Bittersweet

Part 7

Liam opened his eyes. Well, more like his eye, really. He found he was only able to see out of one of his eyes. He tried to sit up, before falling back, bursts of dizziness rushing through his body. Confusion clouded his thoughts as he attempted to work out where he was, what was going on.

"Liam?" The green backpack flinched as he heard his name. A vaguely familiar figure was in the doorway. Everything was too bright, too confusing for him to remember where he had seen them before. Liam pushed the blanket off himself, trying to sit up again. He shivered, the cold air hitting his body. The figure had walked over to him, gently pushing him back down on the bed.

"I need to make sure your eye is healing right." Liam suddenly remembered what had happened. It had been a while since he got in that crash. Liam wondered where Airy had gone afterwards. Hopefully he hadn't gotten himself hurt, or worse, killed. Liam felt the figure's piercing gaze, and shivered slightly.
"I... I know you." Liam muttered slightly. He was finally able to see clearly, and recognised the blob. It was one of the pill bottles that he caught a lift with.

"Y... Yeah." The bottle seemed to feel slightly uncomfortable, so Liam decided to avoid pressing him for information.

"Any... Anyway, uh, your retina is almost completely damaged, I don't think it's going to heal anytime soon." Liam stared in shock. Was he seriously going to lose an eye? The pill bottle continued speaking, but Liam's thoughts were slowly muting out every bit of noise around him.

"Liam?" Liam jumped, glancing at the doctor.

"O-Oh. Sorry." Liam tried to calm himself down as the pill bottle looked at him.

"That... lantern. Is he gonna pick you up?" Liam fidgeted for a moment, trying to think of something to say. He didn't know Bryce's contact details, did he?

"I... uh..." Liam shook his head, "Do you know a... Bryce Hansen?" Liam was shaking, the pill bottle noticed.

"Yeah, he's been visiting with that lantern every few days." Liam stared in confusion, before realising. That meant Airy either managed to find him, or Bryce found him. He perked up at that realisation.

"Could you... Try and... contact Bryce?" Liam stumbled over his words, trying to keep his speech comprehensible. The pill bottle nodded, then left the room.

Liam sighed as he flopped back onto the bed. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it was amazing compared to reeds, or the floor. Reaching up, Liam felt the patch over his eye. It felt weird, knowing he would probably never be able to see out of it ever again. Liam fidgeted with the blanket, starting to feel slightly restless. He hadn't been able to be up and about in a bit. He wanted to find something to do! Liam sat back up, and began pacing around the bed. He slightly regretting giving up the comfort, but he felt too restless and fidgety!

"Liam...?"

Liam turned around to see Airy peeking in through the door. The lantern stared for a moment before getting pushed out of the way by a very excited Bryce.

"Liam! You're back!" Bryce grabbed Liam's hands, smiling. Liam stared, trying to register what was going on. The pill bottle walked back in, rolling his eyes.

"These two were already outside, turns out," The doctor grinned, "Guess they wanted to see you." Liam was smiling at Bryce, while Airy slowly crept over, staring at Liam's patch. Liam looked at Airy, sensing the staring. The lantern blinked slowly, before looking down at his hands, avoiding Liam's gaze.

"Well, I guess I should drive you to my house, Airy and Amelia have been staying for a while, doubt it would affect us if we brought you too." Liam nodded, still looking at Airy. The doctor smiled and led the trio to the front reception, talking to Bryce, as Airy and Liam followed silently.

"... Your eye." Airy muttered as Bryce and the doctor continued talking. Liam jumped slightly, before turning to Airy, due to his blind side. Airy looked at Liam, before reaching forward, poking the patch before Liam could stop him. As the group arrived in the lobby, Liam and Airy stood near the exit, Liam wanting to just go, and Airy simply being curious about Liam's patch. He was like a little kid, seeing something new.

"C'mon, you two." Bryce was by the exit, waiting for the pair to stop being distracted. Airy immediately wandered out the door, while Liam followed along slowly. He was happy about Bryce being around again, but the staring from Airy annoyed him.

Author's note: This was kind of rushed because the person who requested for the pill bottle to be Liam's doctor turned out to be faking some serious stuff (DID, etc), so yeah, I've been writing a better chapter to hopefully make up for that.