Russian Roulette: Family secrets [2021 version]

Ch. 16: What kind of monster do you see when you look at me?

Why would that annoying beeping not stop?

Mackenzie fluttered her eyelids against the sharp light. The sound of the beeping drove her crazy. Even as she slept, the sound had invaded her mind. It was louder than any voices she had heard; the ones talking to her and the ones talking away from her. She had a vague memory of Gareth saying something about a doctor, but everything after that was sort of blurry.

It took her a while to open her eyes and get used to the brightness in the room. Which was not bright at all. The lamps were off, and the only light came from the sunlight, shining into the room from the half-closed blinds.

She surveyed the room, which resembled a hospital room. White walls, linoleum floors in a boring greyish color, white blinds, and white curtains. It was sterile and smelled like that too. She found herself in a narrow bed with a metal footboard, covered in a pale blue and white striped duvet.

All logic went toward her being in the hospital.

She turned her head slowly toward the beeping. A large machine with a display did the monotonous beeps while it displayed numbers and graphs on the screen, cords led from the machine to her body, and tubes led from her body to an IV stand with bags of unknown liquids.

Mackenzie's eyes rested on the figure sitting uncomfortably in a chair beside the bed.

Gareth.

He looked so peaceful as he slept there, leaning over the bed with his head on the mattress next to her, and his hands clamped tightly around hers. The deep furrows of his forehead were there while he slept, but he breathed in an even pattern.

Mackenzie could not imagine the back pain he would have when he woke up. Sitting there must have been so uncomfortable. His neck would probably kill him for days because of the angle he had positioned his head in.

"Gareth," she whispered to not startle him. The sound from her dry throat came out as a croak, which probably startled him more than if she had spoken normally.

Gareth's head flew up. His eyes were bloodshot, and the bags under his eyes had bags of their own. He sported day-old stubble on his beautiful jaw, and his normally neatly combed hair looked disheveled. His shirt was partially unbuttoned and wrinkled.

He looked a mess.

"Malyshka?" Gareth choked up and sank a few times, blinking over and over as if he could not believe his eyes.

He looked at her, trying to ascertain if she was actually awake or if it was a figment of his imagination. All the hopes, prayers, and wishes from the last days played tricks on his mind. His worried look faded slowly as realization set in.

"You're awake," Gareth stated rather pointlessly.

His hands held hers tighter. He stood up on wobbly legs and looked at her closely to examine her condition. "Are you ok? Are you in any pain?"

The worry in his voice and the urgency of his need for answers knocked Mackenzie back. If she had needed more proof that Gareth cared, she had gotten it.

"Thirsty."

"Of course, Dolly."

Gareth poured some water from a jug on the nightstand into a glass with a straw and held it up for her to drink.

"How long?" Mackenzie asked when she let go of the straw and sighed with the dryness of her throat subsiding. Gareth would not look like a hobo overnight, so she figured more than a day had passed.