have had a bump on the head. He stats are normal, but he hasn't woke up."
"Jeez, this kids pretty beat up. What was it, a fight he lost?"
"No, we think he was part of the accident that happened earlier in the evening. Some passing car saw him lying next to the road and figured they'd call us."
"Damn, I thought we had everyone from that. Have you checked for anyone else that might have been in the car?"
"There's a search team looking, but we think we have them all. What's this guy's chances? I think he's some superstar basketball kid or something, my son's played his team before."
"I don't care who he is, he's just another patient to me! Okay, lets treat the head first, then lets suture some of these wounds. He might have some glass shards inbedded in him, so we need to take the upmost care. Have you informed his parents?"
"They're on their way sir."
"Okay, let's sort this kid out. Last day of senior year...What a way to remember it..." The receptionist watched as the boy on the trolley was rushed into the first available operating room, and sighed, before continuing to file her nails.

"Troy…Troy, wake up honey, please…" He couldn't work out where he was, and slowly opened his eyes, instantly closing them again at the harshness of the light in the room. It felt like he hadn't seen daylight for days. While squinting, he saw himself wrapped in a white sheet. He faintly heard a heart monitor beeping next to him, and with his arm stretched out, he could feel the cool metal sides of a hospital bed. He was confused. He didn't remember coming into the hospital. Thinking harder, he realised he couldn't remember anything about how he had got there, or what was going on. A cold sweat covered his body suddenly, and he knew that if he wanted answers, he was going to need to open his eyes.

"Mm…" Was all he could muster to say, in a quiet a raspy voice. When he eventually opened his eyes fully, he saw a woman standing beside his bed, with tears twinkling in her eyes. He looked confused for a second, as he watched her survey the cuts and bruises on his body. 'Bruises? Cuts? How did they get there…'
"Do you…recognise me?" She said, hesitantly. The boy opened his eyes wide, and shook his head, suddenly scared. Should he? Why didn't he? A man stepped towards the bed also. He looked as tired and worn out as the woman did.
"She's your mom…I'm your dad." He nodded, shaking slightly, and feeling very freaked out that he didn't recognise the faces of his own parents.
"But…How--"
"Shh, baby." Said his so-called mother. "Don't worry about it. Not right now. The important thing is you're awake, Troy."
"Who?" The boy was shaking by now, and his mother squeezed his hand.
"That's you." His dad said, as the doctor came over to his bed. "Doctor...Do we know when he's going to be better?"
"We can't say for sure Mr. Bolton...It could be a long while, it could be today...He just needs to remember something important...It could be the trigger to everything."
"The car..." Muttered Troy, half consciously. His parents and the doctor looked at him. "There… There was...A car, a-and...NO STOP!!" Nothing could console the boy then, as he turned awkwardly, and started sobbing into his pillow.

Nothing was clear in Troy's head. The faces he could see in his dreams were blurry and faded, but he could hear voices clearly. He could see a big building, with a car parked outside the front of it, but no matter how hard Troy tried, everyone else's faces turned into silhouettes.
"Come on guys, we wanna get going before it starts getting dark." A guy's voice. Troy knew it, but he couldn't work out from where.
"Relax Chad, jeez, it's not like we're travelling to the North Pole." Chad? Troy knew he knew that name...
"Thanks for inviting me guys. You know, you didn't have to, I know we're not all that close." 'She sounds so scared, but who is she...'
"Hey Kels, it's fine, don't worry about it." Troy heard his own voice say.
"Sharpay, you didn't need to pack that much, we're not going to a five star hotel."
"What! How am I supposed to do my hair! And my makeup! Ryan, you never said ANYTHING about no hotels." Troy heard the girl screech, which was a familiar sound.
"Just enjoy it sis, think of it as our last adventure before we go off to college."
"Ryan's right. The last Wildcat outing, and I want it to be special." Troy heard his voice again, and he began sweating in his sleep. Wildcats?
"Course it'll be special, wildcat. I'm spending it with you." At the last voice, Troy began murmuring in his sleep, and tossing and turning, before sitting bolt upright in his hospital bed.

"…Just…Just a dream." He muttered to himself, rubbing his eyes. He looked around, and saw the lights in the hospital ward were dimmed. Squinting at the clock on the wall, he saw it was about four in the morning. Closing his eyes, Troy tried to get back to sleep, but all he could hear was the last voice of the girl in his dream. Troy was unsure whether he had got back to sleep or not, but the next thing he heard was his mother's voice.
"Troy…Are you awake?"
"…Yeah." He said, slowly, looking over his mother's face, trying to find something that would trigger a feeling, a memory. But his mind remained blank, so he looked back down into his lap. His mother nodded, as if to understand what that look meant.
"I um…brought you something. I thought that it might help, you know…Jog a few things."
"…I was going on a trip, wasn't I?" Troy said, suddenly. "I…I can hear voices, but…" He trailed off, feeling useless. His mother looked sad, and got a book out of her bag.
"This um…this was your yearbook. From your senior year. I found it in your room while I was getting some of your stuff together, and I thought it might help." To try and get Troy to save his energy, his mom flicked the pages until it came to a group shot. Troy put his hand on top of the page before she could turn it.
"Who are they?" Troy's mother knew what picture he was looking at, but all the same, looked down at the photo.
"They're your friends." She said softly. "The girl next to you is Sharpay, then you've got her brother, Ryan. Then your best friend, Chad, and then there's Taylor. Kelsi's on the end. And um…on the other side of you is Gabriella." Troy just nodded, trying to recall the names, but it didn't work.
"Well…if they're my friends then…Seeing them would be able to help me! Do…Do you think they could come and visit me?" Troy's mother quickly picked up the book and held it against her chest. Eventually, she replied;
"I wish."

After his mom had left, Troy requested not to have anymore visitors that day. He wasn't up for it.
"Tell my mom and dad that I'm sorry." He said meekly to one of the nurses. She smiled at him sweetly and nodded, before making a note on the board that he didn't want visitors. Troy closed his eyes, and began trying to place the faces with the voices, but got stuck as he thought of a girl with dark hair, and the most amazing eyes you had ever seen. Apparently she was called Gabriella. He began to tear up, but wiped his eye quickly.
'Why is thinking of her so painful?'