Project Freelancer Data Folder: Agent Maine

Chapter 5 [Edit]

"Matt...? Matt."

He slowly opened his eyes. There was a bright light that came and went.

"Alright, you seem stable right now. Just take it easy for a while."

Matt was finally able to open his eyes. He couldn't move and he saw Jacob and a young lady who was just walking out of the room. The room was a pinkish red with a blue ceiling and fish decorations on the wall. 

He looked back at Jacob, who was biting his hand. He always does that when he's nervous... 'Why though? Why is he nervous?'

Jacob looked up finally. "Matt?" His voice was shaky. Matt looked around and then back at him. "What...? Oh, here? Uh..." He stopped to look down and bit his hand. Then Matt saw tears rolling down Jacob's face.

Jacob looked back up and the tears just started to flow. "I'm sorry Matt. I should have stayed. I should have been there to help you fight!"

Matt was really confused. "Fight? Fight what?" His voice was raspy and dry. He felt pain all over as he tried to move, but gave up after a few sporadic movements.

Jacob wiped his tears away. "You don't remember, do you?" Matt shook his head as much to his abilities. His neck felt stiff so he reached up to find a neck brace in place. His head was thumping from a headache, his arms were covered in bruises.

Jacob sniffed and looked down. "Yeah, thought so. You did get kicked in the head a couple times. They said there was some head trauma."

He sighed, got up from the chair in the corner and sat on the end of the bed. "Well, here it is, plain and simple. You got a fracture in your skull, multiple broken ribs, and a few confusions." Matt's vision started to get fuzzy and his headache started to grow. He grabbed for the bed sheet while his knuckles started to turn white.

Jacob looked up from his spot at Matt who looked as though he was in pain. "Matt? You alright?" He stood up and walked over to his side.  He looked at his heart monitor and watched his heart beat steadily increase. "Matt?" Jacob asked, more concerned.

Matt tried to open his eyes but he only saw darkness, but when Jacob saw him, he only saw white. "Holy shit, you need a doctor," Jacob said as he ran out of the room, yelling down the hall for a doctor or nurse to check his best friend. By the time they came back, Matt was already unconscious and his heart rate was now at an unsafe level.

"I'm not sure what's wrong," the nurse said. He grabbed his pager and paged for a doctor to come down. A few moments later, a man in a white lab coat walked in and took a look at Matt when suddenly Matt's heart rate dropped to flat. "We need to go to surgery, now!"

They grabbed his drips and put them on the bed as they wheeled him out the door. Jacob ran behind them but another nurse came and grabbed his arm. "Son, you need to stay back here in this area. That is a staff only section."

"But- but-!" He stammered out. "Your friend will be fine, I promise. Dr. Grandel is one of the best doctors here, he'll take good care of your friend." The nurse walked Jacob over to a seating area and sat down with him. "Let's wait here till we hear some news from the doctors." Jacob put his head is his hands and rested them on his knees. He found himself later more fiercely chewing on his right pointer finger.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next time Matt woke up, he was back in his hospital room, the lights turned low and the windows closed. From what he could tell it was night time. He looked around and expected to find Jacob sitting in a chair, but instead found a man, roughly 40 years old in the face, but his hair was already half grey.

The man had his head in his hand and elbow rested on the arm rest and his body slouched in the chair. Matt went to lift his arm but a sharp, stinging pain sparkled through his chest like lightning. He made a hiss at the feeling but tried again to move his arm. This time he was able to slide it up to his chest and rest it there for a short while.

While his hand rested he pushed down to move it but felt an indent in his chest that he was pretty sure wasn't there before. He lifted the sheets on his up just a few inches to take a look at why he felt different. Even though the sheets themselves were maybe half a pound, it felt like it was 100 pounds.

He lookes down under his dressing and found 3 large scars protruding down his chest and abdomen area. Matt's breathing started to get faster and faster and eventually he made a noise loud enough to get the middle aged mans attention and wake him up.

"Matthew? You awake this time?" The man stood up and walked over from the opposite side of the room and kneeled down next to him. "Matthew, I need you to stay calm, the doctors had to do a quick surgery on you. They found a fragment of your ribs still inside the first layer of your hearts 'outer shell.'" The man gave a snort. "Amazing what a small, millimeter size shard can do to somebody." He gave a half smile to the boy lying on the bed.

Matt gave a concerned look to the man. Who is this guy? Why is he here? What the hell happened to me? "I'm, uh, sure you have a lot of questions. I wouldn't doubt you to be quite honest after all you went through", the man said. "Well, to start off, my name is John Roxon. I'm your dad's younger brother."

I never knew my dad had a brother... Anytime I would ask him about his family he would change the subject, Matt thought. "I can go into more detail about what happened later, when you're feeling better, but now is not that time. You need to rest, and I'll go over everything with you soon enough." John stood up and held Matt's hand. "I'm sorry we had to meet like this..." Just then a police officer and a doctor walked into the doorway. "Excuse me detective. The boys doctor would like to speak to you," the officer said.

"Of course," John replied. "I'll be back Matthew. For now, just rest. That's what you need." He let go of his hand and walked out into the hallway.

Matthew... No one's called me that in a long time... Matt looked at the ceiling, trying to take in all that has happened in the past few minutes.