7 Time At The Hospital
"Don't worry, Rhi. Mum's called an ambulance." I hear Dominic say in my lucid state of consciousness.
'Is that my bone.' I think to myself as I see the white protruding from my arm, the crimson flowing from my wound and onto the wooden floor. "Where's mum?" I ask meekly.
"She'll be back soon; she's just getting the first aid kit," Dominic informs; that's when mum enters the room.
"Keep her still," Mum tells Dominic.
"It's gonna be ok, Rhi," Dominic comforts as Mum kneels in front of me.
"Bite down on this cloth," Mum says. "This is gonna hurt, so bare with me," she warns; I nod in response.
When mum finished warning me, I prepared myself for the burning. Immediately, the pain cascades thru my arm in waves of pain. I clench my teeth to the torture, biting onto the cloth in my mouth. When the suffering finally ended, I heard the sounds of sirens before everything went dark, and I faded into a dream.
In my dream, I was all alone, surrounded by darkness. "Rhiannon," An unknown voice called thru the pitch black, accompanied by footsteps. "Rhiannon," the voice called again. This time, the voice and footsteps got louder. I don't know why, but at this point, I felt like I needed to run, and so I ran. "Rhiannon, Rhiannon, Rhiannon," the voice continued.
With every repetition of my name, each louder than the last, the voice and footsteps started to distort. Unable to bear the ear-shattering noise, I close my eyes and cover my ears, falling to the ground in a fetal position. That's when everything went deathly silent. When I uncover my senses and set myself up, someone emerges from the shadows and kneels down in front of me; A shadow figure.
As the figure kneels in front of me, it pulls me in close and hugs me, "Wake up," The shadowy apparition told me as it held me in its embrace.
Suddenly, my eyes opened to see Dominic.
"Good, you're awake," Dominic says before hugging me, "You were having a nightmare, so I woke you up," he tells me.
"Thank you for waking me up," I hug him back.
I don't know why but I felt like crying, and so I did. Dominic just stayed there as the tears dampened the back of his shirt. When I regained my composure, I sat up in my hospital bed, and the two of us began to talk.
"So, given my broken arm, I guess it'd be safe to say that what happened last was real," I ask.
"Yeah," Dominic says in shame, the scene playing out again in his mind.
"Hey, what could any of us do," I comfort Dominic.
"That said, mum has some serious explaining to do," I say angrily.
Just then, Leona walks into the room. Following behind her were Nathan and Kristina. As the three of them entered the room, they all took a seat, surrounding my bed. Leona decides to take the unoccupied spot at the end of my hospital bed.
"How did all of you get here?" I ask in surprise.
"Our parents came with us. They're waiting for us outside," Leona informs.
"Forget that; what the hell happened?" Nathan asks.
"Rude," Leona says, "But I'm interested too; what happened?" That's when Dominic cuts in.
"Rhi tripped over the basketball Nate lent me and fell down the stairs. It was my fault for leaving it out." Dominic informed everyone while giving me a look that said, 'just go with it.'
"Wow, for real," Nathan asks me after hearing Dominic's explanation.
"Yeah, I didn't see it because it was dark," I added to the cover story.
"I hope you aren't afraid of basketballs now," Nathan says jokingly.
"Me, afraid of basketballs; never."
"Well, it's good to see your sense of humour hasn't changed," Nathan says with a chuckle before coming in for a hug.
"You might have to go on a few shopping trips next week," Nathan whispers in my ear as he hugs me.
'Why would I need to go on shopping trips,' I wondered what Nathan meant as he sat back down in his seat.
"I can't take this anymore." Kristina blurts out, "Do you have any idea what I went thru? And here I find out you slipped on a basketball. Give me back my tears; I thought you were attacked, or worse," she says with a humph.
'Oh, that's what Nathan meant.'
"Don't mind that idiot," Leona shoots Kristina a look before coming in for a hug as well, "We were all just worried sick about you." She says before leaning back to the end of the bed. "Kristina, most of all," she adds.
"Hey! Shut up," Kristina demands.
"I hope Rhi's okay. Can she still go on shopping sprees with me," Nathan mimics Kristina. "She wouldn't shut up," We all laughed.
"I hate you all," Kristina says with a humph.
"Come on, Kristy, don't be mad; bring it in," I gesture with my one good arm.
"Whatever," Kristina said before accepting my hug.
When the hugging ended, mum came into the room with some food. "Seems I got here just in time. After your parents texted me, I got some food. So I hope everyone's hungry." Mum say's with a smile as she sees me awake.
"Food!" We all explain in unison.
After sharing the food, mum comes in for a hug. "I'm glad you're awake." She tells me.
With that, we all enjoyed our delicious meal together while mum went to talk with the other parents outside. After thirty minutes or so, Leona, Nathan, and Kristina had to leave. Then it was only me, mum and Dominic.
"So, are you gonna tell us about what happened last night," I ask mum.
"Not until you're out of the hospital and at home. I promise I'll explain everything then. But just, for now, be patient," Mum pleads.
"Fine, but there better be a good reason as to why some random guy, whom I've never met in my god damn life, suddenly felt it necessary to hold Dominic and me hostage. And give me a broken arm." I say angrily.
"Fair enough," mum says.
After mum and I finish talking, a male doctor comes into the room. The name tag on his white coat read ~Liam Miller~.
"Could the two of you wait outside while I see my patient," That doctor asks mum and Dominic.
Doing as the doctor said, both of them exited the room. When they left, the doctor grabbed a clipboard that was hanging on my bed rail.
"How are you feeling." The doctor asks me after taking a seat.
"Well, there's no pain or anything, so I'm feeling pretty alright," I tell the doctor.
"That's good to hear," The doctor says with a smile before jotting something down on the clipboard. "Could you try moving each of your fingers for me," He asks.
Doing as told, I moved my fingers. And once again, the doctor jotted down something on the clipboard. "Um… do you know when I'd be able to leave?" I ask the doctor.
"You'll be able to go home in a day or two. But for now, we have to monitor your injury. You had quite the nasty fall after all," The doctor tells me.
"I understand," I say with a sigh.
After speaking with the doctor, A nurse comes by the room. "Doctor Miller, we have a code violet in room 203 again."
"I'm sorry, I'll gonna have to leave." the doctor says before putting the clipboard back and heading out of the room.
"What happened this time," I hear the doctor ask the nurse.
After the doctor left, both Dominic and mum came back into the room.
"We saw the doctor leave; what happened?" Mum asks with concern.
"A code violet, whatever that means," I tell mum.
"Maybe it means some guy's running around naked in purple paint,' Dominic chuckles, clearly imagining the scene in his head.
I start to laugh as the image of a naked man in purple paint fills my mind. Mum smiles at the heartwarming scene before her. Most of my weekend was spent gaming and passing the time with Dominic and my friends. But soon enough, It was time to go home.
"Alright. I suppose there's no point in hiding it any longer," Mum says.
