Between the Grapevines

13. Thalathatu 'Ashar

When he used his grip on her wrist to push her away, Harakat placed her other hand over his to gently resist. If he sent her back, nobody would be here to watch and care for him. She'd known she'd be faced with his resistance when he woke up.

"Listen to me, it's not safe... I can't-."

He couldn't complete his sentence because, just as he pushed his hand against her with more determination, a clap of pain thundered against his skull. Riyad's grip of Harakat immediately released and lifted to his temple. His eyes pressed to a close and his lips tightened, a pained whimper breaking in his voice. The helpless sound that was so unlike him sent panic through the girl sitting before him as the monitor behind him began to beep with the elevated beating of his heart. Riyad cried out, his hands trembling beside the wrapped bandage as the red stains on its white material quickly spread.

"What's going on in there?" A guarding man asked.

Harakat pulled open the curtain to call for help but the doctor was already racing into the room, flying past the sliding curtain with a single nurse at his side. Rising from the bed, Harakat moved out of their way.

"Young man, I'm going to need you to calm down. You're only just recovering and this state is still dangerous for you," the man spoke to a trembling Riyad as the uniformed girl who rushed into the cabinets below the sink. "His heartrate is going up and causing pressure on his skull again. I'm going to need to give him a mild depressant, okay?" He asked Harakat but was already sliding the needle into his IV before she nodded.

Less than a moment later, the machine's beeping began to slow and Riyad's head fell back onto the pillow, his twisted features softening. The doctor turned to Harakat. "I gave him a medication to slow the beating of his heart because we can't allow the relieved pressure to build on his brain again. He'll likely stay awake but he won't be very alert and may slip in and out for a few hours. When he comes to, you have to make sure this number remains below 110, okay?" He reached for the monitor that had beeped crazily moments before. The number he pointed to was slowly declining from 125... 124... 123....

Harakat nodded firmly.

The doctor smiled. "It is a good sign that he woke up a couple hours earlier than expected, but it means we must extra careful. I told you he was a determined patient, didn't I?" He lightly joked before turning back to the nurse. "Administer some more pain medication into his IV bag then wait a few minutes before changing his bandage, disinfect and sew the rest up loosely so they can close naturally, alright? We'll still see some blood but it shouldn't be more than a few drops."

Harakat stepped aside and sat on the couch, watching as the nurse unwrapped the white material from around his head. Her stomach dipped at the sight of the dried blood and stitches between his short hair. While the nurse worked, Harakat stepped into the corridor for some air.

She glanced down at the phone in her hand, contemplating whether to text Farhan with the news or not. The moment Farhan knew Riyad had awakened, he would return and ask him all sorts of questions that risked raising his blood pressure again. He'd waited a full day until now while knowing nothing. Harakat decided he could wait a little bit more.

"You shouldn't stand out here too long," one of the men announced. "People will ask questions if they realize someone is in this room."

Harakat hummed, taking another large breath of the cool evening air before returning into the room as she'd been told. The nurse had gone from the space and only left Riyad sitting in the bed, his eyes fighting to remain open even through the heaviness of his eyelids. The bandage was no longer as thick on his head and began from the middle of his forehead rather than covering his eyes. The fresh white color helped his appearance strengthen.