metulji - jan peteh

Bag of peas

Loud noises. White light. Alarmed doctors. The endless bleeping of machines that would not relent.

Just kidding.

When I came around, I realised that I'd been moved away, into the bedroom where I'd slept the previous night - remembering myself passing out onto the harsh living room floor, I wondered about the whos and hows of me ending up lying where I was. Although it hurt to move even the slightest amount, I fought the pain and attempted to sit up slightly, rubbing my face, which I instantly regretted - my head began to throb as a wave of nausea rippled through me.

The bright sheets caused me to retract my sight for a moment, forcing my hands over my eyes immediately, giving them no time to adjust. The sudden inrush of light was definitely not what I needed, on top of the banging headache that was beginning to pulse in my head. I gave up trying to move and just lay back down, carefully positioning my head back onto the pillow where it had been previously, trying not to damage it again.

'Metulj.'

I could've passed out from the shock; hearing Jan's voice, my heart began to thump at a speed that will remain unspoken, as I immediately forgot about the former need to fold my hands over my eyes. Looking up and bracing myself, I saw him perched on the end of the bed, gazing at me, thoroughly concerned,

'You're okay?' he asked warmly, shuffling closer to me as I gave myself a few moments to catch my breath.

'What happened?' Of course, I wasn't totally clueless; I knew that I'd fainted, but how? Usually, I am aware at least a few minutes before, allowing me to prepare myself, get onto a soft surface to minimise the damage. Yet then? It had been so sudden, I'd scarcely had time to escape the crowd, never mind think about doing anything else.

'I have no idea. One second you were up with us, the next you were, well, down. On the floor.' he recounted, as confused as I was.

'And then?'

'I thought you'd wake up after a minute or so, but when you didn't, me and Bojan had to bring you in here.'

Before I had a chance to question him further, Nace burst through the door, clutching a bag of frozen peas in one hand and a towel in the other. 'Here.'

'What the hell?' I tried to laugh, but my head erupted with sharp jolts of agony, my hand subconsciously rushing to clutch it immediately. I tried to move it around to put pressure on the correct spot, but everything hurt, from the back of my neck to deep inside my skull, where I obviously could not reach.

'Substitute. We don't have an ice pack.' he explained, wrapping the towel around the packet and edging closer to hold it up to my head, gently prising my hand away and placing it back into my lap, where he stroked over my fingers gently.

'Kris offered to buy one, but that wouldn't be quick enough.' Nace chipped in, supporting Jan's words. 'The peas can be replaced. Realistically, we wouldn't have gotten a chance to eat them anyway.'

'Thanks, Nace.' Jan acknowledged, patting him on the back. He offered a grateful smile back to him, clapping his hand over Jan's.

'No worries.' With that, he left the room, leaving just me and Jan. And the makeshift ice pack, too.

'I'm sorry.' I apologised once Nace had shut the door again, hearing the still-going commotion coming from the living room and feeling pitiful that Jan was missing out to be here with me.