"A Sanctuary Safe and Strong"(Marianas Trench)

Chapter 4

The first time the blond became aware of his surroundings after arriving at the hospital, he couldn't open his eyes. He was still so tired, but somehow he managed to catch snippets of conversations being held near the foot of his bed. 

"Josh lost...blood...possible transfusion...surgery...alive, but needs lots of rest..." 

"Thank you, Doctor..." 

"...looks so bad, Miles..." 

"The boy...fine, Corlynn." 

"Get better, little brother...need you..." 

"...okay, Josh? ...get well..." 

New nearly incomprehensible words that he could barely make out forced their way into the conversation. 

"...so...b-d. Lo-ks...aw-ul..." 

Focusing all of his energy, he caught different voices that now broke through the fog clouding his head. 

"Can't die, lead singer. ...stubborn..." 

"...pull through, Ramsay..." 

Josh grunted softly when he shifted positions, desperately fighting to try to stay awake in order to hear what was being said by everyone in the room. Before sleep took over his life again, he realized that he had been listening to voices that seemed to belong to a doctor, his parents, two of his sisters, and two out of three of his band members, but he just didn't have the strength to reply to any of them. Even blinking took too much energy at the moment, so he allowed slumber to take hold.  

The next time the singer remembered regaining consciousness, he couldn't explain it, but he could feel that he wasn't alone in the room before he was able to pry his eyelids open. Objects in front of him swam a bit, and he had to squint and shade his eyes against the bright light coming through the curtains, but nevertheless, Josh could see well enough to discern that he was in a hospital. And yes, there was Matt's unmistakable form sitting in the chair near the bed with one booted foot crossed over the opposite knee, his fingers laced together and resting on his stomach and his head tilted back. The guitar player was snoring quietly, which calmed Josh a bit because it was so familiar. 

Blinking several times and rubbing his left hand across his eyes to clear the blurriness, Josh felt around, grabbing the mechanism that controlled the bed and raising the head a bit, realizing that the intense pain he remembered feeling the last time he was this awake was no longer there. The intravenous fluids that were hanging on a pole near his bed with the end of the line taped to the back of his hand probably had a lot to do with that, and he was grateful.  

The blond eased one of the two pillows from behind his back and tossed it at the guitar player, cringing at the quick twinge of discomfort he felt across shoulder and chest. The pain was promptly forgotten as Josh let out a quiet laugh when he saw the pillow glance off Matt's body, scaring the younger man awake. The brunet sat up quickly, dropping his foot to the floor and gasping. "Jesus Christ," he breathed heavily, looking around the room, his eyes landing on the pillow on the floor near his feet.  

Matt trailed his gaze from the object up to Josh and smiled widely the minute he realized that the blond was awake and apparently feeling well enough to be just this side of tolerable. "Hey, man," the guitarist greeted him quietly, clearing his throat and standing to move so he could sit on the edge of the mattress. 

"Hey," Josh said, weakly returning the smile and falling back against the bed again. He'd used up all the strength he had for now. 

"How do you feel?" Matt gestured to Josh's torso and head.