Invisible String

Chapter 12 - Out of the Woods

When I woke, it was bright. Early morning, I assumed. Alex sat in a chair nearby, his head resting against my arm on the hospital bed. There was an almost incoherent snore escaping his lips every few seconds, and I didn't want to disturb him, so I laid still while looking around the room, observing where I was staying. The medical equipment, the IV in my hand, the smell of extreme cleanliness, and the awkward bed all immediately informed me that I was in a hospital. But it was actually quite nice. It was a spacious single room with light robin-egg blue walls with brown curtains and dark-brown furniture.

The far side of the room was glass and on the other side was a hallway with busy nurses and doctors. I quickly realized that I was in the ICU. I touched my head with my free arm and felt the IV line pull. I reached around to the back of my head, and there was a bandage. The wound underneath pulsated with pain.

I pressed the big red button on a remote nearby, and it notified a nurse to come into my room. Within a minute, someone was there.

"Ms. Brink, you're awake." She smiled.

I nodded softly and pointed to Alex, who was still asleep.

"Sorry, but he's probably going to want to be awake for this."

"Is it bad?" I whispered.

She smiled brighter. "I don't think so, no."

I sighed and ran my fingers through Alex's hair. It was stiff from the gel he'd had in it last night, and he was still wearing his slacks and button-up shirt, but the jacket was hanging on his chair.

"Hey, sweetie, I'm awake," I whispered as close to his head as I could manage.

It took him a moment, but he opened his eyes and looked at me happily. "How do you feel?"

"Like I hit my head pretty hard." I smirked at him, and he frowned.

"I'm so sorry, Hannah." He leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

"It's not your fault." I turned away from him and looked up at the nurse while Alex held on to my hand tightly. "So, what's the news?"

"Well, I want to go over your vitals quickly, and then I'll update you, okay?"

She was already standing at the machine that was hooked up to me. My vitals were good, she checked the back of my head, and I asked, "Did I have to have surgery?"

She shook her head when pulling away. "No, that wasn't necessary. You had a concussion, and we brought you up here to the ICU to observe you and make sure you were okay."

"I kind of insisted on it." Alex smiled while squeezing my hand.

"Thank you." I rubbed the side of his face where facial fuzz was quickly growing in.

"Well, the doctor has cleared you to go into a normal room without such close observation, and depending on how you're feeling later today, we might be able to let you go tonight," the nurse said before she got called off to another patient.

Alex kissed me on the cheek and said into my ear, "I don't ever want something like this to happen again."

"Me neither," I said, rubbing my hand up and down his arm. "Definitely, me neither." After a moment of quietness, I asked him, "How bad was it exactly?"

"What do you mean?" I rubbed my thumb over his knuckles, which were clean but had stitched-up cuts and bruises on them. As did his right eye and cheekbone. "Oh, the fight?"

"Everything."

"Well, the fight went as well as you would expect. But really, you should see the other guy." He smirked.