My Mystic Mess

Part 18

     After feeling so much pain, the darkness felt like freedom. Nothing could hurt me here. I was safe from all pain and agony. Sadly, I wasn't safe from the loneliness. All around me was nothingness. I didn't feel pain, but I didn't feel happiness either.

     Time had no meaning here. I began to wonder if I'd ever leave the darkness, or if I was trapped here forever. As if to answer my question, I began to feel the pulling sensation. Longing for something different, I let it take me away.

     "Oh, you're awake," a woman said. She placed a blood pressure cuff around my arm. I stared as the cup filled with air. "A little high. That's to be expected. How would you rank your pain on a scale of 1 to 10?"

     I stared at the woman, deeply confused.

     "My pain?" My voice was barely above a whisper. I felt weak all over, then came the stabbing pain in my side. I sucked air in through gritted teeth. "Eight. Maybe nine."

     "I want to get that bandage changed, but I'll give you something for the pain first. The rest of your vitals look good. I'll be right back."

     Bandage? Pain in my side? What happened?

     I was sure I was in a hospital, and the pain in my side had to be the reason I was there. The last thing I remember before the darkness was my whole body being in pain.

     The nurse came back with a syringe. She walked over to my IV, inserted the needle, and slowly released the medicine into my bloodstream. My arm heated up, and then my whole body. The pain in my side faded away. As I looked up at the IV, my head began to fuzz. I counted four bags feeding my IV.

     "What happened to me?" I asked.

     "All I know is you came in deeply drugged, barely responsive, and you had a knife sticking out of your side." The nurse moved my covers back, pushed the hospital gown out of the way, and revealed a huge bandage on my right side.

     "I was stabbed?" I asked. It would explain my pain.

     "The blade went in a good four to five inches," the nurse explained as she began to remove the bandage. I quickly turned my head away. "You're very lucky."

     "I don't feel lucky," I muttered.

     "The knife pierced your liver," the nurse explained. I felt something cold on my side. "It was a clean cut, and your friends were smart enough to leave the knife in and bandage the wound as good as they could. It wasn't the wound that gave us the most trouble, but whatever they drugged you with. You're awake now. That is the important thing.

     "You're all done," she said as she replaced the covers. "The pain medicine might make you sleepy. It's best not to fight it and just sleep." She smiled at me as she pushed a cart out of the room.

     I was alone in a hospital bed. I had a hole in my side. I found out someone had stabbed me. How could things get any better? As if to answer my question, a stranger appeared.

     "He'll be upset to know you woke up while he's gone." The man stood at the foot of my bed. He had brown hair that went past his shoulders, and a strange smile curled his lips. "Can't want to tell him."

     "Huh?" I asked, starting to feel more and more drowsy.

     "You caused a lot of trouble," he remarked as he crossed his arms.

     "It wasn't my plan," I commented back. "Who are you?"

     "A friend of a friend," the man answered. "Looks like you'll live."