Broken Tides

Chapter Two

I heard a gentle beeping and some sniffling as I started to wake up. My eyelids felt heavy, as did the rest of my body. As I managed to open my eyes I realized I was laying in an overnight hospital room. The lights were dimmed, but still that same sterile feeling crept over me. I hated hospitals. being in them reminded me of going to visit my mom.

I had an IV tube sticking out of one arm connected to a bag of saline, and the other arm was heavily bandaged. I realized I had straps over my chest and arms. They didn't hurt, but I didn't understand. My mind felt foggy and unclear, like a veil had been placed over everything, a distant ache, the tightness in my arm from the IV tubes, the smell of saline and a way too clean environment. I felt my chest tighten, and looked around.

Aunt Kat was sleeping on the chair in the corner, the large window behind her was dark, and the moon reflected off the ocean in the distance. If I were in any other situation the scene would have been beautiful and serene, but instead it came off as eerie and unsettling. I knew she was sleeping but I decided to call out to Kat.

At first my voice felt stuck in my throat, parched and scratchy.

"Aunt Kat?" I managed coarsely.

She stirred but didn't wake.

"Kat!" I called again. I felt like I could've panicked, like I should have. My fear wouldn't tip the jar over though, and I was stuck teetering until I heard her groan slightly.

She turned to me, her makeup smudged telling me that she'd either been sleeping way to hard or crying. Probably both. "Mar?" She jumped up, her and its contents spilling onto the floor, "Oh my god Marlowe!" She ran over and placed her hand on my shoulder. She made a noise somewhere in between hopeful laughter and a distressed sob.

I winced a little, she didn't put too much pressure, the sudden contact just woke up the nerves in my arm, stinging my bandaged wounds. "What happened? Why am I in the hospital? Why am I restrained?" I tried to rattle off more questions but my eyes landed on my aunt's face; her tear stained, makeup smudged, tired face. "Are-are you okay?"

She grimaced a little. "I'm just worried about you Mar," she reached up and toyed with a piece of my hair. "You, I don't know. I heard you screaming, and I ran to the bathroom and heard this big crash and called an ambulance. The bathroom door was locked and I knew you got out of the shower so I didn't wanna barge in '' she rambled a little about the stuff I already knew.

It was hazy but still there. Screaming, the shattered mirror, my aunt's horrified face. The rest felt like a distant haze but I could feel it. It made me angry, but it also made me feel stupid; I wanted to know what was going on but I couldn't even figure out what happened to me. I really hoped I wasn't going crazy, loosing my mind to mindless rambling and spotty, broken memories with disjointed emotions. 

"You broke your hand when you, uh- punched the mirror" she said she had a weird look on her face when she said that. Somewhere between humor and fear, anxiety and being pissed about me shattering her forty dollar mirror from Sears. "When we got to the hospital you were like" she motioned around with her hands "fighting the nurses? They tried to stop the bleeding and you just screamed at them. You were yelling, rambling, I couldn't really tell what you were saying but Mar," she sniffed "god you looked so scared and angry but you were loosing blood so they tried to sedate you," She nodded to the IV tube.

I glanced up vaguely to the rack with the bags. It wasn't just saline, and a blood bag. They'd put something in the saline bag. That and everything else is probably why I couldn't really think straight.

She sighed. "And then while that happened you ripped the IV out of your arm, I think you were only like half conscious or something and just Kinda wigged out, and so they restrained you and gave you some anesthesia so they could wrap you up and now we're here." She finished her rant and exhaled. She never really breathes while she talks.