See you on Mars

2

The next morning came and Oikawa woke up and looked all around the hospital room only to realize that the rest of the beds were open.
     "morning sleeping beauty" Iwaizumi said. Oikawa yawned and rubbed his eyes sitting up on the bed.
    "What time is it" Oikawa asked groggily
     "No clue. There are no clocks in here for us, I guess if there were we would just stare at the clock all day."
     "So I guess the others already went to classes"
     "Yeah, I mean I'm not too good at telling time, but they left a while ago."
     "Oh, so what do you do all day?"
     "Well usually I talk to the others but lately  I've been by myself. There used to be two more but they both left..."
    "Did they, you know-"
    "Yeah" Iwaizumi said looking down. An awkward silence fell which Oikawa immediately tried to fill.
    "So Iwa Chan, how old are you?"
     "Seventeen, Everyone here is about the same age, we're placed in these sanitariums based on age and gender."
    "So is everyone seventeen?"
     "No, I think that the ages range from 14-17. When you're 9-13 you're in one room, then once you hit 14 you move up to the next age range. I think once you turn 18 they just keep everyone together and just place it based off of gender. You don't really want to leave because I hear the adult rooms are a lot more cramped and the nurses care less. Children are first priority or whatever, but I don't really know those are just rumors, it's not like they tell us anything."
    "How is everyone here so calm? I mean we're in the middle of a tuberculosis outbreak and there's no cure, yet everyone is able to laugh and joke around"
    "Well, I think everyone has just accepted it. There really is nothing you can do except hope for the best. Everyone here is scared, sure, and we were all like you at some point but might as well make the best of being here."
     "Do you miss school?" Oikawa questioned
    "Not really, I miss some aspects of it but not so much the people."
     "Yeah same, what was wrong with the people at your school"
     "They were just all so annoying, they just made me so angry because of how ignorant they were, so I'd always lash out at them and get in trouble. How about you?"
     "The girls only liked me for my looks and all they guy's hated me because I got a lot of attention from girls. They were jealous so they'd always start false rumors about me calling me a sissy or saying that I secretly wore girl's clothing." Oikawa revealed
    "Oh, that's awful" Iwaizumi said taken aback
    "Yeah, I've always been more feminine then most of my other male classmates, and a lot of girls liked me but I was never interested in any of them. Then one day after I rejected a girl she got all mad and started a rumor saying that I was homo and that's why I turned her down. People talked and someone said I had a crush on my best friend, Sugawara, which wasn't true by the way, and then Sugawara started keeping his distance from me because he was afraid I was in love with him I guess. The only thing I miss about that place is the volleyball club."
     "You play volleyball? What position?"
     "Yeah, I'm a setter and a pretty good one at that."
     "Oh, I'm an ace"
      "Really? You must be pretty good then, I mean getting the ace position is difficult at a high school level"
      "Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty good, not the best but definitely not the worst"
       "My whole brand is that I'm really good at getting the full potential out of people. Maybe when we're out I could be your setter" Oikawa said staring at Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi smiled softly and nodded his head staring into Oikawa's eyes. Iwaizumi turned his head swiftly and looked out the window.
     "I can't wait to go back outside, I know it's cheesy but I miss the smell of the air outside this hospital room." Iwa said.Tooru stared at Iwaizumi who was staring out the window dreaming of being out. Oikawa laid down and took a nap in an attempt to pass time but woke up when he heard the door open.
    Oikawa opened his eyes and sat up looking around the room to see everyone was back by now.
    "You're finally awake" Mattsun cheered
     "Iwa Chan, how long was I out for?" Oikawa asked, turning his head towards Iwaizumi.
    "Did he seriously just call you Iwa Chan?" Hanamaki snickered.
    "Yeah" Iwaizumi said
     "Never expected you to let anyone get away with something like that" Mattsun said. A puzzled look painted Oikawa's face.
    "Why do you look so confused?" Watari asked
     "I was just confused on why he wouldn't let anyone call him Iwa Chan, I mean he didn't have an issue when I called him Iwa Chan"
    "It's just unlike you Iwa Chan" Hanamaki teased
    "don't call me that!" Iwaizumi yelled, causing him to cough. He covered his mouth with his hand which was now covered in blood. He wiped his hand on the white plain white bedsheets which now had a light red stain.
   "Dude, be quiet, someone's going to hear you," Kunimi said.
    "Tch" Iwaizumi sighed, unwilling to apologize.
    "So are you guys excited to leave?" Oikawa asked. The boys just looked back and forth at each other debating telling him.
    "I probably would be if we got to leave" Hanamaki started "But, I don't think I'm going to get to leave anytime soon"
    "What? But I thought getting to go to classes means you're getting better"Oikawa replied.
    "Who told you that piece of crap? Look Oikawa, I've been going to classes for two years and I've been in the hospital for two and a half. There was this guy here named Kindaichi, he came here when he was twelve and started classes soon after. They thought it was going to be a speedy recovery so he started classes after only a month of being here. He moved up here once he was fourteen and stayed here for two years until one day he just didn't wake up. Mattsun was with him for one year and myself for two, Watari only knew him for six months and Kunimi just moved up to our age a week ago after being here for 8 months, so Kunimi never met him. Anyways he died two days after Iwaizumi came here. That was about a month ago but I still think about it a lot. He was here for four years but he still died just like that, he never got to see the outside world again." Hanamaki said.
     Oikawa was speechless and looked at the other boys wide eyed.
    "Don't forget about Yahaba either, He's been here for fourteen months and his friend-" Mattsun started
     "Is that really your story to tell?" Kunimi interrupted
    "It's fine, he can tell him" Yahaba said
    "OK, so when Yahaba came, he came with this guy who apparently went to middle school with him. His name was Kyotani but Yahaba called him his nickname Mad Dog. Mad Dog would always yell resulting in him getting scolded by the nurses. They wanted to move his room so he had nobody to yell at but there wasn't an empty room. One day about two weeks ago, he yelled too loudly and fell into a coughing fit. There was a blood clot in his throat so he couldn't breath and died from not being able to get enough oxygen"  Mattsun told Oikawa
    "For the next week they had a nurse stationed in our room to make sure we didn't talk at all. It was the longest week ever." Watari complained
   "Usually all of the beds are full, so we'll probably get a few more patients pretty fast. Most of the time patients come in slowly because there aren't enough beds, but since we have some openings they'll probably jump on the opportunity." Hanamaki said
    "I'm just excited to get out of this wheelchair," Kunimi said. "I think that once the new patients come in they'll get my wheelchair so I'll finally be aloud to walk around"
    "So, how long does it usually take for someone to start classes?"  Oikawa asked
    "In the time I've been here it usually depends on the person but I'd say 1-6 months. I think that there are other variables though other than only being healthy enough. There's only one room that we go to and it has the girls who are 14-17 too. I think that the younger kids go at a different time. There are 12 kids in our class and there are only twelve chairs, so I guess it makes sense. One of the girls got really bad though all of the sudden I heard so Iwaizumi is probably going to replace her. Then once someone else leaves, you'll replace them, I'm guessing anyway.."Hanamaki said
    "That's so sad, I hope she's alright" Oikawa replied
    "I wouldn't hold my breath" Mattsun sighed
   "How are you OK with somebody dying?"
   "Well, if you're here for a while you learn to block out those emotions. Yeah, it's sad but there's nothing you can really do"
   "Block out those emotions? Sorry Mattsun, but I just don't think I can. Even though I don't know her, imagine what her family must be going through, Imagine what all our families must be going through. Sending your kid to a hospital and not being able to see them again must be rough, I know when I left my mom looked to be having a hard time with it"
    "Stop being so sensitive you're acting like a little bitch, just man up and deal with it. Like I told you yesterday, crying never helped anyone and never will." Iwaizumi retorted
    "That's where you're wrong Iwa Chan, I think that crying can help relieve stress, It's not good to keep all of that in, you have to express your feelings somehow"
    "And I disagree with that statement. I don't have to express my feelings because it will only make me and everybody else feel worse about everything."
   "Iwa Chan I-"
   "Whatever I'm done talking about it. I'm going to sleep and I suggest you do the same." Iwaizumi suggested but it felt like more of a threat.