From The Place I Hate, Came My Love

God Bless Morphine.

 I can't feel my aches or pains anymore, but I feel like I should. They aren't gone...just not there right now.

 Ugh. I can see the glare of the annoyingly bright lights and I haven't even opened my eyes yet.

 The bed I'm in is definitely not mine at all, it is way too hard. The bed sheets are course too. And if they call this thing under my head a pillow, I'll be forced to correct them of it's proper name; a rock.

 There is a steady beeping to my left...I'm pretty positive now where I am again. I open my eyes and can now confirm my suspicions. The hospital. Lucky me.

 I have an IV in my right hand hooked up to a clear bag of liquid. I'm guessing it's probably handling my dehydration. Connected to the same IV is a smaller box that is locked from the outside, but I can see a tube with some clear liquid on the inside. Morphine. Fun. 

 The heart monitor on my left is connected to my index finger on my left hand. I can't imagine the panic it would cause if I even took it off for a second.

 I hear a flush from behind a door across the room to my right. The door opens and a very tired Tyler walks out. I'm glad to see he stuck around for me. I wonder what time it is now? I called him to get me at a pretty ungodly hour of the night.

 He makes eye contact with me and just stares for a minute. Neither of us are saying anything...I don't even know if I could actually. Now that I think about it, my throat feels pretty dry and strained.

 "Are you okay?" Tyler asks quietly.

 I can't help but squint at him in disbelief. I'm sitting in a hospital bed with morphine being pumped into my body. No, I'm not okay. I hold up my hand, showing off my IV, in response.

 He shakes his head and walks over to me. "Not what I meant." he says. I'm glad he got what I meant at least though. "I meant, are you feeling alright?" he asks again...specifically this time.

 I look over myself...I look like shit and I'm glad I can't see my face cause I imagine that looks even worse too. But overall, the pain meds are making me feel okay I guess so I nod my head in response to him.

 He doesn't say anything as he sits down in the chair next to my bed. By the looks of the multiple magazines and a pillow on the floor next to it, I'm guessing it's where he's been for a while now.

 Eventually, he points to the bag of clear liquid hanging above me. "Doctor said you were pretty dehydrated." he tells me.

 I don't know if I'm supposed to give a response to that one. It felt more like a statement than a question or concern. I don't know what's expected and judging by the dark circles under his eyes, I don't think he wants just a sassy remark. Maybe a subject change?

 I cough, trying to clear my rough throat. "H-hoW-" I don't get very far before a wicked voice crack and a harsh coughing fit take over again. There is a plastic cup of water being held in my face and I quickly accept. I try to gulp it down when it's pulled from my face again.

 "Hey. Pace yourself, buddy." I hear Tyler say to me.

 I begin to fight the coughing fit again, and he brings it back in front of me. I take it, but he doesn't let go this time.

 "Easy now." he says quietly. I feel as he puts his hand on the back of my neck, seemingly helping drink this water. I personally feel a little weird about it. I mean...I get what he's doing and it's a nice thought but...I still feel kinda uncomfortable about it.

 He pulls the cup away from me again and I carefully clear my throat, thankfully avoiding a coughing fit. I take a deep breath before trying to speak again.

 "What time is it?" I ask him. My voice is deep but quiet, I hope he can understand what I'm saying.

 Tyler moves and clicks his phone to life. "It's nine in the morning." he answers me.

 "When did we get here?"

 "Sometime around midnight or one. Not sure."

 Geez. Midnight or one? Just how long was I stranded on that damned rock? I knew it was well into the night by the time Amelia got me back, but I didn't realize it was that long. I feel kinda shitty for making Tyler stay here with me. But another thought crosses my mind.

 "When can we leave?"

 Tyler laughs at me, "You got an agenda or something? Geez."

 Well...I'm obviously late for work, but they might still think I'm dead...that's gonna be a weird call to make. And I mean, I have to figure out how to get back to 'visit' Amelia in the next coming days, but other than that, I have nothing. I just really wanna be home. I just really wanna be in my bed so that way, I might be able to wake up from this crazy dream.

 "Doctor said that if you woke up and were stable, you could go home late tonight or tomorrow afternoon." Tyler continued for me. He sat down in his chair again with a heavy sigh, showing off just how tired he was, making me feel pretty bad about making him stay here with me again. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll be let out tonight rather than tomorrow.

 I lean back into the bed again, although it's pretty upright and I don't go down very far. I'm tired and my head feels kinda foggy, I'm guessing from the pain killers. But the slouching figure to my right makes me feel bad still. I'm undeserving of a friend like this.

 "Thank you for staying." I say quietly.

 His tired eyes look up at me and a small smile broke across his face. "No problem." he says. "You would do the same."

 "I feel bad, still." I shrug, not meeting his eyes anymore, looking at my lap instead. I see his hand grip onto my forearm and give a gentle squeeze. I look back at him, seeing the genuine smile of a great person I still don't deserve.

 "Mark, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." he smiles at me. "Now shut up and sleep so we can leave tonight." he gives my arm another squeeze before he lets go, leaning back in his chair again.

 I smile and move my head to get decently comfortable in some way. I can already feel sleep coming back though. I swear, the only reason people sleep in hospitals is because of the morphine. Thank God for that....