We're Not Sleeping, We're Just Dreaming (Waterparks fanfic)

Twelve - Awsten

I twirled my vape pen between my fingers as my feet carried me down the pavement - I was lost in my own mind. What the fuck happened today?
Where was I even walking? I looked around - I'm in the centre of town. I sighed - it's not like I have anywhere to be. It's half past five. I've come out of detention - alone this time. Just like I had been before. Before I met Keon.
Keon. Keon. Keon.
His name echoed in my head and wouldn't shut up and I saw his writhing body whenever I closed my eyes longer than blinking. His gaunt face, his rolled back eyes, spit - or maybe just very thin sick - leaking from the corner of his mouth, the violent jerks random and sporadic. I shook my head, trying to erase the image from my mind as I kept walking, not caring to observe my surroundings or where I was actually going. What was the point in anything?
I sighed and glanced at the town map - YOU ARE HERE, it read in large blue letters - and I sighed, before lifting a finger to trace the path to the place where I suddenly wanted to be but didn't know why. Curiosity? Compassion? Perhaps...grief? God, get over yourself, you've only know the kid a day, barely even that.
Crossing the road, I glanced up at the building - somehow it felt daunting but I couldn't explain why. Sheepishly I made my way over the road, careful not to get hit by an ambulance - oh the irony that would be. An ambulance runs over a teenage boy visiting a hospital. I scoffed at the thought of it and shook it from my mind, walking in through the double doors and weaving my way through the people, no idea where I was going. I'm looking for a sign....a sign...a sign....
I glanced over at the wall - list of departments! I skimmed over the names - radiology, X Ray, maternity, general outpatient, neurology, cancer ward - but in all honesty I didn't know what I was looking for.
"Think...think...where will he be?" I racked my brain, mumbling, before closing my eyes and rubbing my temple with one hand.
"Keon is in the hospital...."
Well, I knew that much. Would it be the emergency department? Would I be allowed there?
"...ICU"
ICU! Intensive Care? That must have been it. I ran my hand through the air, tracing the department names before reaching it near the bottom - Floor 3, Kingfisher Wing. Where the fuck was that? Never mind, I knew roughly where I was going now. I wandered through the seemingly endless corridors - a building this big and I couldn't find the lift? Or at least a staircase? I kept walking, aimlessly, staring down every little winding corridor I could find before, at last, a lift. I sighed, pressing the call button and waiting for the lift to drop down. The doors slid open - empty. Good. Lifts are such awkward places to be. I jammed my finger onto the circular button printed with a very worn out "3" and waited for a moment, still wondering where on Earth "Kingfisher" was. The lift juddered to a halt, the doors sliding open to reveal another corridor, which looked exactly the same as downstairs but with one key difference - another map and list. I ran my eyes down the list, muttering every name before finally, I found it - Kingfisher. Turn left.
My feet turned on the heel as I made my way through the hospital, various members of staff and other people, I assume visitors, all stared at me with my brightly coloured hair and tatty schoolbag but I paid little attention to them. I knew where I was going. Above my head, I spied a sign - Kingfisher Ward. I was close.
I mulled my way through the department, most of the windows drawn with curtains, names of doctors scrawled onto whiteboards on the walls next to the doors. It was eerily quiet - should it have been? It's an intensive care unit, maybe it's meant to be quiet? The sound of my footsteps echoing off the floor and walls and ceiling made my stomach feel uneasy. Or maybe it was the "hospital smell". You know what I mean.
I kept skimming through the names, not caring to take much notice until I found what I was looking for.
"Keon Parker, 17"
The blinds on the window were partially drawn but I could see through a gap - there he was. He wasn't moving, well, not that I could see, but still alive. I smiled a tiny smile, but couldn't maintain it, as I awkwardly placed my hands in my pockets. Now what?
"Can I help you?"
A voice came from behind me. A nurse, a male nurse, stood behind me in green scrubs. I stammered.
"Uh, that's my friend. I...I wanted to check if he's okay."
The nurse pulled a clipboard from under his arm. "Your friend?"
"Yeah." I mumbled.
"I can't let you in." He said. "You're not family."
I sighed.  He looked at me sympathetically but sternly - he wasn't going to budge on this.
"Is he gonna be alright?"
The nurse sighed. "I really can't tell you anything, you're not his immediate family. You can ask his family if you're allowed to visit but until then I can't let you in. Sorry."
He turned on his heel and walked down the corridor, the sound of his shoes squeaking cracking the silence of the ward. I sighed, looking through the crack in the blinds again. I angled my head to see his emotionless face, less gaunt than before but it still gave me an uneasy feeling - the tube up his nose, the oxygen flooding into his body, the paleness in his cheeks, his messy hair neatly brushed back out of the way and limp against the pillows he was slightly propped up against. I sighed, and turned away from the window, making my way back down the winding corridor. I guess I wouldn't know.