That goddamned thing

Chapter 9

I don't know how much time I have been passed out so when I wake up, I look around for my phone to check the time. The nurse is nowhere to be seen and there is no light except the nightlight so I am assuming that it is late in the night. My head is feeling less heavy due to the medications and sleep so I drag myself out of my bed slowly. My head starts to throb a little but it is bearable. I find my phone just outside the halo of the nightlight and pick it up. It says 1 in the morning. I am disappointed. I don't feel sleepy and there is nothing around to do or no one to talk, so I start to explore the room.

I find the light switch and turn on the light and for the first time I have a proper look at the room. It is not very big but big enough for two hospital cots to fit in; however there is only my cot. There is a table against the opposite wall on which are a water bottle, some tablets and other first aid stuff. Beside the table is a small refrigerator inside which I find a few ice-packs. I move towards my bed and sit down, looking away from the door.

After a while of staring at the white wall, I get bored and get up to look out of the window. The window looks down on the parking lot. There are a few cars standing in complete silence. I look up at the clear sky; the stars are shining down brightly. My mind wanders to the time when we were attacked. I curse myself for not listening to Alex at once but then again, I am grateful that we are both safe. I wonder if the men were Alex's uncles and make up my mind to ask him sometime.

While I am still engrossed in my thoughts, I hear voices outside my door and even though it is almost two in the morning, it doesn't seem odd. There must be patients that need to be tended all the time. After a while, the door opens and someone enters the room. Assuming it to be the nurse, I don't turn around for a split second, but then thinking that it is disrespectful, I turn around and I see not the nurse, but Alex standing near the door, his hand still on the door handle.

 My heart skips a beat "Hey." I say.

He smirks, "Hey Cara. Mind if I come in?"

"You are already in." I say suppressing a smile.

His smirk turns into a smile and he comes forward slowly, his foot still in pain.

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be sleeping." I say scolding him jokingly.

"I woke up a while ago and got bored so I sneaked up to the roof to get some fresh air and I was just returning when I saw the light in your room so I just came. Why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep anymore."

He comes closer and shifts his weight on his left leg. I touch the cut on his cheek lightly with my fingertips. "Looks awful." I comment.

"Could've been worse." He responds shifting his weight again. He is clearly in a lot of pain.

"Come on." I say taking his hand and lead him to the bed. He sits down wincing in process and I sit next to him.

"So, how are you? I didn't even have time to ask you about it earlier."

"I am feeling okay except that my cheek is still stinging a bit and I have sprained my ankle so it's a bit hard to walk. How about you?"

I have a small bump due to swelling on my forehead while a big hard bump on the upper back of my head where the man hit me with his gun. "I feel like I have grown two new heads." I say.

He laughs and touches my head lightly with the tip of his fingers. "You need an icepack." He gets up and takes out an icepack from the refrigerator and comes back to sit beside me. I wince when he slowly touches the icepack to the bump.

"It's going to hurt a little but it will get better soon. This hard lump will take a week to go down," he says and then touches my forehead, "and this will take about two more days to heal." He brings his face closer to mine and looks closely at my forehead. "Swelling is a good sign." He continues. "It means that fluid is not building inside your brain, after it goes down, the area around your eyes will swell since that is where the blood drains to, and that swelling will take about four days to fade away." He says with a serious expression on his face and touches the icepack to my forehead.