Does It Matter

20

"In any case you're not leaving until the doctor clears you to go." Pangzi sounded tired, most likely a result of having known Wu Xie for a few years already, thus having to deal with his antics quite often.  

  Wu Xie grumbled under his breath in response, still feeling tired from the pain killers running through his system, on second thought maybe I should stay here, just for the night.  

 He sighed and leaned back against his pillows, soft in comparison to many of his resting places, even though they were still lumpy hospital pillows. His eyes felt heavy, his limbs even more so.

 He didn't even hear Pangzi gloating over his victory as he drifted off.

   "Wu Xie! Wu Xie come back here! It's time to go home!" A voice that sounded sweet as strawberries rang out somewhere in the distance, and the world came into a calm kind of clarity, green grass swayed in the wind somewhere far from civilization, the sun was nearly setting on the horizon, and the flowers were closing their petals to rest. He turned around, gazing on the big wide world with wonder in his eyes. His mother was behind him, packing up a picnic basket with the remainders of their lunch, now and then pausing to listen to something his father had said, her face shining with love for her small family.

"But Mama! I wanna stay here! I don't wanna go home, you will just make me go to bed if I do." He felt the exaggerated pout form on his face. 

His mother frowned, pretending to contemplate the statement from her son. "But XiaoXie, if we don't go home, then you won't be able to read your story books anymore."

  The child version of himself gasped in shock. "Mamma no! Let's bring them here!"

His mother frowned, unsure how to argue with the child without creating a scene, she turned to her husband. His father smiled, placed a hand softly on his wife's shoulder, and called out. 

  "XiaoXie, your books would only get ruined out here, and if we don't go home to them, the monsters might steal them."

His mother slapped the man lightly on the arm, exclaiming, "yah! Don't scare him!"

His father only laughed in response. "Eh, my boy won't scare that easily, are you sure you're not the one who's frightened?"

She huffed and crossed her arms, looking away from him with a childish pout.

"Eh... You really are scared aren't you then? Of the creepy crawlers creeping around in the dark..." He suddenly snatched her arm, making her jump in surprise, an angry yelp escaped her  as his father only continued to laugh.

The boisterous laughter and embarrassed shouting blended into the background as Wu Xie wandered off, playing in the dark field without a care in the world.

"Ughhh..." Wu Xie groaned at the sunlight invading his slumber, blinking blearily up at the ceiling for a few minutes before he begrudgingly let go of the last vestiges of sleep.

He sat up, feeling a headache come on he winced, looking slowly around the hospital room, seeing no sign of Fatty, he assumed that he had gone back to whatever hotel he was staying in. He grinned a little as a thought invaded his mind, itching to be put into practice.

This could end badly... Eh who cares?

He carefully pushed himself out of the bed, and saw the clunky looking cast wrapped around his leg, effectively dampening his mood for a moment before he rolled his eyes and cautiously pushed himself onto his feet.

The sneaky grin returned to his face as he took a few tentative steps, mostly dragging his injured leg rather than moving it too much. "And out we go." He chuckled to himself, making his way out the door and down the hall, avoiding doctors and nurses by dodging into hallways and pretending to be looking at random things.

............................ ............................. ..............................

"Tianzhen!!!" A roar was heard throughout the hospital, scaring doctors and patients alike, moments before Pangzi bolted out of a room, anger and irritation clearly displayed on his face as he grumbled angrily to himself.

  "That little .... I am so gonna lock him up somewhere next time..... see if I ever trust you again brat..." he paused briefly, "and where the fuck is that damn bodyguard. Isn't he supposed to be watching him damnit."

A doctor approached him carefully from down the hall, clearly he had already resigned himself to a bad day before hand as he approached with a tired expression. "Sir, you are disturbing the patients."

"Yah! What patients?! The one who ran off under your noses perhaps?"

The doctor pushed his glasses up his face, sighing heavily. "Sir I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you don't lower your voi..... Wait who ran off?!"

"Wu Xie! The damn brat ran off."

The doctor blinked, looking at his board."........Who?"

Pangzi almost growled in frustration. "Wu Xie, the person who was in that room!" He pointed back to the room he had first exited.

The doctor continued to look at his board in confusion, "sir, if you lost your family member I would advise you to go to the police, this is a hospital, and no one here has time for your pranks." He began to walk away, shaking his head.

Pangzi blinked, and snatched the board from the mans hands scanning the contents of the pages. "That damn brat and his pranks, damn his uncle for raising him like this... " He muttered as he looked at the pages only to find that there was no record of his younger friend anywhere within. He was still staring in disbelief when the board was snatched back from his hands, and he looked up to see the doctor now fuming.

"Sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave. Now. Or I am going to call security."

"Eh?! No! He was here, trust me this brat knows how to pull off a stunt, just look at the cameras, he's small and has a cast on his leg."

The doctor scoffed. "He has a cast on his leg and yet he ran away? I'm calling security now."