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

Seventeen - Awsten

The corridor felt endless as we followed the doctor down past what seemed like hundreds of identical brown doors and curtained windows, three of us walking in a loose triangle format - Otto in front, Geoff at my side.
"Seeing as he clearly doesn't have much of a 'family'...I don't see any reason why the three of you can't see him. Not strictly hospital guidelines," he sighed, "but I believe this is an exceptional case...".
We reached the door that I had been sat outside of this morning, as the doctor turned to look at us.
"Ready?" He asked, his tone steady. He must have done this hundreds of times, shown people to their loved ones in various states of recovery - some wouldn't make it, some would. Some would make full recoveries, some wouldn't ever get back to the way they were.
Geoff turned to look at me as if to ask. I nodded slowly, as I heard the handle click and the door squeak open. The sound of the monitors became louder as we stepped into the room.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I was finally able to see the whole picture rather than strain to peek through the gap in the blind - he lay there motionless, save the slight rise and fall of his chest but it was barely noticeable. My hands trembled as I stared at his hair, tousled on the pillow - still messy, like it always was, though not the way he liked it. I couldn't help but stare at his arms - now he was in a sleeveless gown, I was able to see the full extent of his scars, reaching all the way up his arms to his shoulders. He seemed thin too - I hadn't noticed with his high necked band tees but the looser gown revealed his sunken collarbones, leads stuck all over his chest and plugged into various monitors. He seemed dead - he looked dead, save the monitors telling us otherwise.
"Awsten?"
I'd been stood there staring for several minutes, it seemed. Geoff and Otto had made themselves comfortable in two of the three chairs at the side of the bed.
"As I was saying," the doctor stated, flipping over a chart on a clipboard. "It's still early days but believe it or not, he is better than when he arrived..."
I sighed. He was better than when he arrived? He was still sat here plugged into machines and dependent on a tube, how was this "better"?
"Liver function shows that the overdose has unsurprisingly caused damage but we aren't sure of extent...seizures have been analysed on CT to have caused brain damage..."
Words periodically made their way into my head as I trudged over to the chair and slowly lowered myself into it, still not able to take my eyes off Keon and the slight rise and fall of his chest and the slight gap in his eyelids. The constant beeping of the monitors rang in my ears, never ending, but a gentle reminder that he was still, though only just, alive. I sighed - what the fuck do we do now?
"....we won't know the full extent of the damage until he wakes up, unfortunately."
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"When?" I whispered. The doctor sighed.
"It's been 24 hours, there has been some improvement, but we'd like him to be a bit more stable before we try to bring him out of it."
"And then..." I whispered again. The doctor sighed again.
"I wouldn't be surprised if there are liver problems that would require surgical assessment, but right now it's in his best interests to keep him under sedation though we believe it will only be a few days. Judging by the mental health history, being conscious would only make things worse, of course we want to keep him as physically and emotionally stable as possible."
I sighed, trying not to cry, as my head jumbled the rest of the words in the room, exchanged between Geoff and the doctor, before he turned on his heel and left us in the room. A single tear began to run down my cheek as I felt Geoff swing his arm around me.
"We've got a few more days, Awsten, and then we will know. Just a few more days..."