Cured [ManxMan]

Chapter Eight

My next return to awareness started in much the same way, with the awareness of the steady beeping of the heart rate monitor and the whooshing sound of air I still had no explanation for. I was a bit more aware this time, however, aware enough to notice something in my mouth, down my throat. I wanted to gag, expel whatever it was, but it was lodged in place somehow, and I hadn't the energy for the attempt anyway.

After a few moments of listening to the machines, I realized the second machine was forcing air into my lungs. The rushing of air forced the air in, the machine held it there a moment, then a softer puff as it allowed my body to push the air out. How weak had I been that I couldn't be trusted to breath on my own? It was a sobering thought.

I found I did have the energy to open my eyes, though not much; they remain as slits, the bright lights of the hospital room both alerting me that it was day and sending a flare of pain through my skull. Even as they adjusted to the brightness, I found it was not easy to focus, as a fog lingered in my mind and a haze covered my sight.

Still, I could make out the form folded into the hard chair to my left, leaning forward so his right elbow rested on his knee, his hand dangling. His head was down, dark hair falling into his eyes, but I still recognized him. Mattie. Though I was not entirely surprised to see him, I was a little confused when my eyes followed his left arm to where his hand rested on the bed, covering mine. The mittens that had covered them since I was captured in the city were gone, but my nails were filed down to stumps and my wrists were still bound, so they didn't seem necessary anymore.

I didn't know how long I watched him, content to know he was here, and feel his hand on mine. I could have said something, perhaps, or given some indication that I was awake, but I feared if I did he would call for Kiara and the calm would be broken, and also I was still incredibly exhausted and both didn't want to deal with the doctor and didn't know if I would be able to summon the energy to move in the first place.

So, however much time had passed, we were still in the same position when the door opened, the hinges giving a soft squeal of protest, to admit a stranger. He had dark hair, somehow darker than Mattie's, near black, that fell almost to his shoulders, though it was carefully brushed out of his face. His skin, along with the tilt of his eyes, told of Asian heritage, though something about the cut of his jaw and a few other features made me think he must be mixed. He stood in the doorway, giving me a good enough reference to tell he wasn't nearly as tall as Mattie, with a narrow, skinny frame. Like Mattie, he wore jeans and a t-shirt—the coat Mattie had been wearing the first I saw him was tossed over the back of his chair—but this man wore a cardigan with a tribal looking pattern on it and glasses that covered half his face.

He cleared his throat, and Mattie, apparently not having heard the door protesting its opening, glanced up at him for the first time, though he didn't say anything. The stranger smiled at him anyway, twisting the ends of his sleeves in his hands. "How is he?" he asked. I may not have recognized him—not surprising as there were only a handful of people I had any recollection of—but I did know his voice. This was Jasper, the man I heard arguing with Mattie in the hallway. Mattie's boyfriend.

"He hasn't woken yet, but Kiara says he's stable." He sounded normal, but now that he wasn't staring down, I could see he was pale and the skin under his eyes was dark. I wondered how long I had been unconscious; he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

Jasper moved carefully around the bed to put a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. With a sigh, Mattie covered it with his own, the one that wasn't on mine. They both turned to look at me, though they didn't seem to notice my half-lidded eyes, and I made no move to alert them.

"You know..." Jasper starts, hesitating a moment before continuing. "You never really talk about him."

Mattie didn't respond, and Jasper allowed the silence, not pushing but also not retracting the question in his tone. Finally, Mattie sighed and asked, "Did you ever meet him?"