Burdens [Furry BxB]

Chapter 119 - Red

Roger had taken to sleeping through the night. He had been unconscious for a while prior to waking, but it was not really sleeping. This time, even with the news in the background on the television, he slept. He had not had a good night's sleep in a long time.

He only woke up because the sun was at the correct angle to hit him in the face. He squinted his eyes and tried to look around the room. It seemed someone had come in and turned it off while he was asleep.

He pressed the button and a nurse came to help after just a few seconds. It was not the weasel this time, but instead a type of lizard. He thought perhaps a gecko, though he had never really seen too many to compare.

The nurse came in and said, "Is everything alright?" He did not quite have the caring tone that the weasel had, but they were different individuals anyway.

"The sun is killing me right now," Roger said. His throat felt a lot better, and he felt quite warm. Suddenly he realized that he had the urge to urinate.

The nurse walked over to the window and drew the blinds. The room did not get all that much darker, but at least the sun was no longer directly in his face without any obstacles. "Thank you," he told the nurse.

With a brief nod, the gecko left, erasing something on the whiteboard hanging on the outside of his door.

Roger thought to press the button again to request assistance getting to the bathroom, but he felt embarrassed as is. He tested his limbs, and they felt mostly normal but a little weak, probably from not having done much with them for the past day. He always felt pretty tired when he had just laid in bed all day.

He pulled the covers off of himself and saw that he was in a hospital gown. He slowly moved a leg off of the bed, turning and holding onto the side. He then moved the other leg off of the bed. He could at least sit up with a bit of effort. His heart raced just from the simple task.

He gingerly stood up, using the bed to hold most of his weight until he distributed it fully on the floor. He was no longer hooked up to any machines, so he was free to move about.

He slowly wandered toward the bathroom, each step giving him a little more confidence as his muscles began to wake up and stretch. His legs had felt extremely stiff, but he was regaining his ability to walk normally.

Using the walls to sturdy himself, he managed to get into the bathroom. It was dark until he fumbled around and found the light switch. There was a toilet, sink, soap and paper towel dispenser, mirror, and toilet seat covers if he so desired. He quickly moved over to the toilet and relieved himself.

It was a lot more difficult with a hospital gown than he thought it would be. It probably would have been easier if he did not have to put an arm against the wall to balance himself.

He finished up and went to the sink. He rinsed his paws, and then looked in the mirror for the first time since the surgery.

A strip of fur was shaved down in a circle around his head. Several spots across his torso were also shaved. He had never really seen his skin before. It was incredibly white.

There were little metal protrusions lining the dark red line that went around his head. There was also a circular shaved portion quite a bit above his right eyebrow, and a dark red circle. More metal protrusions. He even saw threads that had tied the skin together.

He wanted to touch them out of curiosity, but he was afraid that he would do something wrong and somehow unravel everything.

Even more disturbing were his eyes. His right eye was worse than his left. The white part of his right eye had completely turned to the colour of blood, while only a third of the left eye had turned that colour.

He turned away, feeling uneasy about what he saw. He slowly wandered back to bed, nearly collapsing into it. He took extra care not to fall off and bash his head back open. He pulled the sheets back over himself and then tried to rest. He then realized that the remote control was connected to his bed.

He turned on the television and changed the channel from the news station that it had been on the night prior. Flipping through the channels he remembered why he did not watch the television. There were some movies on, halfway done, and some sitcoms that he did not understand. He saw several commercials until finally, he just went back to the news. It was just a rerun covering the arena that had been uncovered.

Some noise was better than no noise, though. He saw his belongings on the table beside him, his phone along with it. He grabbed it and sniffed it. There was no hint of anything that had happened to it, thankfully. He activated it, but it was out of energy. He sighed and put it back.

He went to grab his wallet, but he heard the door open. He instead turned his focus to see who the visitor was.

A nurse walked into the room. It was the same one from earlier, but this time he brought a tray of food with him. He did not smile when he saw the fox, he just had a blank, bored face the whole time that he approached and placed the tray, designed to sit perfectly on the bed, in front of the fox.

"Thank you," Roger said. He tried to smile at the nurse, but it was a little painful.

The nurse nodded. "It's not a problem. There are a couple of pain pills there and a couple of multivitamins and one that you need to take to help you recover. You have plenty of pain killers in your system so you don't feel a lot of it right now, but if you don't take those pills, you definitely will. Just push the button if you need help or when you're done."

He turned to leave without smiling back. Roger wanted the weasel back.

He looked at the food. It was a bit of egg, a piece of toast, and a slice of ham. There was also a tiny bowl with a few mixed fruits. There was a cup of water and a small carton of orange juice. In a small container, a bunch of pills he was to take.

He decided to eat the food first. It tasted alright, although a little bland. The fruit was fresh at least. The orange juice was store-bought.

He took the pills with the water. Everything he did was so slow, but it was all he could manage. He did not even have to push the button for the nurse to return, thinking something was wrong. It was good timing.

Roger smiled at him, thanked him for the food, and then waited. It was all he had left. It was Sunday. He had nothing to entertain himself other than the television, and it failed its job.

He hoped that Hunter would at least stop by after practice.

Maybe he would just try to rest his eyes while he waited.