I could hear various voices invading my dream, waking me up confused and irritated. My eyelids felt as though they'd been glued together and my skin felt abnormally flaky. My vision blurred and my blinking echoed as I'd tried to redeem my sight. Once I'd finally gained slight apprehension, I felt a boney structure beneath my head and noticed I'd been sleeping on a stranger's shoulder.
I lifted my head and stuttered, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry,"
A soft giggle tickled my ear, "It's fine babe. Haven't a good cuddle like that in ages," the boy whispered, "name's Luke."
"Scarlett," I smiled back at him and examined my arms which were still stained red from the accident. My cheeks dampened as I remembered everything that happened the night before; I knew either way it was a nightmare, I was just urging for it to be one that projects while you're asleep.
Picking myself up, I staggered towards one of the doctors and asked, "Who do I find to see how my brother's doing?"
"Are you Scarlett?"
"Uh, y-yes. Why?" I stuttered before the middle-aged MD led me back over to the waiting area and gestured for me to take a seat.
"Your brother was stabbed twice through the lower-right side of his abdomen. The knife struck once into the Celiac artery which is what supplies your liver with blood," he informed before carrying out a physical diagram on himself.
"Well, what does that mean? Is he going to be okay?"
"He's been in a coma since last night due to the laceration causing lack of oxygen flow to the brain. The coma could last anywhere from a couple days to a couple months."
I supported my head with the palms of my hands and sat there feeling nothing but self-pity and helplessness. I would give anything to trade places with my brother. No tears emerged this time; and whether it was because I was too shocked nor dehydrated, I couldn't cry no matter how bad I wanted to.
"Now before you jump to conclusions, we have surgery scheduled to repair the ruptured blood vessels which will definitely make a tremendous difference. After the surgery, we'll be able to get a better idea of how long this coma could last but until then, I think you should go home and get some rest. This could be a long process."
"Is there any way I could see him before surgery?" I pleaded.
"Usually, we're not allowed to let visitors into the rooms prior to surgery, but we could probably sneak you in for a couple minutes."
I thanked Dr. Willis for all his help and he told me surgery wasn't going to start for another hour or two, giving me time to clean myself up.
I locked the bathroom door behind me. The faucet doused the blood into the sink, leaving a pool of red swirling around the ceramic surface. It left me in a stupor; how fragile life really is. How easy it is to mistake a sword to a wand. How erratic the world has become with constant emotional homicide and psychotic wanderers.
_____________
I let my hunger get the best of me and directed myself towards the cafeteria. Plucking up a banana and a hot chocolate, I seen a familiar face and pulled out a spare chair from across the table.
"How'd I know you'd be back," Luke smirked. I ignored his statement and the following flirty stare by taking a bite out of my banana and flipping through the hospitals idea of a good read. Without looking up, I implored, "So what brings you to the happiest place on earth?"
"Dislocated jaw." I looked up from the magazine and raised an eyebrow, indirectly telling him to continue, "People are screwy."
