The Hunger

The Hospital

My head pounded when I woke up. I had drunk all the alcohol in the world and was now somehow alive to feel it's hangover. At least that was how it felt. My thoughts drifted to wondering where I was or how I had gotten here but I couldn't even remember having fallen asleep. The only thing I knew was that beneath my sore body; was something soft. My bed. I forced my heavy and dry eyelids open to look around and was instantly met by a blindingly white light, streaming in from my right, pressing upon my body like some great otherworldly force. I tried moving my right hand to shade my eyes until they adjusted to the light but I couldn't lift it more than an inch without having my shoulder flare up in pain, leaving a weird throbbing numbness behind. I closed my eyes again and tried to think and ignore the pain.

A sluggish thought suddenly made itself known through the pain. My windows aren't on that side of the room... In a moment of panic my eyes sprang open and I held them so despite the pain of the light.

After a very long time my eyes finally adjusted. The ceiling which I was looking at was unfamiliar, but I didn't usually look up during visits to unknown places so that wasn't much to go by. I tried sitting up, only using my left arm as help to get a better view of my surroundings but as I did, everything started to spin and throb. I closed my eyes again and concentrated on the still bed beneath me. When the dizziness finally stopped I looked around and was shocked to see that I was in a hospital, easily recognizable by the bed that I lay on and the clean, almost sterile, white walls around me as well as the various medical equipement spread around the room.

I once again tried to remember the night before but all that came up was a bunch of random images, emotions and moments. A bottle of alcohol, discussing some ridiculous thing with James... And then walked outside and to lie in the streets... We were drunk... Where is james now?

It wasn't the first time that I had woken up to discover that I wasn't at home or had no idea how I gotten there, but it was the first time for me to wake up in a hospital with, after checking the bandages on my chest and shoulder and thinking of how I felt, I assumed were some serious injuries. And I didn't know where James was either.

"Oh good, you are awake." said a voice, startling me out of my thoughts. I cast my eyes towards where the voice came from in time to see a nurse walking in. "How are you feeling?" He asked in a irritatingly calm voice. He moved to the side of my bed.

Here I was, with no recollection of how i had gotten here, unexplainable injuries, and this dude acts like its just another day? "Freaked the fuck out." I said. Hearing my hoarse voice speak those words made me realize how dry my throat was. As if I'd been screaming. "Could you give me some water?" I managed to get out.

The nurse pointed to something to my right. It was a glass of water. I gulped it down gratefully. "Do you know where my friend James is?"

The nurse frowned. "Who?"

Relief washed over me. If he didn't know who James was then there was a high chance that nothing had happened to him. He was probably at home, sleeping, like the lazy piece of shit he is. "James Ryan. I don't know how I got here but the last I remember was that I was with him."

He frowned at me. "I will check with the reception but, you were brought in alone." A small pause. "I will tell your parents that you have woken up. The doctor will be with you shortly."

My parents were here. Oh no. While I waited for them, I decided that I had had enough of wondering about what had happened and instead took a closer look around the room, to extent of what my body would let me, in order to distract myself. The doctor would explain everything. The room was bright and extremely clean like it always was in hospitals, grey vinyl tiles as a floor, white walls that made the room look big, stiff air that smelled like plastic, medicine and disease. It give a hint at what was to come or at what had already happened. The windows that had blinded me were to the right, showing that it was well past midday. The fading rays of afternoon a patter in the sky. A nurse call button like the ones you see on TV was to my left. In short, it was like any typical hospital room.

My mother arrived first, bursting through the door with my father in tow.

"Oh honey!" She said and gave me a painful hug, tears in her eyes. "I was so worried!"

"Ow, mom! You're hurting me." I said. My voice still sounded dry and hoarse.

"Oh, sorry. I was just so scared when the police called and said that they found you unconscious, covered in blood." She started rambling. "And at first I thought that they meant that you were.. we-" She cut off and started sobbing and embraced me again. A bit gentler this time. "I'm just so glad that you are OK." She mumbled softly against my head.

Unconscious and covered in blood?

"We packed our bags and drove straight here. I almost had to physically force your mother not to go too much over the speed limit." My father said with a fond smile. Then his face dropped and he looked at me with concern. "So... What happened?" He sat down in the chair beside my bed.

I wanted to say that I didn't know, that I couldn't remember but...

Unconscious and covered in blood. A flash, an image. Someone sprawled on the ground... I felt tears running down my cheeks. I didn't understand it. It just hurt so much. Emotions were a turmoil in my chest. I felt my mother embrace me again.

After a while I stopped crying and calmed down, which was good because right then the doctor came in. I was about to move my arm to wipe away the tears and remembered with the pain that came, to do it with my left. I looked up, forcing my attention the present.

The doctor that came in. He was a middle aged man, tall and had dark brown hair, a three day beard on his cheeks. His eyes were grey however and he looked kind. Like he actually cared.

He formally greeted my parents and introduced himself and then moved on to me. "Hello Mr. Pierce. How are you feeling today?" He said and looked up from the medical chart with an air of 'I've done this a million times' and turned to me.

"I don't know. My whole body is so weak, I can barely lift a finger on my right arm and my right shoulder hurts like hell and I have a headache. My throat is dry and my stomach is a turning into a black hole." I said with a slight grin trying to be positive. The doctor was here after all. Everything is going to be fine. But dropped it as I went further. "I don't remember anything, I don't even know why I'm here, feeling this way." I said with difficulty trying to crush the emotions and images seeking my attention.

"Actually, we were hoping that you could tell us that." He said with a frown. "The police found you alone and unconscious in the woods. You lost a lot of blood which we had to replenish through blood-transfusion which is why you're feeling weak. Luckily there was no tissue damage. You were also found with claw marks on your chest as well as a kind of circular laceration above the right shoulder which is why you're feeling pain there."

The words coming out of the doctors mouth crumbled whatever wall I had put up. Images, emotions, all of it came like an avalanche.

I remembered everything. The darkness, the pain, the black eyed girl with her wide mouth and canine teeth. My head started spinning, my heart started pounding. I didn't know I was screaming until I felt the lack of air in my lungs and my mothers arms embrace me for a third time.

After that I just lay there, breathing and crying, oblivious to anything else, until I fell asleep.