Kill Me Softly

All Patched Up

Yoonbum faded in and out of consciousness. At first, when he opened his eyes, he could see medical equipment and hear sirens and people shouting directions. His vision was blurry and he couldn't quite think straight, but he guessed he was in an ambulance. No, he thought, what are you idiots doing?! The ambulance was supposed to be for Sangwoo! He tried to shout this out loud, but he found himself unable to speak and simply fell back unconscious. The next time he woke up, he was in the back of the ambulance, which was now speeding down the highway. Next to him sat a woman with dark skin wearing a surgical mask. He realized he was wearing an oxygen mask and was hooked up to an IV. He looked urgently at the woman, still not able to say anything. She must have sensed what he was thinking, though, because she patted his shoulder and said,
"Don't worry, your friend is in another ambulance. We're gonna get you two fixed up."
She continued to talk explain how Yoonbum had already had a bad concussion, but that when he had hit his head again back in the basement it had opened up his wound and that he had lost a lot of blood. Yoonbum was grateful for her good intentions, but he felt very sleepy and did not listen to anything she said. When he woke up for good, he was in a hospital bed, surrounded by the smell of antiseptic and the beeping of machines. He felt a slight pain in his head, but otherwise he felt fine. He began to look around. He noticed that he was no longer hooked up to an IV, but that there was a bandage wrapped around his head. He noticed a call button next to him and pressed it. A minute later, a nurse entered the room. She was short and fat and looked very kind. She smiled when she saw that Yoonbum was awake,
"Hello, dear. How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"
"I'm okay. My head hurts a little, but it actually feels a lot better. Do you know what happened to the man who came here with me? He's tall, muscular, curly blond hair?"
The nurse looked at Yoonbum, and she seemed to be analyzing him to see if he could handle the information.
"Are you sure you want to get into that right away? I mean, you just woke up and if your head still hurts, I don't know if you should be doing anything stressful."
Yoonbum shook his head, which hurt, but he didn't care.
"No, please. It'll be more stressful if you don't tell me. I'd like to know now."
"Well alright then, but you tell me if you want me to stop, okay, darling?"
Yoonbum nodded, and she pulled over a chair from the corner of the room. She took a seat and sighed deeply before starting.
"As I'm sure you know, when they entered the room, the EMTs found you and your friend unconscious. He had already lost a lot of blood and your head was bleeding. They had to call for another ambulance, but they took your friend in the first one because his wounds were more critical. We stabilized you and put back the blood you'd lost. We also put you on some painkillers and stitched up the back of your head. Your friend... was a little more complicated. We had to stitch up his wounds and put a special kind of bandage on it so they would stop bleeding. Once that was done, we had to give him a blood transfusion, too. It took a while to get him stabilized. He hasn't woken up yet, but we don't think he lost enough blood to affect him permanently. He should be fine, but it'll take a while for him to heal up. You okay, dear?"
During the time the nurse was talking, Yoonbum had started crying softly. He couldn't believe he hadn't known, especially with what Sangwoo had said to him. He couldn't help but blame himself, and he couldn't bare to think about what would have happened if he hadn't happened to go back to the house.
"It's all my fault. Sangwoo tried to... kill himself because of me. He might never be the same again and it's my fault!"
Yoonbum shouted, tears streaming down his face. The nurse looked shocked. She grabbed Yoonbum's hand and started patting it reassuringly.
"Now, sweetheart. You can't think like that. None of this was your fault, in fact, you saved his life! Sangwoo is lucky to have someone like you. Don't trouble yourself. Soon you'll both be all better."
As soon as she said this, the door opened and the police officer who had taken Yoonbum's report entered.
"Hello there. I have some information for you regarding the report you filled out yesterday."
The nurse hurriedly excused herself and bustled out of the room. The officer took her spot in the chair and began to talk.
"I realize this is probably not the best time for you, but we do need some more information if we want to progress the case. Firstly, we were informed that a man sharing your last name disappeared a while ago from the same house you were found in. Do you know this person?"