Baby Fat

twenty

It's foggy. He can see her clearly, and he can hear her. And then he can hear what the people are saying in the background. He can hear the ticking of the clock and he can hear her explaining what's going on. It's just a blur. The machine is beeping faster, he can only guess it's monitoring his heart.

"Shh," the nurse's sweet voice whispers to him. "You're fine, sweetheart. You need to calm down." The nurse is looking over him, but his machine is beeping faster than before. "If you don't calm down we will have to sedate you."

Corrie tries his hardest to calm himself down. He takes deep breaths. He tries to think about relaxing things like oceans and meadows or the stars. But nothing is working. He's just panicking.

He doesn't know where he is. Or how he got there. Or what the hell happened. It's too startling.

"Darling," the nurse calls to him, making his eyes flick back to her. "Breathe with me. In 1...2...3...4. Out 1..2...3...4...5...6...7." Corrie repeats what she does and he can faintly hear his monitor slow down to a somewhat normal pace.

The nurse checks a few of his vitals. "Need anything?"

Corrie points to his throat with the hopes that she understands. The nurse nods her head and grabs a plastic cup of water for Corrie. She makes his bed lean upward and hands him the cup. He downs it in seconds and wants more. She complies until he's had enough.

"What happened?" Corrie asks, his voice is croaky. His voice is scratchy and sore. His throat feels like it's on fire.

"You've been out for the past three days. You overdosed," the nurse explains. "The doctor will be in shortly to go over details. You're lucky someone called when they did. Your father and your brother are in the waiting room. I'll let them know that you're awake."

She leaves before he can ask about his brother—who doesn't exist. He's only child. Before he can ponder about it too long incomes Bradley and Corrie's father.

"Oh thank God you're awake!" Bradley screeches. He runs over to Corrie and gives him a hug. "You fucking bastard! How could you do this to me?" Bradley's tempted to slap Corrie but of course, Corrie's dad interrupts.

"My son could do this to you because he's a selfish idiot addicted to drugs and alcohol." He gives Corrie a pointed look before continuing. "Both of which will stop."

Corrie's about to ask what that means but the doctor knocks on the door before coming in.

"I'm Dr. Daniels. Glad to see you're awake, Mr. Hughes. It was a close one." The doctor is weak looking, and young. He's got no beard and all his hair is intact with lusciousness. "From what I recall, three days ago you came into my ER around three in the morning. You were unconscious and full of so much Coke I was surprised you lived that long. You had a multitude of other drugs that shouldn't be mixed with each other and or alcohol."

Corrie blushes meekly when everyone looks at him. "Yeah..."

"Mr. Hughes—" Dr. Daniels starts.

Corrie interrupts him, "Corrie is fine." This of course causes his father to scoff.

"Corrie," Dr. Daniels looks him straight in the eyes. "Were you attempting to self-harm yourself?"

Corrie gasps, clearly shocked. "No! Why would you even ask me that?" Corrie looks at Bradley to help him out but Bradley avoids eye contact.

"Because Corrie, you obviously knew that taking too much cocaine would kill you. You also knew that mixing certain drugs together along with the alcohol you drank was fatal. I don't know if you were too far gone or looking for a good night to die."