Don't Talk to Strangers

XXV

I woke up at around one AM, my eyes staring at the ceiling. I felt stiff, but when I tried to move my arm, I could barely find the strength. How could one night of infection cause this? Surely it should've taken at least a few days for it to get this bad. I cursed my weak immune system. I'd rarely gotten sick as a kid, so nothing had strengthened it.

I focused on my breathing, taking long breaths and filling my lungs up as far as I could, then slowly letting it out. It made me a little dizzy, and my chest ached, but it was something to do.

My thoughts buzzed and I groaned, trying to blot them out. He just kept returning to my mind, driving me crazy. 

Where was he? What was going to happen? I had to get out in time to tell them not to press charges. My heart ached and I felt tears well up, slipping down my face. Tasting the salt reminded me of how upset, how close to jumping he'd been.

I couldn't fall back to sleep, and I laid there for hours, trying to make a decision. My feelings felt knotted, pulled tight, and so confused I felt like I'd never untangle them. But by morning... I think I was finally clean. 

The nurses and doctors rumbled in and out, checking on me. I started asking what had happened to Dan, or "the man who had brought me in," but no one would answer me. They just shook their head and said, "Don't you worry about that. You need your rest; you can see him soon."

I had a sinking feeling that wasn't true.

Towards the afternoon, I asked about the police sirens I'd heard. Only one of the nurses, a small blonde sweetheart answered me. She said that someone had been arrested in the waiting room, but no one had gotten hurt.

"Oh," I'd said, looking away. "Thank you."

By the time six o'clock rolled around, I was feeling better and more restless. And hungry. I choked down the sick food they gave me and tried once again to ignore the IV stuck in my arm. (Needles made me squeamish.)

The doctors told me I couldn't get up yet, but that tomorrow I'd have more freedoms. I knew I had to get better fast, though. I was going to do whatever it took. I had to do my part.