Keep Breathing

9 - The Hospital.... Again

{Hawkins, Indiana. Hospital}

Third Person POV:

Will sat on a chair next to Mike, holding his hand, trying to drown out the three different conversations happening in the room.

Karen, Nancy, and Dr. Mills were talking next to the hospital bed, Karen was arguing with the doctor about why the pills weren't working.

The party was whispering about Vecna or whatever in the corner. And two nurses were chatting as they were jutting down notes on the other side of the room.

Will sighed, shutting his eyes. Mike's screams were stuck in his head on loop, and he couldn't get rid of them.

When Mike started hallucinating, in reality he had started to stop breathing correctly, hyperventilating while choking at the same time. He started shaking violently. Will had tried to snap him out of it, but it wouldn't work. Nancy heard from her room and came in as well, trying to help.

He ended up calling 911 after Mike stopped breathing for five seconds. When the ambulance came, his friends directed them upstairs.

There was a minute of confusion, since the EMTs couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. They decided to give him a sedative, which had made Mike stop screaming and shaking, but it had also stopped his breathing. One of the EMTs had to do some weird half chest compression to get him to breathe again, and then give him an oxygen mask once they transported him into the ambulance.

Will was allowed on the ambulance as they drove to the hospital. Karen came to the hospital moments after they arrived.

Now they were in a large hospital room. The beeping of Mike's heartbeat from the machine unnerved and calmed Will at the same time.

Mike had a fever of 102.8, and has had it for over two hours. His face was slightly sweaty and his brows were furrows as if he was in deep concentration. His lips were pressed together in a permanent frown. Will sighed again, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"So what?!" Karen suddenly exclaims, throwing up her hands. Everyone goes quiet. "I'm just supposed to wait while my son is.. is dying?!"

Dr. Mills sighs. "Mr. Wheeler is not dying, as I said before." He says, calming everyone down. "He is just very sick and he is not safe staying home right now. If he keeps having these hallucinations and sudden high fevers, it is very possible he could have a seizure or heart failure."

Karen gasps, and Nancy holds her shoulder.

"Staying at the hospital is the best thing we can do." Dr Mills says. "We can monitor him and make sure he stays as healthy as possible."

Will frowns. "When will he be able to come home?" Karen says.

"I estimate maybe a month." Dr. Mills says. "If everything goes well, he might come back in three weeks or less."

Lucas locked eyes with Will, raising his eyebrows. Will looks away, watching Mike again.

"Right now, until he wakes up, we can only wait." Dr. Mills says. "We can't give him medicine while he's still on the sedative." He taps the machine that shows Mike's heartbeat with his pen. "But once he wakes up, we can start testing different medicines that might help."

Karen crosses her arms. "I hate this." She says. "You keep sedating Mike and not actually helping him."

Dr. Mills sighs. "We are trying, Ma'am, but-"

"I want no 'buts'!" Karen interrupts. "I want to know what's wrong with my son!"

At that moment, Will felt Mike shudder. He turned back to him and saw his entire body was shaking as if he was cold.

"Mike?" Will says, getting the attention of everyone. "He's shivering again."

Dr. Mills walked over to Mike, pressing the back of his hand to Mike's forehead. "Hm.." He says. "Still has his fever, since he's not hav-" He was interrupted when Mike whimpered, and it changed his attention back to him. "Nurse Mary, please go get a glass of water."

The nurse in question left the room. Mike clenched his jaw in pain, and Will's frown deepened.

Suddenly, Mike lurched forward and his eyes were open, frantic and wild. Will and Dr. Mills started trying to calm him down, but he continued to freak out.

"Four!" He screams, going hysterical. "Four deaths!"

Will pulled back, confused. A gasp from the corner made him turn and see Dustin wide-eyed.

Mike grips at his hair. "The walls!!!" He shrieks. "The walls are crushing me!!"

"Sir, please calm down." The second nurse tries, coming up to the bed. Dr. Mills turns to the rest of the people.

"Everyone, please leave the room." He says. "And I mean everyone this time, Mr. Byers."

Everyone reluctantly left the room, trying to block out Mike's continued screams of 'four deaths'. Will felt tears prick his eyes when Mike let out a high pitch shriek of pain, but Lucas grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door.

When Lucas finished pulling him out the door and just to the side of it, he turned to his friend. "Mike will be alright, he's gonna be fine." He assures.

"But what if-" Will starts.

Dustin places a hand on Will's shoulder. "He'll be fine." He says firmly.

At that moment, another shriek of pain came out of the door, making everyone flinch. Karen groans in frustration, making several annoyed gestures with her hands.

After several minutes of silence, interrupted by Mike's shrieks, passed before a nurse came out, dashing down the hallway. She comes back with an extra oxygen mask and full syringe. Karen frowns angrily at her but doesn't stop her from entering the room.

Inside, Mike was flailing around, Dr. Mills and the second nurse trying to hold him down. The ravenette was yelling at them.

"Sir, please, we need you to calm down." The second nurse says.

Mike didn't respond to her, continuing to yell.

"Four deaths!!" He yells. "Four deaths!"

Dr. Mills and the first nurse lock eyes. The nurse pressed the needle of the syringe to Mike's arm, injecting it. But to Mike, it looked like a block of stone, which was stabbing into him, drawing blood.

"DEATH!" He shrieks. "DEATH!" The strength was drained out of him as the sedative went through his veins. As if his body was getting used to the drug going in his body, the effects were quicker. "Death.." He whispers as his eyelids droop and Dr. Mills and the nurse were able to get a hold of him and gently pulled him back into bed.

"It's alright, sir." Dr. Mills says. "Just calm down."

Mike lazily flopped his head to turn to the doctor, staring at him for a moment before his eyes drooped down even more.

The nurses glanced at Dr. Mills before leaving the room, bringing the empty syringe and glass of water out with them.

Mike blinked as though his eyelids weighed ten tons. "Where's Will..?" He whispered.

Dr. Mills eyebrows went up. "Mr. Byers is outside, but I believe you need to rest right now." He says.

A large unknown figure came into Mike's view, but before he could recognize him his vision went black as his body succumbed to the sedative.

<^> To Be Continued

(1.1k words)

oop. What do you think is happening with Mike?