Life of Spike Murdoch

Chapter 18 - Wisdom's Sacrifice

Spike, being away from work for the time being, went into the hospital every week to check up on his old classmate, Vincent Virgil, who was in a critical car accident a few weeks back. Knowing of what had happened to him to be put in a full body cast and receiving constant care from the nurses to begin with, he felt really guilty, but not as guilty as Remmy was, if he even felt a bit remorseful of his new choices. He would come and visit Vincent in his room in the early afternoons whenever he could, bringing in some food and refreshments, to entice over the taste of the awful hospital food Vincent had to ingest on a daily basis. Before entering Vincent's room, he saw Dr. Cuda, the main doctor of the hospital, getting done visiting a patient of his. Knowing of his constant presence being there at the hospital for a multitude of reasons, Spike went over and waved to the doctor. He hasn't seen him in quite a while, but he wanted to remake his acquaintance.

"Afternoon, Dr. Cuda!", entered Spike from the hallway.
"Oh, Mr. Murdoch!", said the kind doctor. "Goodness, don't tell me—"
"Yeaaaah, doc, it's an old classmate of mine. The white cat who got into that car accident a few weeks ago. Vincent Virgil."
"You, my boy, have been having terrible luck this past year! I'm sorry for any painful inconveniences you and your friends are having! I just came back from a business trip, but just know I'm always here if you need me, with a quick hospital phone call away!"
"Much appreciated, doc. Well, it was good to see you again. I should go and check up on my friend."
"You do that. Take care of yourself, Mr. Murdoch."

Spike nodded to the doctor, as he got back to his scheduled duty on the floor. Spike opened the door, seeing his friend, still badly injured, completely wrapped up in many gauze-bands and casks all over his body. His face, once bruised and battered to hell, seemingly began to recover quickly. Vincent peaked an eye open, seeing who just opened the door.
"Mmmph... Spike?", struggled Vincent with his words.
"Uh, yeah, hi, Vince."
Spike shut the door and put away his belongings on the floor, with the other goodies on the table. "How are you holding up?"
"Eh, about as well as you might expect. Luckily I haven't gotten any major broken bones, but I do need to rest my body for the next few months, staying on leave from work. My boss was surely pissed off hearing about that, but, hey, fuck 'em."
Spike sighed heavily. "Yeah... I'm sorry again, about what had happened to you. I know I say this every time I come in here, but I really, REALLY mean it. You never deserved any of this shit."

Vincent grunted in continuous pain, trying to readjust himself on the bed. He grabbed the muffin that was sitting beside him and took a huge chunk out of it. He then spat it out in disgust.
"UGH! Goddammit, I HATE blueberry-nut! God, this place FUCKING sucks!"
"Whoa, calm down! I'll go grab you a chocolate chip muffin from the vending machine!"
"Nah, my appetite is already ruined."
"W-well, I did bring some cheese balls and beef jerky if you want—"
"NO! Just... UGH, nevermind!"
Spike's ears perked down as he was being yelled at by his friend. He apologized and sulked down in a nearby chair. Twiddling his thumbs around, Spike wasn't sure what else to do or say next to Vincent without upsetting him even more. As the white cat sighed, he turned his head to Spike.
"I'm sorry.", Vincent apologized. "I'm still groggy. Gets me in one of my bad moods sometimes."
"Hey, it's fine.", Spike replied. "I understand why you're upset. I'm just trying to be here for moral support."
"And I appreciate that a bunch. No one down here really knows me too well, and my other friends live in God knows where. You're the only one who ever comes in and visits me."
"R-really? Not even your family?"
"Heh. What family? I'm a lone wolf in these woods."
"That's... ironic you say that."
"Heh, right. I remember you told me you moved out of the house a few years back. Haven't talked to your folks since then?"
"Nada. And I'm sure they don't want anything to do with me either. It's been around five years."
"It's a bit strange, isn't it? I thought they were pretty cool folks whenever I saw them back in our school years. I guess time took its toll on them like the rest of us, and made them bitter."
Spike shuttered. "...something like that, yeah."