Proving Myself To Ghost

Hard Truths

I awaken to the pitch of a slow beeping, a familiar sound from distant memories. I slowly open my eyes to see stark white ceiling tiles and a dimmed yellow light reflecting off the metal hooks that hold bags of clear liquid. I blink a few times to clear the blurriness when a gruff voice catches my attention,

"Mornin' sunshine," Ghost mumbles out from the corner of the room.

I look over to see Ghost sitting back in a chair in the corner, the shadows of the room cast over his torso and face, not that his mask would allow me to see much anyway. His arms are crossed over his chest and his legs are spread apart nonchalantly. I can tell from his wrinkled clothes he has been in the chair for a while and it is much too small for his frame.

"How long have you been there?" I croak out with a dry throat.

Ghost stands up and grabs a beige plastic cup from the tall rolling table next to me and fills it with a same colored pitcher,

"I switch out the water every few hours so it's fresh," he grunts as he hands it to me. I take the cup gingerly and take a sip as he continues, "you've been out for a little over two weeks," he finishes without making eye contact with me.

I jerk the cup down with a sputter, "two weeks!?" I blurt out in confusion, "the mission though," I finish with more emotion than I intended to let show.

"Taken care of, love," Ghost says as he makes his way back to his chair and reclines again. "Hassan made it to the states, we followed, took him out," he finishes as he crosses his arms again, his eyes finally leveling on my face as he watches for my reaction.

"And I was unconscious for the whole thing," I say to my hands that are resting in my lap. I turn one over and look at the IV needle sticking out from it before I grab it and yank it out with one quick motion as tears prick the corner of my eyes.

"The doctors thought you would die," I hear Ghost whisper from the corner, "there was so much blood and your liver and kidney were shredded. They had to take the kidney out, they said if you survive the liver will eventually get back to some form of working condition but the kidney was beyond recovery."

I look up at him as he speaks, only mildly processing his words, "and Graves?" I ask after some time has passed.

"Dead." Ghost responds.

I let out a long shaky breath as I closed my eyes and raised my face to the ceiling as I laid my head back onto my pillows. It was over. The years of looking over my shoulder waiting for him to raise his ugly head again was all over. I should be thrilled but all I feel is an emptiness that I somehow already know will not be filled. An emptiness Graves' left with his words and his fists. A part of me I will never get back, an innocence I will never get back.

My thoughts are interrupted by a light knock on the door before it is opened and a tall thin man shuffles in,

"You actually woke up," he says with surprise, "I'll be honest that most of us, including me, were not optimistic but your boyfriend and your team were pretty insistent that you were a fighter," the doctor finishes with a grin as he glances over at Ghost who still hasn't moved from his corner.

I watch silently as the doctor begins checking my charts and pushing buttons on machines before he reaches and turns my hand over to see the missing IV,

"I suppose I'm not going to convince you to put this back am I?" he says with a raised brow.

"When can I go home?" I ask, leaving his question unanswered.

"You have been unconscious for multiple weeks, had multiple blood transfusions, and have only just woken up, you need to stay for observation for at least another week as we monitor your liver," the doctor answers as he writes down in his chart.