Like To Be You ✓

forty nine

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I wake up to a constant beeping, only because irritates the fuck out of me and I can't stand it anymore. 

The only light in the room emanates from the heart monitor mounted beside me. My mother is slouched in a chair beside my knees, her face toward the ceiling as she lightly snores. 

"Mom," I want to say, but a completely off-putting garble emerges from my throat. 

"Huh!" My mother wakes up with a jerk. The coat spread on her little figure slides down to the ground, and her phone lands with a dull thud on top of it. 

"Honey, hi." My mother catches my hand that reaches out for her. I open my mouth again, which feels bone dry but all-too-wet at the same time. More nonsense splutters out. 

"Just a moment, baby." Mom says, reaching for something out of my view. When she turns back towards me, she holds a plastic glass with a straw. "Here, take slow sips." 

Water! My mind screams. 

"Slow, honey, slow." She says soothingly. "You don't want to choke on it."

I choke on it. 

"Oh, dear." My mother immediately rubs my back as I roughly cough. While I recover from the little fit, she presses a button on the side of my bed. 

"What happ-?" I scrunch my nose up, trying to complete the sentence. Mom takes the cup from my hand and keeps it to the side, her fingers constantly rubbing the side of my head and stroking my hair.

"Relax." Mom says, which leaves me unsettled. 

"Mom." I whine, which results in another coughing fit. My ribs scream in pain at the pressure exerted on them. 

The door—a rather nice one, too— to the room slides open and a nurse hurries in.

"How are you feeling?" The nurse asks warmly, reaching for the IV plugged into my left arm. She adjusts the needle and checks the bag.

I say something. I don't know what I think, and I don't know what I say either.

She gives me a half-amused, half-motherly smile. "You're recovering fairly well. That's very good."

"Oo." I say, attempting to say 'cool'. My tongue sits heavily in my mouth, like a slab of jelly that's been kept out too long.

"You've been sleeping for a while." Mom says, stroking my hair. I make a face, one that asks what a while means. "Four days." Mom clarifies.

I think my eyes pop out, because the nurse says, "Don't worry. You've been drifting in and out of sleep. It's the medicines keeping you unconscious."

I nod calmly, even though I'm freaking out on the inside. Mom gives me another cup of warm water. Then I rasp, "Tyler? Zayne?" or at least something resembling it.

"They're fine, honey." Mom says, smiling a close-lipped smile. My intestines coil tighter.

"Don't stretch yourself too much." The nurse says. "Exertion is not good. Just rest for a while. Eat soft foods. " With every sentence, she lightly pats my shoulder. She's so close to me I can see the badge on the breast of her uniform. Joanna, it reads. "Now let me see your arm." 

Why? I think, before lifting both arms. Except I can't. Only the left one rises. 

Fuck. I fractured my right arm.