Slapshots {BOYXBOY}✔

Chapter Thirty-Eight {You Got Lucky}

My body hurt, everything hurt. My eyes, my fingers, my hair. It hurt so much that getting my eyelids to open took everything out of me. So I just laid awake while listening to all the machines. I had gathered that I was in a hospital, why I wasn't sure. But I had yet to open my eyes or at least I haven't since the whole panic attack. I couldn't tell you how long ago that happened, I couldn't tell you how long I was laying in this bed. I was lost, confused, and frankly, I was scared. Between all the beeping, I could hear snoring, light breaths that rose and fell in calming rhythms, along with another set of breaths, calmer, not as loud on the snoring front. But still clearly whoever owned the breaths was sleeping.

I shifted myself, moving my legs, but it was painful and I couldn't stop the groan that passed by my lips. "Matty." I heard shifting from beside me, and soon someone's hand was holding my own, another hand stroking hair from my forehead. "Hey, you're ok, squeeze my hand twice if you're awake." It was Henry, I knew his voice anywhere. But it didn't sound as calm as he normally did. Posh Henry who always held himself to a higher latter of acting more-- mature. It was slow, it was painful, the first squeeze was firmer than the second, and they were a couple seconds apart, but I did it. At first, I was worried that they were to spaced apart for him to notice, but then he squeezed my hand back and I felt the softness of his lips touching my forehead. "Good morning Matty." He said, his voice shaking softly. The only thing I could manage to do was give him a small hum.

I must have fallen asleep again because when I came back to his hand was gone, everything was numb now, the pain not as bad as he had been before. I managed to open my eyes slowly, blinking every couple of seconds before everything adjusted.

I was in fact in a hospital room, the light pink walls were not to harsh on my eyes as I looked around. The lights in the room were dimmed, but judging by the small bit of sunlight that crept in from the closed curtains.

There was a small makeshift bed under the window, two small couches pushed together with blankets and pillows making a fort on top of it. On the floor was another mat with more blankets and pillows. I looked around the room until my eyes fell on a person sitting on another couch on the other side of the room. Her hair was graying, age had caught up with her now that she was in her fifties, she was awake, but she wasn't looking towards me. No, she had a little desk made beside her on the nightstand, where her glasses hung low on her nose grading papers with a red pen. I hummed, blinking at her, she looked up in a matter of seconds, her eyes going wide as she hopped up and sprinted to the bed. "Matthew." My mother said, relief flowing through that single word, automatically her hand found my hair, running her fingers through it as tears welled in her eyes.

"Mom..." My voice was scratchy, it hurt too much to keep going, but I think she understood that because she just nodded her head at me.

"I'm here my love. You're ok."

I fell asleep again, when I opened my eyes again I could hear talking around me, I turned my head to see my dad, Jorden, Henry, mom, and two other people who I assumed were doctors.

Henry and Jorden both looked like messes, with bags under their eyes, sweatpants and worn out t-shirts on, they both looked like they needed a months sleep and maybe a week-long shower as well.

The doctor chatted on to them before leaving, I couldn't catch anything he said, I was to busy watching everyone around me. After he left the room my parents followed, saying they'd be back soon to the two men, I closed my eyes before they had seen that I had them open. I didn't want it to be a big fuss again, this was the longest I had been awake so far, and I really didn't need a dozen people piling around me.

When my parents had left I opened my eyes again just in time to see Henry turn towards me, his green eyes meeting my own. He smiled, walking slowly towards me and took my hand. "Hey," I said, in a gentle, soothing voice.

"Hi." I cracked, my throat still sore. "Water?"

"Yeah of course," Jorden said, running to a small fridge in the room and taking out a water bottle. The movement for the bottle to hit my lips was slow, with Jorden easing it carefully, but once the coldness hit my tongue I felt myself wake up more then I had been in ages.

"What-- what happened?" Jorden sat beside Henry, both of them beside the bed I laid in.

They both looked at each other, then Jorden bit his lip and nodded at Henry like Jorden could read his thoughts, just like he did mine back in my dream. "You got hit by a car Matty, you've been in a coma for a month. At first, it was medical, to help you heal, but once they eased off the medication two weeks ago, you didn't respond. We-- nobody was sure you'd wake up. We were told we had to wait and see if you'd wake up on your own. Which you did." Henry's eyes started to gloss over, but no tears shed, though his voice got softer, weaker with every word. "You woke up five days ago, choked on the ventilator they had to give you. They had to medicate you to calm you down, you fell back to sleep. And now you're here. God Matty, you had us so worried."

I blinked at him, never seeing so much emotion poor out of Henry, "I got hit by a car?"

"Yeah, you can be pretty stupid," Jorden said with a small laugh, giving my hand a squeeze. "You stood right in the road, some eighty years old ran you right over. Well not over, you more less flew over the hood. Broke four ribs, cracked your head open, broke eight fingers, and fractured your ankle, you had a hairline fracture on your knee, but it should be fine. They were more less worried about your brain and lungs. You had two rib bones that were centimetres away from puncturing your lung. You got really lucky Matt."

"I'm not-- I'm not too stupid. At least I didn't die." I tried to joke, but I guessed by the look on their faces they didn't find it funny, well Henry didn't. Jorden gave me a little smirk. "You're such an idiot." Henry scolded. "I kept telling you to move out of the road. If I was just a second sooner-"

"Then you would have been hit too, I told you. Stop beating yourself up over this." Jorden argued back, giving Henry a stern look, Henry met his gaze before rolling his eyes and looking down at me.

"We rented out an apartment here until you're back on your feet. Unless you would rather go back to one of your own houses, I know you have a place in Calgary and Vancouver. Whichever one you pick is fine by us."

"No, no that's fine." I sighed, my eyes starting to get heavy again.

"Go to sleep Matt, we'll be there when you wake up." Jorden gave me another squeeze, and with that, my eyes sank shut and I was back to dreaming.