Smile [Kavi]

Chapter 17

Avi's mind was fuzzy, the last remnants of a dream being chased away by the realization that he was awake again. It was a nice dream, something about sitting in a big oak tree in a meadow full of flowers, but the details were fading fast even as he tried to recall them. With a mental sigh he allowed his brain to focus and cautiously opened one eye. The bright sunlight cut the hospital room in half as he saw dust-motes dancing in the wall of light. He slowly turned on his side, causing slight discomfort, and caught a glimpse of a pile of gifts resting on the table beside him. The mountain of love ranged in variety from stuffed animals to candy to balloons. All with get well messages attached.

"Pentaholics are amazing." He thought to himself. The rusty hinges of the old door to his room squealed like fingernails on a dusty chalkboard. Whoever was trying to sneak in wasn't doing a very good job of making their presence unknown.

"How's it going baby brother?" Avi heard Esther's voice call out from the other side of the room. She knew he hated when she called him that.

"Now that you're here? Dare I be honest?" He chuckled. He always loved teasing his sister, but they got along great. If you were to ever see them walking down the street, you'd think they were the best of friends.

"Aw, you know you love me." Esther teased back. "Probably even more knowing that I've brought you this." She held a white styrofoam box just out of the man's reach with the word ribs scrawled out in blue pen on the top.

Avi's face lit up in delight as he reached for it. But to his disappointment, his fingertips just barely grazed the holy box. Despite the amount of morphine he had been receiving, he was still in a bit of pain. The bruises that covered his body made sure of that.

"What's the catch?" Avi asked, knowing his sister wasn't about to just hand him a box of his favorite food.

Esther placed her finger on her chin and tapped it gently whilst looking off into the distance. "Hmmm, a compliment would be nice." She smiled.

Avi sighed and then smiled right back. "You look like me. I think that's the best compliment you could ever receive!" He said cockily. Esther scoffed and placed the food on his lap.

"Hey, at least I tried."

"Get well soon baby brother." Esther called out before she exited the room.

Not even a minute after the door slammed shut, it swung open again to reveal a new face. It was a doctor. The man had golden brown hair that swept to one side of his head and glowing hazel eyes that looked as if they could see through anything. His young, chipper face gave off a friendly expression, but his body language said he didn't want to be there.

"Mr. Avee Klapan?" The doctor said confusingly as he flipped through the charts on his clipboard.

"Er, it's Avi Kaplan, but I'll give you credit for that one." Avi laughed trying to make a joke out of the situation.

"Right. Okay Avee..." The doctor continued, paying no mind to Avi's correction or small talk."...I'm here to bring you some release forms I need you to sign. Your arm is looking better and those bandages can come off soon. Once those papers are all finished up, you'll be able to leave here by tonight." He put on a smile that was much too fake after handing Avi the paperwork.

"Thank you Doctor....umm..."

"Updegraff." The doctor finished for Avi. And with a small flip of his hair he left the room.

Avi was alone in his room once again. He began to tap the end of his pen to the temple of his head. That doctor looked awfully familiar. Even his name rested on the tip of Avi's tongue, but he couldn't seem to piece it all together. Trying not to stress himself out more than he needed to, Avi waved away the puzzling thoughts and continued on to finish signing his release forms.