Bitter Treats (BxB Romance, In Progress)

27: Bitter Milkshake

The remote was so close but yet so far away. Tyler had forgotten to tell Donna to turn on the TV before she left to clean out his dorm room and run some other errands. It was quite clear that Tyler wouldn't be returning to the college anytime soon, if ever, so there was no use for his belongings still to be there.

It wasn't like he was actually keen on watching anything, as the constant dull ache throughout his body coupled with loopiness from pain medication made it impossible for him to focus. But at least turning on something mindless would distract him slightly from the reality of being strapped to a hospital bed for the foreseeable future.

Using all the strength his mangled body could muster, he reached his right hand toward the remote on the bedside table. His whole body hurt from the exercise, as nothing seemed to be in the right place anymore. But he pushed through, closing in inch by inch, and eventually, he triumphantly held the device in his hand. Victory! A small one, but still.

He picked up the remote, and it promptly fell to the floor. In his weakened state, his fingers couldn't keep a steady grip. "Damn it," he mumbled, unable to do anything but watch it bounce away underneath the bed. Once again, life had served him a bitter defeat, and he could do nothing but lay there, staring at the ceiling--because he refused steadfastly to look down toward his legs--waiting for someone to enter the room and break the monotony.

Luckily, he didn't need to wait long.

"Hi Tyler," Shruti greeted Tyler as she walked into the room. With a warm smile and assuring demeanor, always telling her patient exactly what procedure she was performing and when something may hurt, she had skyrocketed to the top spot of Tyler's nurse ranking. "I'm here to redress the bandages on your leg again."

In the days that had passed since Tyler awoke after the accident, a lot of doctors, nurses, and attendants had passed through his room. He couldn't remember the names of all of them but he remembered the long list of injuries they rattled off from his chart: concussion, neck contusion, left shoulder dislocated, several broken ribs, a punctured lung, right ankle fractured in several places, left leg amputated below the knee. They read it like it was a damn grocery list, instead of permanent marks on his body.

They often ended their rounds by noting how lucky he'd been. They didn't say it to him but they said it to each other. "That boy could have been so much worse off. I can't believe he even survived that fall off the bridge."

Well, Tyler didn't feel lucky. He wasn't quite sure what he felt yet. Mostly, he was confused and overwhelmed.

His body didn't feel like his anymore. It seemed to belong to the hospital staff, constantly tending to him in one way or the other. Chest drain tubes, IV infusions, and cords that monitored his breathing and heart rhythm. So many bandages, casts, and splints. He wasn't even sure where his own body ended and the hospital equipment began.

That his lower left leg was gone, making him disabled, hadn't quite landed yet, as it wasn't like he could rise from the bed anyway. But sometimes, late at night when pain kept him awake, the realization hit him, making him break out in cold sweats as waves of panic rose in his chest. Nothing would ever be the same. He did know that. But he didn't know what things would be like. He didn't know that things would be alright. No matter how many times people assured him that the prosthetic technology had evolved rapidly in the last few years and that he would be running again before he knew it.

"Is there anything you need before I start?" Shruti asked, walking up to the side of Tyler's bed. "Are you comfortable like that?" She fluffed up his pillows a bit, making sure his neck was properly supported.

"Can you maybe turn on the TV?" Tyler asked, pointing toward the floor. "The remote... fell."

"Sure," Shruti replied, not questioning why the remote was underneath the bed. Tyler wagered that she probably had figured out the reason but she was tactful enough to not rub in his shortcomings. "What do you want to watch?"