Altered Futures

Chapter 28 - Hospital

Saturday, January 14 --- 9:17a.m.

"Hey," said Grace, walking into Edward's bedroom, where he was still laying. "How are you?"

"Awake."

"That's good. Does your chest still hurt at all?"

"Not that much," lied Edward, feeling a sudden pain from his cut.

"Are you sure? That was a pretty quick recovery, considering how big it was when I last saw it."

"Fine. It still hurts. A lot."

"I'll take you to the hospital and see what they can do for you. You yourself said if it was still hurting by today we would go and get it looked at better."

"I don't want you and Naf to have to spend so much on me."

"Edward, look around you. Naf has a bunch of money."

"Yeah, well..." he stalled, trying to think of another excuse. "I don't want to go without you and Naf."

"I don't have any work until Monday and Nafratearie only has college classes from Tuesday to Friday every week. We're both off and we can take you today."

"You really don't have to."

"A deal is a deal. No backing out now."

"Fine," Edward quietly huffed.

"Why don't you want to go?" Grace asked softly, brushing aside his hair. "You were the one that suggested we go if you didn't get better soon."

"I-I'm a bit scared," admitted Edward. "I only said that because I didn't know it would still hurt this much days later."

"Relax. They'll make it numb so you won't feel anything while they do it and it'll be over before you know it. If you're still nervous when we get there, I can see if I can stay in the room with you while they do it. Would that help?"

"Yes," said Edward, reaching for a hug.

Grace helped pull him up into a sitting position and hugged him.

"Come on," said Grace. "Let's go tell Naf and then we can go. Since you're being so brave, you can have the front seat."

With that, Grace left to go find Nafratearie and tell her what was going on. While descending down the stairway, she saw Naf in the living room, watching YouTube on the TV.

"We're going to the hospital, go get ready."

"Grace, I know I eat a lot but I'm not pregnant. How could you think I am?"

All Grace could do at Naf's joke was smack her forehead in disbelief.

"No, for Edward. I think he needs to get some stitches for that stab wound he has in his chest."

"I thought that I'd been hurt before," sung Naf. "But no one's ever left me quite this sore."

"Naf," Grace said, taking a deep breath. "Car. Now. I'm not joking."

"Got a feeling that I'm going under," Naf continued singing, standing up to go look for her purse.

"What do you need?"

"Did you see my bag? Did you see my bag?" she started to sing.

"No and if you keep on singing, I'll get a lot more annoyed than I am already. Why do you need to bring it anyway? You've already got clothes and shoes on and I can't imagine what else you would need to bring."

"Grace, they have snack machines there. I need to eat."

"There it is," said Grace, pointing to where it was. "Can we go now?"