Long Away

Chapter 29

“Ben?”
“Did he just move?”
“I think he’s waking up.”
“Benny? Can you hear us?”
“I’ll go get a nurse.”

Ben slowly tried to open his eyes. His head was still pulsating with pain, and the light above him was blinding. He blinked, barely able to make out the silhouettes of the people hovering over him. Somebody touched his face. He forced his eyes open completely.

“Oh thank God. You scared us half to death.” Roger wrapped his arms around him.
“What just happened?”, Ben murmured, every syllable a struggle to get out.
“You passed out and fell off the stage,” Freddie explained.
“Not the most elegant thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You were blacked out for quite a while, mate,” Brian added.
“Thirty nine minutes. I counted,” Deaky said.

Ben looked around. He was laying in a hospital bed, the rest of the band and Mary were surrounding him.
“Are you okay, honey?”, Roger asked him, his voice heavy with concern. Before Ben could figure out the answer for himself, Clare came through the door to his hospital room, followed by two nurses.

“We’re going to need a bit of space here, could you maybe wait on the hallway?”, one of them, a young woman with a blonde ponytail, asked.
“Of course,” Brian said.
Everyone but Roger made their way over to the door.
“Can I stay?”, he asked the nurse.
“Is that alright with you?”, she passed the question on to Ben. He forced himself to nod, even a small movement like this cost him immense amounts of energy.

“Could you perhaps sit over there so we can take a closer look at your friend?”, the other nurse asked Roger, pointing to a chair in the corner. Ben wasn’t sure if his perception was still influenced by his head injury, or if this nurse really looked as much like Joe as he thought, but either way he didn’t know how to feel about it.

Roger did as he was told, and the female nurse grabbed Ben’s arm to measure his blood pressure. In the meantime Not-Joe spoke to him.
“I’m Francis, and this is Laura. We will be responsible for you tonight. Can you tell me your name?”
“Ben,” he croaked. Speaking was still hard for him.
“Alright Ben, how do you feel? Any pain? Nauseousness?”
“My head hurts.”
Francis nodded, scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

“You do have an injury on the back of your head. It doesn’t look too severe from the outside, but since you were blacked out for so long we will have to run some tests tomorrow. Do you remember what happened before you passed out?”

“I was on stage, playing guitar. And then there was suddenly this pain in my head.”
“So the pain was already there before you hit your head?”, Francis asked.
“I think so. But I’m not sure, maybe I’m not remembering it right. It felt as if everything was happening at once.”
Francis nodded.
“Then it could just be that you think that because you lost consciousness. But the tests tomorrow should give more clarity.”

“Blood pressure’s normal,” Laura announced.
“Very well. Do you need anything right now, Ben?”
He shook his head.
“Then we will leave you alone for now. If you need anything, just press this button and one of us will check in on you.” Francis showed him a glowing red button next to the bed.

“What about the people out there?”, Laura asked. Francis hummed, thinking.
“Technically visitor hours are over,” he explained to Ben and Roger.
“But I mean, it’s the new year in not even an hour, so I think we can make an exception. Unless you want to rest now?”

“I’d like it if they could stay,” Ben said.
“Then I’ll give them until 2am. And remember to call us over if anything is wrong.”
The nurses left the room, and Roger moved his chair over to the side of Ben’s bed. The others came back in seconds later.

“So, how does it look?”, Brian wanted to know.
“They don’t seem to know either,” Roger said.
“I’ll have to wait until tomorrow for them to run some tests,” Ben added.
“I just hope I’ll get out after that. It would suck if I had to spend my birthday in a hospital.”

Roger looked at him as if he had just grown a second head.
“Wait what? When’s your birthday?”
“On the second.”
Freddie let out an exasperated sigh.
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner? Do you have any idea how hard it is to organize a party in not even two days?”

“Who says I want a party?”
“I do,” Freddie said. Ben sighed.
“Maybe I don’t want to be released then.”
“Then I will just schedule it for when you get out. That works too.”
Ben looked up at Roger, silently asking for help. Roger smiled apologetically.
“I want to say don’t worry, but it’s Freddie. You do have to worry.”

Freddie paced up and down the room while he was making plans.
“It can be a small party. Just the seven of us?”
“I fail to see how that’s small,” Ben said.
“What do you have in mind then?”
“Nothing. I really don’t need a party. It’s just a day like any other.”
“How old are you turning, by the way?”, Roger asked him. Ben hesitated. He didn’t remember what year of birth was on his ID, he only knew it didn’t match with his actual age.

“It’s a secret. I’m too old,” he tried to laugh it off.
“Oh, come on. Don’t you think I should know how old my boyfriend is?”
“Maybe we should leave Ben alone with the birthday stuff for now. Clearly he’s not in the mood,” Brian threw in. Ben was glad to have filled him in on his secret. Brian was certainly more helpful than Freddie when it came to these sorts of things. Ben nodded at him.

“Thanks, Brian. Freddie, if you want to plan a party so badly you can figure something out for right now." He didn’t have to tell him twice.
“Alright, we have forty minutes until midnight. We can watch the fireworks from the window, we can’t bring alcohol, but there should be vending machines in the cafeteria downstairs. If not, there’s a gas station ten minutes from here. Clare, Mary and Bri, you come with me, we’ll get some snacks. Rog and Deaky, you carry in some chairs from the hallway. Chop chop, we have no time to loose!”
Freddie held the door open and waved everybody through. Roger giggled, amused by his serious tone. He gave Ben a kiss before following them.

***
Hey guys! Is everyone recovering well from the last cliffhanger?
Either way I'll see you next week!

Tay