The Photo Project (#Wattys2014)

9: You Know What? I Do Talk Too Much, Don't I?..

My eyes fluttered open, light shining into my eyes brightly. I groaned and stretched up, wincing at the pain from my side and head. I looked to my right as I heard voices talking outside of my hospital room.

"What do you mean?" I heard a voice ask.

"I'm saying that she has bruises all over her body. She has a fractured rib, but it isn't that bad luckily. Do you know how she got them?" I heard a more mature voice ask. That must've been the doctor.

"No. I've only known the girl for a few weeks. Maybe she got them when she fell?" The other voice asked. It sounded familiar, but in my hazy state, I couldn't put my finger on it.

"It's possible I guess. But the bruises are practically everywhere. There seems to be a few that are fading, so they must've happened quite awhile before her accident." The doctor voice sounded a bit uncertain.

"She's a clumsy person. Anything couldve happened."

And then the conversation stopped. My door clicked open, and Hayden walked in. I smiled lightly at him, scooting up in my bed more. 

"Was that you out there with the doctor?" I asked nervously. 

He nodded. "Yea. Said something about you having bruises before the accident. You also have a fractured rib. You didn't fall that hard did you?.. I don't remember seeing you fall that hard anyway.. You fell on your back though.. Not your side. The doc said you had a pretty big bruise on your side. Did you bump into something before?" He chuckled out, shaking his head.

"Oh.. Um, yea.. I was walking into the school, and I bumped into the railing pretty hard. That's what must've happened about that bruise. Cause I mean, I didn't even see it before. I didn't even know it was there, haha.. 'What bruise?' Is what I would've said if you came up to me and told me I had a bruise, cause you know, I didn't even realize I had a bruise. Most bruises I get, i don't even know I have them. I think I've been sleepwalking, do you sleepwalk? I hear it's pretty dangerous, and bad for your health, cause you know, You could fall down stairs and just die. And like, you wouldn't even know you were dead until you were up in Heaven. Then you'd look down and see your body and be all like "Oh, wow! I'm dead?! I must've been sleepwalking! Darn."

I stopped to take a deep breath as I played with my fingers.

Hayden was just staring at me, his left eye twitching occasionally. "How do you talk so much with only a few breaths?" He asked after a few awkward moments.

I shrugged and chuckled nervously. "Talent of mine?"

He raised an eyebrow. "More like a curse."

I pouted and shrugged. "Its a gift and a curse, I guess."

He rolled his eyes and looked at the clock on the wall. "You can get out of here soon. Your mom's signing your papers as we speak."

I felt so relieved. I'd always hated hospitals. They always made me feel so much more depressed.

I sat up more and slowly swung my legs over the bed. I wiggled until I was at the edge, and pressed my feet to the floor. I slid off the bed and held onto it, keeping myself steady.

I stretched my legs a little as I got used to being on them. I let go of the bed and turned around, smiling slightly at Hayden.

"Could you maybe.. Help me?" I asked.

He stood up and shrugged. "Sure. With what?"

"There's an extra pair of clothes in the bathroom that my mom brought. Could you bring them out, then wait in the bathroom or out of the room?" I nervously asked, not wanting to be too demanding or mean. I just didn't really have enough energy to walk to the bathroom. "Oh, and maybe ask the front desk for a wheel chair?.. I don't have much energy, and I'm kinda dizzy."