Page 104 of True Sight
“Please, I have to get back to the hospital. Can we talk about this later?” I beg, dragging my eyes from the floor to each one of them.
Kolbi studies me for a beat before stepping to the side, allowing me access to the door once more. “Sure, we can talk about this later. But we’re coming with you now. If one of our friends is hurting, then we’re all hurting.”
“And we’re there for one another through the hurt, just like always.” Hank takes a step closer to us and gives me a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
“We might be dysfunctional and a little fucked in the head, but we’re family. And family sticks together through it all. We’re here for you, Connie.”
While it normally would irritate the hell out of me that he called me Connie, I know that this is his way of showing me he loves me. That their being here is how they show me that they care. Looking at my three best friends, my chosen brothers, I know that I won’t be able to do this without them anyway. That I don’t want to. Because we’re family and family sticks together.
41
HENRY
Holy fucking shit, my head is killing me. And my neck. And my leg. Why does it hurt to breathe so much? Dear lord, whatever is making that insipid beeping noise, can someone please turn it off? Where am I? The last thing I remember is saying goodbye to Alex and heading to see Conrad.
Conrad.
Did I make it to see him? Why can’t I remember what happened? God, my head feels like someone stuck an ice pick in it. I’ll deal with that later. I have to go see him. I need to tell him it’s okay if he’s not ready to say it back. I have to go and tell him that I’ll wait for him, that I’m not going anywhere. That I love him.
“Please wake up. I need you to wake up for me, for Annie. I’m ready to say it now. But I need you to wake up so you can hear it. Please.”
Conrad, I’m here. I have to go.
I have to go…
I have to go…
“Hen-Henry?” Alex’s voice sounds frantic as she cries out my name. “Henry, oh my god, are you okay?” Her voice grows as she shakes me and I groan at her touch.
“No, I’m not okay. You’re shaking me and it hurts.” I wince, squeezing my eyes together before slowly opening them. I blink hard and when my eyes come into focus I see her face leaning close to mine, tears in her eyes. A wide smile spreads across her face as she looks down at me. Why is she looking at me like that?
“Oh my god, you’re awake,” she gasps. Before I can reply, she’s gone, dashing away and crying out, “Someone, please, he’s waking up.” Then she’s back by my side again.
I try to look around but it hurts to look in any direction. Shooting pain rips down my spine when I try to take in my surroundings. I gasp at the pain but am met with what can only be described as a knife in my lung when I try.
“Why does everything hurt?” I groan and close my eyes again. The bright lights in the room are making my head throb and I want nothing more than for someone to turn them off.
“Mr. Baker, can you open your eyes for me?” The voice of a man calls out and I squint at him. “My name is Dr. Walters, can you tell me what pain level you’re at right now?” He shines a light in my eyes when they’re open enough and I quickly clamp them shut again. The tiny light from his torch makes my head feel like someone’s using it as a punching bag.
“I’m at the level of pain you feel when you decide to wear four inch heels on Halloween because they complete your costume perfectly but give you blisters that make it hard to walk for a week after.”
The man chuckles as he squeezes my arms, hands, and fingers before moving onto my legs. “Can you put that into a number out of ten for me?”
“I suppose a nine?” I grunt. “Just so you know, I’mcurrently seeing someone and I don’t know what he would think about you feeling me up like this.” He laughs again.
“And I’m a married man but this comes with the job. I need to make sure you have feeling in your extremities. You took a pretty hard hit, we need to ensure you don’t have any nerve damage. Can you feel this?” He squeezes my toes.
“Yeah, I can feel that,” I reply and try to nod my head as much as I can.
“Good, can you wiggle your toes?” I glance towards my feet and watch as all ten toes start to move, including the ones attached to my leg that appears to be in a cast.What the hell happened to me?
“Excellent, everything looks good for now. I’m going to give you a few minutes but we’ll need to run more tests to make sure you don’t have anything internally going on that we can’t see. A nurse will be back in a little bit to get you. Sorry for copping a feel, I hope your boyfriend doesn’t mind.” He winks at me before leaving the room and I turn to look at Alex who’s waiting in the corner of the room.
“Alex, what the hell is going on? Why am I here?” I attempt a deep breath but it feels like I’m swallowing pins. “And why do I feel like I got hit by a bus?”
“You don’t remember?” She takes a few steps closer again and sinks into a chair that’s been moved to be right next to the bed.
“Remember what?” I try to keep my eyes open but the lights make it impossible. “Can you turn the lights down? My head is threatening to decapitate itself from my body and I might let it if the lights don’t stop being so bright.”
