That Teacher (Wattys2016)

Chapter 28: I'm Fine

Chapter 28: I'm Fine

I thought it was a dream. It felt like one.

Looking past the empty bed to the right of me and through the window, I could tell it was night. Probably midnight by the darkness, so that added to reason why I thought it was a dream. Midnight meant that visiting hours were over. With that being said, how could Chad have been seated across from me at this moment if it wasn't a dream?

Better yet, a nightmare. His face rested in his hands as tears fell down his cheeks. His eyes were red, letting me know that he had been crying for a while and the expression he wore did nothing to bring my mood up. He looked miserable and I felt at fault. I was always worrying him and it sucked.

It was true that he made me worry too but not to the extent he was in. He looked so... broken.

"I'm sorry." I muttered, sitting up on the bed. The pain medication had definitely worn off but I was great at managing with pain. It was sad that I'd actually become accustomed to it.

He wiped his face dry, noticing that I was now awake. "You kind of talk in your sleep." He chuckled like he wasn't just silently sobbing seconds ago.

How did I kind of talk in my sleep? It seemed like more of an 'I did or I didn't' type of thing. He was just trying to take me off the subject of him crying. "Chad"-

"You don't really talk but you move your lips like you're saying something. I don't know if it's because you're speaking in some type of frequency I'm too old to hear or if I'm just deaf... you kind of talk in your sleep."

"How are you here?" I asked, still on the fritz of if this is a nightmare or just painfully real.

"The same way I've been coming here every day for the past month. I hide in the bathroom until the nurses are done with their rounds on you."

"Every day? When do you sleep?" I asked concerned. The bags confirmed that he barely had any shut eye lately.

"Well quitting work has freed up my schedule."

"Quit?" he couldn't be serious, right? "No, you love teaching."

"I do but not more than you." He sighed. "Look, I know we agreed to go low-key but I don't want that. I don't want sneak around like what we're doing is wrong."

"I've ruined you." I shook my head.

The first day I met Chad, he was the biggest light that ever shone in my life. He was always optimistic and helped me see the brighter sides of life and my family. He gave me hope that my life wasn't just going to be an endless spiral of misfortune. Tonight, he was clearly underfed with no sleep under his eyes. He was a wreck and jobless, clouding his true feelings with small talk about me lip-syncing while I was asleep. I cut off his light, and it felt so dark and cold.

He ignored me and continued rambling. "In California, I would watch you sleep too and you would do the exact same thing. It's adorable."

"I think you should leave." I was tired of being this paper weight in his life, I was keeping him down and it wasn't fair. He shouldn't be quitting his dream job and losing sleep over me; he should go on and continue his adventures. He should go back to being the Chad he was before me.

"Stop being selfish." He shook his head slowly.

"Excuse me?"

"For a whole month I wasn't sure if I would hear your voice again. I was tormented by the twitching of your toes, thinking that maybe you would wake up before my eyes." He sniffed, "And now that you're finally awake, you're going to strip me of this moment?"