"Shit...." I muttered, as I struggled to open my eyes. I must have passed out after the nurse hit the alarm.
"Oh, Doc. She's coming to!" I shrill voice rang out. "She's the first one!"
I looked around to see I was in a room with three other patients, both still passed out. I realized who they were as soon as my vision came fully into focus. Relly was on my right, his face hidden by machines. I could still remember the look of pure horror when he saw the green flash through his garage door. His dark green eyes dimmed and lost all that was Relly. His reaction was fight or flight. He chose what would keep me safe. I could see the black fluid still drying on what I could see of his beard. He must have been brought in recently. He looked as pale as blank printer paper aside from his facial hair and the black fluid sludging up. Relly's mother sat next to him, shooting me daggers. I kept my stare on Relly to avoid the uncomfortable notion that she blamed me. I let that sink in for a moment, remembering there was another patient to my left.
It was Amiee. Her short hair was spread around her head. She had dark brown eyes hidden by her thickly lined eye lids. The black fluid on her chin was greying and looked as though wiping it away was attempted. She looked nothing like me, typically stood as tall as I do, and would be the one sitting next to me, in the chair. Not the hospital bed. Her naturally tan skin looked as pale as I normally do. I'm Marilyn Manson White. She was usually Native American tan. Seeing her this pale made me feel cold.
I heard a deep shriek. It took me a moment to realize it was the doctor, who he and his nurses were dressed in hazmat suits. The plastic of the viewing window was tinted orange and had respirators connected to allow them to breathe uncontaminated air. I turned to look at Relly's mother, realizing I hadn't noted if she was in one or not. She, in fact, was. How did I not notice? How could you look past something like that?
"Heather? Can you tell me your birthday?" The doctor requested, flipping through a clip board.
"Um, September, 22, 1995" I spit out. My voice shook as though I was on a cheap massage chair in the mall.
"Okay, are you experiencing any pain? "
"Headache. The light hurts. " I was almost inaudible, this time.
"Ann, dim the lights, please. I don't know if the other two will come to with light sensitivity, too."
"Doc, Why did you shriek?" I asked softly, voice still shaky.
"Honestly? Or professionally?"
"Doc, you know me. Would I ask you if I didn't want your honesty?"
He shuffled around the room, trying to find a mirror. He ended up finding one in my bag which has its contents spilled all over the foot of my bed.
"Doc, just shovel the shit back in. I'll organize it later." I said, as he handed me my small square, white mirror compact.
"Brace yourself. Think, if the other two look like they are covered in drying vanilla yogurt, how bad will you look, knowing you're naturally that pale?"
I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and opened the mirror. Seeing my face, I gasp, cupping my hands to my mouth, trying not to scream. My eyes were fully bloodshot and my skin was corpse grey. I looked like someone who was killed in a truck roll over, only, no cuts, bruises, or broken bones. Breathing was easier, I could talk, and I didn't feel so sluggish. So why did I look so... dead?
I wasn't going to get that answered. Amiee was coming to with grunts and hacking like that of someone who has a cold. Almost the same routine questions I was asked. Relly soon sputtered to consciousness, as well. Nursed tended to Amiee and I as the doctor checked in on Relly.
Sometimes, I hated knowing so much of the hospital staff because it took away the professional view of them. The nurse who changed my IV bag went to a concert with me 3 years ago. She wore a black bra, red mesh top, and black skinny capris with cyber goth boots. I found it hard to see her past the memory.
The nurse tending to Amiee, I went to his sister's wedding, where he drunkenly hit on my older sister, Mimi. He didn't get very far.This nurse was kinda like the guy that everyone secretly hates but they're always nice to him because they're scared that he's going to snap someday, ya know? He's not a very nice person. He is THAT guy.
As for the doctor, he was kinda my only connection to the outside world when I was hospitalized. He would go out of his way to hand deliver letters I had written. He would send encoded emails to me when I was denied pen and paper. He would listen to what I had to say. We even had a code worked out so passing staff had no idea what we were really talking about. He could see how the disconnection hit me hard. He could tell that I required outside contact.
"Doctor Webber, Patient 0121 in M. Ward requires stabilization." The intercom rang out. A small female voice was calling for the man who kept me sane.
"Right, then. Clear the room." He ordered the nurses, and they followed him out to M. Ward. M. Ward, the mental ward. The ward I was oh too familiar with. It was the ward this doctor saved me from.
The memory faded into my vision. I could see the doctor sitting on the foot of my bed, reading out the responses to my last message I had him send out. I would have him talk to Relly and Amiee for me, because they wouldn't tattle. Suddenly, everything was black, and I couldn't feel a thing. I heard loud, long deep beeps.
"AERIS!!!" I could hear Relly screaming, and his mother grunting, holding him back, I assume.
Amiee wasn't fully conscious so I could only hear her muttering "Five more minutes, Mimi."
The squeak of standardized, cheap sneakers on the waxy laminate floor. Staff members were running to me, yelling over the machine.
"Push 600MGs of caffeine!"
"What??? Why caffeine?"
"Did I stutter?"
A long moment of nothing but the beeps. I could hear fumbling, everything was fading. The sounds of the machines were becoming softer.
"Pushing 600MGs caffeine." A nurse reluctantly called out to the acting doctor.
Everything was still just black and growing silent.
