Perfect

XX

Ba boom! Ba boom! Ba boom! My heart pounds in my ears. My left side throbs and I'm cold. A thin material covers my body.

I find my eyes slowly opening and the lights are bright. Instantly my head pounds and I lift my hand to cover my eyes. Something slim and smooth touches my right arm and I jump a little, not expecting it. Looking over, I see it's an IV. There's a bad taste in my mouth and I'm thirsty. There's tubes on my face and oxygen trickling into my nose. Something is on my finger and it's clamping down softly on it.

It takes me a while to realize that I'm in a hospital. I don't talk. I just look around, skimming the room. I hear voices outside and register them as Jasen and Bryce. I try to call them but find that I can't speak. My eyebrows furrow in frustration and the machine next to me starts beeping rapidly. My eyebrows raise and someone rushes into the room.

I wave and smile at the nurse as she comes over. "Hi hun." She says and I smile. She pushes buttons on the machine and struts out. Umm. Hello? I'm over here literally suffering and she leaves. Thanks. I roll my eyes and sigh.

Soon enough, Bryce and Jasen come in. Jasen glances at me and his eyes widen. I crack a smile as he whoops for joy. "Dude will you shut up?" I hear Bryce say angrily and Jasen just jumps up and down, hitting Bryce's back. Bryce turns around and his face drains of color. He rushes to my side, his face wet with tears. I take his hand and with my free hand, wipe his face.

I want to tell him it's okay; I'm okay, but my voice fails me. I take my hand and rub my throat and motion that I need a pen and paper. Bryce watches intently and understands. "Paper and a pen." Bryce says without breaking eye contact with me. Jasen reacts and grabs some off the table. I smile at Jasen and as he is giving me the paper, I take his hand. I make a face saying thank you. He smiles back at me and nods.

I write down on the paper. What happened to me?

Bryce looks solemnly at the paper and he starts to cry. I shake my head no and wipe his tears. I lift his chin up and force him to look at me, my eyes strong. He frowns and starts to explain to me, his voice breaking. He says that we went to eat and someone came in and was shooting people. He shot me in my left side and was about to shoot Bryce but the cops showed up just in time. I was in a coma after surgery for 6 days.

As soon as he said that he almost got shot I started to cry. My body racked with sobs until it hurt and Jasen rushed to my other side. I couldn't stop. It was uncontrollable. Bryce strokes my hair. "Shh shh. I'm okay now. You're okay. It's okay." He says soothingly and I start to calm down a little.

I feel my left side and there are thick bandages. It's kinda damp on the bandages and I lift my hand. It's covered in blood. I couldn't scream and Bryce and Jasen were across the room. I couldn't tell anybody. I looked around frantically for something to throw. The only thing I could find that would go somewhere was my pen.

I knew it was going to be hard to make my target with my non-dominate hand. I picked it up and made my target at Bryce. I threw the pen and thankfully it hit its target. Bryce whipped around and stared at me. I smiled and waved him over. He smiled and came by my side. I lifted the blanket to reveal the blood soaked cloth and he touched the bandage and looked at his hand in horror. He just stared at it and I rolled my eyes. I tapped his head and motioned for him to go get someone. He nodded, "Right."

   He raced out of the room and soon returned with a nurse. She came to the bed and looked at the bandages. She frowned and slipped on a white glove. She pushed and prodded at the bandage and I gritted my teeth in pain. At the very last poke I pushed her hand away because it hurt so bad. "Seems like there is some kind of fragment remaining in the skin and it's cutting the stitches. No need to go back into surgery. I'll just get the doctor and we'll pull it out for you." She smiled at me and took off the glove. She dropped it into the trash can as she walked out of the door.

   I bite my lip, not ready for the pain that was going to come. If it hurt when she just touched it, how is it going to feel when the doctor rips it out?

   I motion for Bryce to come and he silently goes to my right side and grips my hand. "You can do it baby. You can do it." He murmurs into my hair and silent tears slip down my face.

   Soon enough the doctor comes and sits down next to me, examining the bandage. He takes a q-tip and swabs the blood. "Okay so don't worry. I'm going to unwrap the bandage and see what kind of trouble is going on down there, okay? He asks and I nod. He starts to unwrap the bandage and I prepare for what I'm about to see.

   As soon as the bandage is off I glance at my side and gasp. There is a small hole in my side and it's fleshy and red. Right inside the hole I see a small black object. I wince and grip Bryce's hand, looking away. "Okay so this might be a little painful but it'll be out in a flash." He tries to reassure me and I nod.

   Without warning there is a cold metal tweezers inside me. It hurts like hell and I scream. The first kind of sound that comes from me is a scream. Bryce rubs my hand in attempt to soothe me but the pain is so bad that I can't handle it.
  
   It takes a long time to get out the object. I weave in and out of consciousness as the minutes drag by. The doctor has to get a metal clamp to open up the wound some more to get it out. It tears the skin and I scream as loud as possible in pain. My throat hurts and my face is wet.

   I finally learn that he got out the fragment. When it's time to stitch it up, I grimace. It's not as painful as getting out the fragment but it's still hell. I grit my teeth and wait it out. "Done!" Says the doctor and starts wrapping me back up in bandages. I let out a sigh of relief and nod at the doctor. As soon as he leaves, Bryce is all over me.

   "Baby I'm so sorry. I wish it was me and not you. I hate to see you like this. I'm so sorry love." He says and I smile. I lift my hand up and fluff his hair. I strain to speak. "I love you." I croak and motion at Jasen to go get me some ice chips to suck on. Bryce falls to his knees next to me and takes my hand.

   It's been a long day. And all I want to do is get out of here.
*****