I'm Trying (Like Everyone Else) [Larry]

3

 The only thing Harry could distinguish when he woke up again was white. Not blinding white light, not white noise surrounding him - just white. The walls of the hospital were white, the gowns of patients moving around him were white, the tiling of the floors was white.

He was being wheeled through a floor of the hospital after being given a pair of bracelets he couldn't remove, a gown, and a pee cup. Having done the test and put on his gown, he was being assigned a temporary room to be seen by a doctor and put on watch.

After a heated argument in the ambulance, the nurses who checked him in determined that he posed a threat to his own safety and put him on suicide watch. His belongings were bagged immediately after he changed into the gown, every last item he'd had on him.

The bag was locked in one of the drawers in his assigned room, and when the nurse pushing him along turned, he saw a comfortable looking bed in a fairly small room. The man made it clear that the door was to be left open at all times as well as the curtains, and that his mother had contacted and was on her way.

Harry couldn't deny that he was grateful she was coming. He hated hospitals; doctors terrified him not because of needles or shots - but because they might find something else wrong with him.

For now, he was left alone. He was honestly a little afraid to stand from the wheelchair, head still heavy and body still very weak. He knew that there was no way out of this. He'd been caught.

The bed looked pretty comfortable, he decided, but it was in direct view of the door. The main desk on this floor was almost straight across from his door, so he took the chair in the corner instead. It rocked slightly, so Harry used the movement to ease his mind a small bit.

He was vaguely aware that he was passing time staring at the wall, at the door, and at the nurse who popped her head in to check on him every time she passed by.

He couldn't focus on anything; his brain was foggy and his muscles were sore. He wasn't totally sure what happened at the house. He knew he'd blacked out more than once but he doesn't remember everything as clearly as he did before. The only vivid picture he has after the first blackout is of his mother sobbing in agony.

Harry doesn't ever want to think about the pain in her eyes at that moment again.

He tries to look around the room, and while there's a television hanging on the wall opposite him, he can't turn it on. He manages to catch the nurse on her next round, asking for the remote.

"Sorry, hun. I can't give you the remote until your parent is here." She says, a soft smile hanging on the edges of her lips.

Harry briefly wonders what's taking his mum so long to get to the hospital, but he's too tired. He just feels so tired, like he's going on three days without sleep and he's been walking the entire times. He aches and his eyes burn as he once again stares at the wall in wait.

"Harry," He hears his mum before he registers her walking into the room, "Honey, are you okay?"

Her voice is quiet, but she seems relieved to see him, almost like she thought he'd escaped or ran off on his own. She walks slow and her steps are quiet.

"I'm fine. I was fine." He says, lips numb and voice shot.

They don't speak again, and Harry wonders where exactly everything fell apart.

There's a knock in the doorway, and the nurse making rounds every so often walks in to greet Anne.

"You're his mother, correct? My name is Linda. A doctor and social worker will be coming in as soon as they're available, but for now, we need to assess Harry's current needs."