Changing Seasons

Forty

****

Krist had dozed off when he was woke by a nurse.

"Krist, there's an officer here to speak with you."

He sat up straight in bed as the officer entered the room. "Hi, I'm Detective Warren with the Multnomah County Police Department, is now a good time?" Krist nodded, it wasn't like he had anything else to be doing at the moment.

The detective pulled a small notepad from his pocket, "I just have a couple of questions for you." Krist nodded again. "Can you run me through what happened that night?"

Krist thought back for a moment, his thoughts fuzzy. "I was working the door when Drake, the guy that works the private room, radioed over to my coworker that someone had...I guess you would say, sexually assaulted one of the girls, when she was giving him a lap dance? So he asked for one of the guys that were up front to help him remove the guy from the club.

"I know the guy that had gotten inappropriate with the dancer was with a group of other dudes and they were trying to fight with security. Latrell, Dominik, and another guy helped Drake remove the group.

"Everyone went inside except for Dom and I. I think, like two of them, came back? Anyway, they started swinging on Dom so I grabbed the one closest to me. I got him down on the ground and that's when the third guy got me."

Detective Warren nodded, "Do you remember anything about any of them?"

Krist thought, puffing his cheeks out as he exhaled. "Fuck dude, I don't. I don't even remember them coming through the door while I was there. I would have remembered a group coming in for sure. I just know that they looked like white dudes, kinda tweaky? Around my age, maybe a little younger?"

"No worries. The club has a lot of footage and several people witnessed what happened so that's helpful." He reached into his pocket and handed him a business card. "This has my contact information, if you can think of anything or you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me."

"Sure, thanks." Krist studied the card.

"Hope you have a quick recovery." Detective Warren flashed a customer service-like smile and left.

Atira poked her head in the doorway, holding her duffel bag and a plastic Fred Meyer bag, "Everything good?"

Krist nodded, "Yeah, he just had to ask me about last night."

She lugged the bags in, leaving them in the small closet in the corner. "Bryana told me that they asked her about everything after you were taken to the hospital. They interviewed a bunch of people."

"Yeah, he said they had a bunch of witnesses."

"That's good, they'll catch the guy for sure." She bent down to kiss him. "I brought your charger, do you want me to plug your phone in?"

"I appreciate it, baby. My phones over in that with all my other shit."He nodded in the direction of the sink where a white plastic bag labeled Personal Belongings sat.

Atira rifled around, retrieving his phone. As soon as she'd plugged it in, the notifications blew up. Krist groaned.

"You okay?" She wanted to know.

"Yeah, just not in the mood to talk to anyone."

Atira silenced his iPhone, "There, baby." She smiled.

Krist pointed to his breakfast, "I don't know if you're hungry but there is pancakes and oatmeal."

"You're not hungry?"

"Naw, baby."

Quietly, Atira took the tray and picked at the food. "Kinda bland, huh?"

"For sure."

****

Krist was able to fall asleep, waking mid afternoon and finding Atira asleep in the recliner beside him, her head resting on his bed.

He swung his legs to the side of the bed, sitting up. He had to take a piss like nobody's business. Krist unplugged the infusion pump, cautiously wheeling it along with him to the bathroom, making sure he didn't get tangled in the tubing,

A small wave of euphoria swept over him as he emptied his bladder. He washed his hands and his face, standing before the mirror to examine himself. The incision in his belly as ugly. It wasn't as though he had a super ripped body or anything but he had liked how he looked without a shirt but now it was another thing to feel self conscious about.

Black bruises ran up and down backside and side. The stab wounds were covered in waterproof bandaging but from what he was able to see, they didn't look horrible. Dude had gotten a lucky blow when he'd gotten his spleen.

****

"Good to see you up and moving around." Keisha, his nurse of the day, told him with a warm smile.

"Do you think I could take a shower? I feel nasty."

She nodded, "I don't see why not, just make sure to keep your incisions dry. Let's go ahead and get you unhooked." Keisha unscrewed the catheter from the tubing, neatly wrapping it with bandaging. "We can actually take out your other IV."  She had Krist sit in the bed, removing the IV in the crook of his arm, covering it was gauze and tape. "You should have some towels and wash cloths in the bathroom, if you need more, there are extra in your closet."

"Sweet, thank you."

"You need anything else?"

"Nah, I'm good. I appreciate it."

Atira had woke as Krist was gathering his hygiene  items and fresh clothing. "How do you feel?"

"Gross." He told her with a small laugh.

"I'm sorry, you need me to do anything for you?"

"Nah, baby. I'm good."

Showering felt fantastic-even if he wasnt able to scrub his torso as much as he would have preferred. He dried himself, pulled on some clean boxers and sweats, leaving the hospital gown off, and then returned to his hospital bed.

Krist unplugged his phone to finally look at messages. He didn't want to actually talk to anyone but felt he owed some sort of response to them.

People from work, Jeordie and Cami, Marisol, his mom, even Brad had texted him their well wishes. The only person he really wanted to even talk to at the moment was his kid.

Not wanting to talk to him mom, he FaceTimed her just so he could see Rocco's face.

"Oh Krist, I've been so worried all day!" Was how his mom answered the phone. "Atira has been filling me in, I am so glad you're alright!"

She proceeded to talk at him for the next several minutes about how scared everyone had been and that they had hoped he would quit working at the club. Krist nodded his head, occasionally interjecting with "yea" and "I know".

When she had taken a pause to breath, he interjected. "Is Rocco around?"

"Oh, yeah. Did you need to talk to him?"

"Yeah, mom. Hey, you didn't tell him what happened, did you?"

"Oh gosh. No, of course not!"

"Good, I don't want him to know."

Rocco appeared on the screen a moment later, interrupted from his playtime. "Hi, Dad."

"Hey, bro, what's been going on today?"

"Nothing, just playing trains with grandpa."

"You having a good time?"

Rocco nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, we went and got a new train for my table today."

Rocco took his grandmother's phone into his play area, panning to the table he and Bill had decorated with trains, railroad tracks and miniature houses. It was its own little city, complete with cars, people, trees and even a few hills. The setup was pretty damn impressive. The little boy pointed to a train, painted shiny red. "That's my new one."

"That's hella cool, bro."

He and Rocco spoke until Rocco was too distracted by his train-set to focus on conversation. Krist let him know he loved him, and ended the call.