Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 66

"Ugh..." Branch groaned softly as he began to stir from his long dreamless slumber, the little gray troll slowly starting to wake up...

His vision was blurry for a long moment as he opened his heavy eyelids for the first time in hours, the young boy looking around himself in slight confusion, not having a clue as to where he was... he just couldn't seem to remember anything...

Finally, as his vision slowly began to clear, revealing that the paranoid hermit was still in the hospital, Branch suddenly recalled everything that had happened right up to the moment where several doctors had been holding him down on his bed with great effort, one of them quickly strapping that strange mask over his face, the gasses spewing out of it causing everything to instantly fade to black...

"Ugh..." he groaned in discomfort, the poor boy trying to roll himself over so that he could hide his face from the bright light shinning intensely into his eyes by pressing the pillow he was currently resting on over his aching head...

     But... as he tried to move... he unfortunately realized something was holding him back... something that was gripping onto his right hand, making it impossible for him to turn onto his side...

     Looking to his right with half lidded eyes to see what had hold of his arm, the village grump instantly saw the young Princess sitting right by his side, the beautiful pink troll holding lightly onto his hand in a strangely comforting manner.

"Poppy?" he muttered softly, his voice a little horse as it cracked dramatically. "What happened?"

     "You were freaking out about a needle, so the doctors had to sedate you," she informed bluntly, gently stroking a stray hair out of his face.

     "Exactly why I hate hospitals..." he groaned, laying his head back onto his pillow as the injured troll's eyes slowly fell shut. "My shoulder hurts..."

     With his left hand, the survivalist grabbed firmly onto his shoulder as if trying to relieve the pain shooting through the deep lacerations from the wolf's ferocious bite...

     The wound had already been stitched up, and was now wrapped securely in an ace-bandage, but... that didn't really seem to help much...

"Do you need me to get a doctor?" Poppy asked in concern, her eyes sparking with tears of worry as she slightly tightened her grip on his strangely limp hand.

     "No..." Branch answered in a muttered whisper, his eyes still shut gently as he seemingly struggled to stay awake. "I'll be fine..."

     Blinking his eyes open once more after a few short moments of silence, the young gray troll looked back to his secret crush, the poor boy still seeming a bit out of it...

     Though he clearly wasn't loopy anymore, Branch's eyes were still extremely glassy, his voice slow and soft with some letters seeming to slur together when he spoke...

"Can I go home now?" he questioned hopefully, looking desperately at his best friend.

Hopefulness... an emotion he didn't have very often...

"Sorry, Branch," Poppy apologized, frowning slightly down at the gray troll. "The doctors want to keep you here for at least a few days. Just to make sure you're actually ok..."

     "Ugh!" Branch groaned loudly in pure frustration, the grumpy survivalist laying his head back into his pillow as he yet again allowed his eyes to fall shut. "Fine... but there better be no more needles..."

Looking down at her closest friend for a long moment of complete and utter silence... the young Princess slowly lowered her gaze to their two hands touching one another's...