Aurelia [h.s.]

thirty-one

Aurelia feels dizzy the moment she lets her eyes flutter open. The room smells terrible, as all hospitals do for multiple reasons, and the beeping of the machines don't sound for very long before they start to irritate her.

"Hey, welcome back. How are you feeling?" Harry's familiar voice rings sweetly in her ears and the corners of her lips lift up and into a smile despite how awful she feels.

Only a few seconds pass before his hand grips hers gently. His skin is so warm and comforting compared to the empty chill of the room and his hands bring her a nice calm, sense of relief because he's there.

"Like absolute trash." Aurelia laughs halfheartedly because of the effort that it took her to say three words, "How long has it been since they brought me back in?"

Harry checks the clock on the wall, "About four hours or so. If you feel dizzy, the nurse said to just press the button and let them know. They'll come in and adjust your meds so that you're comfortable."

Aurelia nods and sighs deeply because the action only made her more nauseous than before. She really hates this. "Thank God. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this."

She doesn't like that he has to be there with her and see her hooked up to a bunch of monitors with tubes in her arms. It's not something that she ever wanted anyone to see again, especially Harry.

His lips meet a clear spot on her hand and she smiles, "Don't be, it's really alright as long as you're okay. Would you like me to press the call button for you, since they seem to forget that you're very blind?"

Aurelia doesn't even bother to nod this time, her low breaths still haven't made any sort of difference and she really doesn't want to throw up, especially in front of Harry. "Yes, please."

The nurse takes forever and Aurelia feels worse than she has in years. She hates the drugs that the doctors keep her on after a procedure with a fiery passion. They make her feel like she's been back on chemotherapy and she loathes every second of it.

She's miserable and it's clear as day. Harry feels awful, but it was her decision to try the surgeries again and she was well aware of what would happen when she did. It still doesn't make him feel any better and hospitals really don't sit well with him, they've always creeped him out for a reason that he can't place.

Maybe it's because he knows what goes on behind the closed doors, all of the people who have gone through surgery and all of those who die in the right rooms. Whatever it is, he ignores it as best as he can to be there for Aurelia.

Aurelia's fighting off sleep the best that she can, her mind is never a good place after surgery so, the longer that she can stay awake, the better her drug induced dreams will be. "Do...do you know how long I'm supposed to stay for?"

Harry nods and hums so that she knows he heard her, "Five days, just so they can monitor things because, technically, you did have brain surgery. I'm sorry that I can't bring you real food, I know that hospital food is generally trash."

He watches with a small smile as her eyelids flutter with her attempt to stay awake and not succumb to the drug induced sleep. She's so unbelievable strong and he really admires that about her.

Aurelia hums after a moment, his words took a bit longer than usual for her to process because she's slowly losing consciousness. "That's okay. I've...I've gotten used to it over the years."

Harry frowns, it saddens him to know what she's gone through for most of her life. While he was out being a kid and getting into trouble as he grew up, she was in and out of hospitals on a routine basis and she was constantly hoping that she would make it another day so that, one day, she could be normal just like everyone else.