Living Like Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Forty Three - Surrounded with the Familiar

I could try to compare waking up in the hospital bed to the many times I woke up after a sleep attack. They both shared similarities in the disorientation I felt before familiarising myself to my environment, in the way my mind and body felt sluggish and desperate to know how I had ended up this way.

One difference, however, was that unlike when I have a sleep attack and my mother, father, Chase or now Scott was there, I now lay alone.

Another difference. I felt relieved in my solitude.

The presence of company would distract my thoughts from their rampant search for order in my fragmented consciousness. In the silence, momentarily interrupted by the incessant sounds of the machines around me, my stomach tumbled in on itself as I remembered with distinct clarity, falling down the stairs. I groaned as I recalled the moment my torso landed on my oddly bent arm, the snap of the bone inside. I was a puppet with no master, my limbs sprawling without purpose.

By being knocked unconscious, I was saved from experiencing the agony that I knew awaited for me in consciousness.

My eyes roamed around the room, wide with a degree of panic that I fought to control. I took inventory of my surroundings. Vibrant flowers. 'Get Well Soon' cards. A painting beside my bed. I smiled. I was alone yet surrounded with reminders of those I loved. Then I saw the half full cup of water beside me and I swallowed with sudden thirst. I shifted up the pillow into a sitting position, reaching past my right arm, enveloped in a white cast with a sling around my neck and picked up the glass. My hand shook. I felt weak and limp.

After taking several gulps, I looked around the room once more and rested my head on the soft surface of the pillow, closing my eyes for a moment.

The sound of footsteps interrupted my thoughts and I immediately  opened my eyes to witness the entrance of Tessa, holding two plastic cups of hot liquid. Her eyes were downcast, but once raised, as she began to place the drinks on the table opposite the bed, they widened followed by the sound of a sharp intake of air.

"Morgan!" She said, rushing towards me. Before I could speak, she placed both hands on my cheeks and patted them before squishing them together, making my mouth into a pout.

"I'm so happy you're awake."

I made a gurgled laugh, swiping her hands away from my cheeks.

"That was an unusual welcome." My voice was husky, dry from disuse. I coughed once before continuing. "Where is everyone?" I asked.

Tessa looked towards the door, her mouth opening but it closed once another figure approached, two more coffee cups in his hands.

I exhaled, taking inspection of his familiar appearance to dampen the haziness of my mind. He looked tired. His hair was standing slightly off his head, the telltale sign of fingers running through it while his eyes, as they casually looked around the room before noticing me, were drained of vibrancy. My stomach clenched with worry.

He stopped in the doorway, mouth slightly agape.

"I hope one of those is for me." I said, attempting a wobbly smile.

He gave a surprised burst of laughter, then plopped the two cups beside the others before joining Tessa on the opposite side of my bed. His smile was warm and overwhelmingly relieved as he placed his palm on my cheek, his fingers tickled my temple as he leaned down to brush a kiss on my forehead.

"Don't ever do that again. Do you understand Peters?" He said, his voice washing over me like opium.

"I won't. Not on purpose." I promised, taking the his hand into one of my own.