2 Chapter Two: The Hospital

August 23rd, 2019.

Throughout the night I faded in and out of consciousness. I remember first waking up to the deafening sounds of the sirens, the sounds of the rattling oxygen tanks and other medical equipment followed, bouncing along the cracked and decrepit roads of Montana. An EMT pounded his hands on my chest, performing CPR.

"He's breathing!" The man turned to another EMT as he grabbed an oxygen mask and putting it on my face.

"W-what happened... aaahh... W-where..." I said, looking down at my stomach. A large piece of metal protruded out of my abdomen. Blood covered my shirt as I started to panic, frightened.

"Hey, hey, take it easy" The EMT guided my head gently down onto the stretcher, "You're gonna be alright, kid. You took quite a blow. How old are you?"

"Six...Sixtee-" I felt a pain in my chest as the beeping on the heart monitor grew. I held onto my chest as my breathing unsteadied. I was gasping for air, sharp pains in my abdomen following every breath. "F-for Godsake... oh... fuck, oh shit..." I cried out as the pain was unbearable.

"Shit! Kid, stay with us!" The EMT seemed to be new to the field as the other EMT sitting on the other side of me grabbed the EMTs' arm. "Shit, Shit, shit...Oh, fuck...oh fuck..."

"Don't give him that it'll kill him! Calm down, Mendoza!"

"M... my stomach... oh god," I said weakly, looking to the EMTs'

"I know, kid... try to stay awake, you can't fall asleep alright?" The more experienced EMTs' said to me as they put pressure on the wound.

"I... I Don't... I'll try... hah... I'll try..."

"Murray he isn't looking too good... do you think he'll...-"

"Don't even say that in my ambulance, or near a patient. What the hell is wrong with you?"

The EMTs argued as the older and more experienced EMT yelled at the new EMT. The other EMT must've been in training. My head dropped back down onto the stretcher as I took short and shallow breaths, slowly fading away once more.

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The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed. I slowly opened my eyes to the dim light near my bedside. The room I was in was silent other than the beeping of the heart monitor. The sounds of people walking up and down the halls filled ears as I adjusted to the conditions around me. My head throbbed and ached, the wound on my stomach pulsed with pain, and the burns on my arms stung. I rested my head on the pillow as I looked up at the ceiling. My father, was he alright? What about my mother, where is she now? What is she doing? Was she okay herself? These were all questions that frantically darted throughout my mind. I sat up and pulled the IV out of my hand. Suddenly, the door would open right as I went to stand up. It was a doctor.

The doctor was a rather tall, stalky kind of man. His hair was salted and peppered with white and black strands banded out together. His eyes were as black as obsidian. His smile seemed somewhat demoralizing. He walked towards me as he read off of my chart.

"Oliver fox?" he looked up from my chart, smiling warmly.

"Uh... yes, that's me..." I looked up cautiously. I've never been to a hospital before, never mind in one. I was a bit frightened, his smile seemed so devilish I couldn't seem to tell if he was a real doctor or not. I sat down and held onto my stomach, looking up at the man before me.

"You took a pretty hard blow to your head, and that wound on your abdomen almost pierced your common iliac, you're lucky to be alive and that the metal that protruded out of you prevented you from bleeding out." He cleared his throat as he grabbed a pair of white medical gloves from the glove box that sat upon the bedstand. "Now, I'm going to perform some tests. Don't worry, they aren't too difficult, just a part of the check-up."

"Alright," I smiled politely, calming my nerves.

"Okay then, I'd like you to sit on the bed facing me, please." He pulled up a small stool next to the hospital bed. The legs of the stool screeching and scratching against the floor like a wild animal would.

I quickly adjusted myself, sitting with my legs closed tightly. The doctor would place his ice like hands upon my throat, feeling my glands as he hummed a somewhat familiar tune. My mom always hummed it when she was cooking or cleaning. I relaxed my legs as I started to feel comfortable with him. He'd go onto checking my ears with his otoscope. He was rather terse with the examinations, saying brief notes to himself as I followed every direction he gave me.

"Alright, you seem to be doing well. You've got a pretty minor concussion and that wound of yours. But other than that you'll be able to leave by noon." He said with a small, kind smile as he got up from the stool.

"Well thank you. Excuse me, but do you know where my mother is?" I cleared my throat as I ran my fingers through my hair. "She wasn't here when I woke up..."

"I don't know. I'm sorry, kid." The man looked to me as he headed for the door. "I bet she'll be back soon. The woman wouldn't leave your bedside. She was worried about you, but I tried my best to calm down your mother."

"Oh, well, thank you. It means a lot to me." I smiled at him as I rubbed where the IV needle used to be.

The doctor sighed when he saw my hand. "I see you've ripped your IV out. Oh, come on, kid. Let's hook you up again. Besides, you need your rest."

I sighed, laying down on the bed again. The doctor would come over and hooked back up to the IV before leaving once more. The room was so quiet. I decided to take a nap as I closed my eyes, listening to the soft beeping of the heart monitor. Suddenly, I heard the hospital room door creak open, revealing a tiresome version of my mother.

"Mom! Where have you been? What's wrong?"

My mother came to sit next to my bed. Tears filled her eyes as she gave me a small, somber smile.

"Mom, what's wrong? Is Pa okay?"

"Oliver... your father... He..-" She broke down into tears, sobbing as she brought me into a hug.

"What? No, He's not. you're kidding, right?" The shock took over my body. My body trembled in my mothers' arms. I felt warm tears roll down my cheeks. "You're lying! He... he can't be dead! He's the strongest person I know. Please, tell me you're joking!"

"I wish I was. I'm so sorry Ollie." She hugged me tighter as I felt her own body trembling.

My life was over. What was I going to do without my Pa? He couldn't be dead. He just couldn't have been...