Insomnia

Chapter 38

Cal woke up the next morning feeling very excited. Rory had gotten out of surgery hours ago, and now he was going to be able to see him. Cal pressed the button to summon the nurse almost immediately after he woke up. The same nurse as before came in and greeted him. She could tell Cal was excited and smiled.

"You ready to see Rory?" She asked as she wrote something down on her clipboard. Cal nodded excitedly. "I had to pull a lot of strings, Cal. And I mean a lot of strings. You're not even supposed to be moving yet. However, his room is just down the hall from yours. I haven't heard anything or even been down there, but I'm assuming he's doing well. We're going to have to get a wheelchair for you."

"That's fine," Cal said smoothly. He had to stop himself from rushing the nurse. The nurse continued to talk on about different things regarding his health and Rory.

"Alright, I'll be right back. Just going to retrieve the wheelchair and some people to help me. Are you sure you want to go now? He may still be asleep. You're not going to be allowed to wake him."

"It's fine, I want to go now." The nurse nodded and headed off to fetch a wheelchair. Cal was impatient and anxious. He felt terrible and had a headache, but didn't want to tell the nurse that. His cast also itched a lot, but he couldn't do anything about it.

It seemed like the nurse took forever to get the wheelchair. She came back after a few minutes along with three other doctors. They all had to put in effort in order to lift Cal out of the bed and into the wheelchair without injury him. Cal tried his best to carry some of his own weight, but it didn't help much.

The nurse thanked the others as they walked out the room. She started to roll Cal down the hallway, and Cal felt butterflies in his stomach. She paused outside of Cal's room and peeked in for a second. She smiled when she came back out.

"He's still asleep, but he looks fine. I'll leave you in there, but press the button when you want me to come get you, okay?" Cal nodded. The nurse rolled Cal in slowly. Cal perked up to see Rory laying on the bed. He had multiple scratches on his face and arms, but he looked peaceful. The sound of the monitor beeping was steady. The nurse walked out to leave Cal alone with Rory.

Cal just sat there, waiting for Rory to wake up. He felt so much guilt that it hurt a bit to look at him. Maybe the accident wouldn't have happened if he had paid more attention.

The room was dark because the nurse hadn't turned on the lights. Cal was fine with it. The sunlight was flowing in through the large window, and it was a nice sight to Cal. If felt like Cal sat there forever, just waiting for him to wake up. Cal jumped when a doctor entered the room. It was an older man and gave Cal a tight smile.

"You must be Phillip," the doctor said kindly.

"Cal," Cal corrected without thinking about it. The doctor smiled and nodded.

"See you're visiting your friend." Boyfriend, Cal wanted to say. He refrained.

"Yeah, just waiting for him to wake up." Cal looked up to smile at the doctor, but the doctor was giving him a confused look.

"You haven't been down here yet, have you?" Cal shook his head.

"No, why?" The doctor let out a sigh and ran a hand through his receding hair.

"You're friend here isn't going to be waking up for a while," the doctor informed him. Cal's stomach seemed to drop.

"What do you mean? Is it from the surgery-"

"No, son, no-I mean." The doctor let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Rory here is in a coma. It's a miracle. We almost thought he was going to be brain dead. However, his brain isn't working properly."