“I’ll be right back.” She was an older grandmotherly type, and I liked her. But she hovered. Well, fluttered would be a better description. She darted like a hummingbird from here to there, fixing this, checking that. It exhausted me.
She was back flying through the room within minutes. “Here you go,” she said in a singsong voice. “Swallow up.”
I did as I was told. It wasn’t until the pills were down my throat that I thought to ask what they were.
“One is a painkiller and one will help you sleep.”
Great, something to keep me asleep so I can relive the nightmare over and over.
She gathered up the IV and put a bandage on my hand, patting my arm and telling me to get some rest. It didn’t take long before the combination of painkiller and sleeping pill made my eyes start to droop. The next thing I knew, I was waking up to my parent’s faces and the smell of powdered eggs.
“How do you feel?” my mom asked.
“Sore. Tired.”
“Do you want to eat?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Is that smell my breakfast?”
She looked at me and nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
“I don’t think I’m that hungry.”
She laughed. “I don’t blame you. Anyway, you’re getting sprung. We’re just waiting on the paperwork, and then you can go home. I’ll make you something there.”
“Okay.”
It took three hours before the doctor signed off on all the paperwork so I could go home. “I can walk,” I complained when the nurse made me ride down to the car in a wheelchair.
“Hospital policy,” she said.
The ride home was… painful. The painkillers the hospital gave me to take home weren’t nearly as fun as the ones they gave me the night before. My side felt every bump, shimmy, and pothole.
“Where’s Benjamin?” I asked on the way home.
My mom angled herself so she could look at me in the backseat. “He’s home with your grandma.”
“Come here, child, lemme have a look at ya,” my grams said as soon as I walked through the door. “You look a little green around the gills. Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, Grams, I’m feeling just great.” I rolled my eyes but smiled at her.
“That’s what I thought. They didn’t feed you, did they?”
“They tried to give me something that smelled too vile to be legal. I decided to wait until I got home to eat.”
“Hi,” Benjamin said.
“Hey, Frog Freckle.”
“Can I see the hole?” He was a typical seven-year-old boy.
“Well, it’s all bandaged up right now, but later, when Mom puts new bandages on it, you can look at it, okay?”
He nodded. “Wanna play video games with me since you have to stay on the couch anyway?”
“Sure.” I hobbled into the family room and eased down on the couch, getting comfortable. Benjamin handed me the controller for the video game and stood in the middle of the room, staring at me.
“What’s wrong, Ben?”
“Why’d they do that to you?”
“I don’t know.”
“It sucks the royal weenie.” He looked down at the floor. “I’ll let you pick the game since you’re hurt and all.”
“Thanks.” I picked his favorite game.
I spent the rest of the day playing video games and getting fed by my grandmother.
I never heard from Chay.
***
My phone rang early Monday morning; the sky was still gray.
“Hello?” My voice was gravelly from sleep, and my head was fuzzy from the pain medication I’d taken during the night.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Chay, what time is it?”
“Early. I’m getting ready for school. I wanted to talk to you before I left.”
“Where were you yesterday?” I was hurt that I hadn’t heard from him at all, not even a text message.
“I thought you’d need to rest.”
“I didn’t need to rest that bad,” I complained.
“I’m sorry. I just want you to get all the rest you need so you’ll heal,” Chay murmured. His voice was like velvet, soft and smooth. It made it hard to remember why I was supposed to be angry with him.
“You’ll come over after school today?”
“You can’t keep me away.”
It was the longest day in history. I tried to read and work on the homework my mom picked up from the school, but I couldn’t concentrate. I was anxious to see Chay that afternoon. He’d been acting weird the last few days. I wanted to see him and make sure things between us were okay.
Finally, I heard the doorbell ring. I started to get up to answer the door when my mom shooed me back on the couch.
“But it’s Chay.”
“I don’t care if it’s the pope. You need to stay put. I’ll get the door.”
A few seconds later, Chay walked into the room. He looked amazing. I was sure I looked like something out of a zombie movie.
“Hey.” I sighed.
“How are you feeling?” He sat on the floor next to the couch.
“Bored.”
He laughed. “Already? Geez, you should be enjoying watching soap operas all day.”
“My mother was kind enough to go to the school and pick up my assignments for the week. She’s banned all soap operas until she knows I’ve done my schoolwork.”
“Bummer.”