Divide and Conquer

Chapter 7

People sometimes forget that when there's bad, good usually follows in it's wake. They believe that because when things seem to be crumbling around them, they feel there is no point. They forget that once the pain has reached it's peak, it's almost always soothed.
Mark discovered this when he woke up in a hospital bed. Other than the aggravating beeping from the steady heart monitor, and the lights that were harsh at first, nothing bothered him too much. The painkillers were doing a good job of keeping his body distracted from the pain.
Almost as if on cue, a doctor in a white coat, jeans, and a green polo shirt walked in. He was a tall, black man with a buzz cut and brown eyes.
"Hello Mr. Fischbach." He said in a British accent.
"Hello doctor." Mark croaked due to sleepiness.
"I'm Dr. Montague." He introduced. "I've been looking after you during your stay here."
"How long have I been here?"
Mark had no idea how long he'd been out. The last thing he remembered was ambulance noises, but that was it.
"About a day and a half."
Dr. Montague sat in a nearby chair.
"It's not surprising, you really took a beating a few nights ago. Three broken ribs, a jaw fracture, and heavy bruising on your abdomen and neck."
Mark raked his memory to try and figure out what had happened a couple of nights ago: he remembered fighting Caspar, leaving, and collapsing on the sidewalk, that was it.
"Wait, how did I even get here?"
"Your friend said he found you, and called 999. He told the operator that you had gotten into a fight with a..." He peeked at the clipboard, "Caspar Lee."
Slowly the thoughts came flooding back to Mark. It was Jack, he remembered his eyes looking to him with such concern. He hoped Mark hadn't worried him too much.
"Did you actually get into a fight, Mr. Fischbach?"
"It's a little fuzzy, but yeah I did."
"Then the police will have to question you when you've started feeling better."
"It's pointless, the guy will be out on bail anyway."
Dr. Montague gave a confused look.
"I should let you know, I transferred from St. Mary's in Liverpool a few days ago, so would you like to clue me into this?"
"Well, I'm new to this as well. All I know so far is that the guy who I had a fight with is a trust fund baby, his parents have insane amounts of money, and get him out of this kind of trouble constantly."
The doctor looked as if he was letting it sink in.
Mark didn't want to overload the guy, so he gave him the necessary time to process it all.
"Should I be expecting more patients because of him?"
"Probably."
Dr. Montague sighed as he stood up.
"Well, you have two friends here to see you, Mr. Fischbach. Want me to let them know you're awake?"
"Yes, that'd be nice, and just Mark's fine."
"Alright, Mark."
The doctor left the room, leaving the door slightly open.
Dan sat in the waiting room awkwardly on his phone. He wasn't used to being asked to do things like this, making errands and all. He much preferred being either indoors working or goofing off. Human interaction wasn't really his thing, making him wear a black hoodie, his black skinny jeans, and his black Doc Martins. The trick for having less interaction was looking unapproachable.
Phil had left for a minute to use the bathroom, though luckily he came back as the doctor approached Dan. Phil was almost the complete opposite to his counterpart in terms of appearance. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a pac-man shirt, and his tennis shoes. Not to mention, he lost his contacts down the drain, making him wear his glasses. Being accident prone was never easy.
"Mark is awake, and would like to see you." The doctor said.
Dan stood up, and followed the doctor with Phil trailing behind.
The doctor knocked on Mark's door, and opened it.
"Here's your visitors."
Dan and Phil awkwardly shuffled into Mark's room. Dan was sure Mark wouldn't remember him, since he was cripplingly awkward that day.
Mark watched as the two boys walked in, only one of them being familiar. It was the boy Bob lead to the theatrical arts building on the first day. He believed his name was Dan.
"I'll leave you to it. Press the button for the nurse when you're finished." Dr. Montague said as he exited the room.
"Thank you." Mark called after him.
Dan stood there awkwardly in silence, not knowing what to say.
Phil noticed, and decided to break the silence.
"Hi! So, Jack and Ken told us to come check on you, is that okay?"
Dan slightly cringed at how enthusiastic Phil was being at a time like this.
Mark, however, was quite pleased with someone being energetic. It seemed to light up the room and divert his attention from being in a white sterile prison.
"I'm Phil," Phil poked Dan's cheek meaning to poke his shoulder, "This is my roommate, Dan."
Dan swatted Phil's hand away.
"Stop." Dan groaned.
Mark chuckled at the two. He totally shipped it.
"I'm Mark, but you probably already knew that. I know you Dan, Bob helped you out on the first day."
Dan cracked a smile. Wow, he made a good impression on him? Amazing. He almost sat down in a chair, but thought it best to ask first.
"Do you mind?" Dan asked, motioning to the chair.
"No, not at all, please."
Dan sat down in one of the tan chairs, and Phil followed suit.
"So..." Dan paused. "How, uh, are you doing?"
He was sure his awkwardness was showing. There was another moment to add to the list of possible cringeworthy moments.
Phil just smirked at Dan. Despite it being weird to think this, he couldn't help but feel Dan was adorable when he was awkward.
"I'm alright, considering everything that's happened." Mark said.
"Did they tell you what got hurt?" Phil asked.
"Yeah they did. Three broken ribs, a jaw fracture, and severe bruising."
Phil felt chills just from that description. That was horrible, and a sign to stay away from Caspar and his group all together.
"He must've been all over you, then." Phil said.
Dan face palmed and groaned, slumping in his chair.
"Phil! How many times have we said to think before you talk? Even PJ has told you this!"
Phil realized what he said, and blushed majorly.
Mark simply chuckled at the two, and made a perfect segue.
"Well he believed I was all over his girlfriend."
Dan laughed, loving how Mark turned this awkward phrase into a good sentence.
"How long were you at the party?" Dan asked.
"Not long, twenty minutes max."
"What!?" Phil exclaimed. "That's horrible!"
"So the fact he was there for twenty minutes is horrible, and not that he's hooked up to machines?" Dan asked.
Mark found this hilarious. Obviously, these two had a married couple relationship without the rings and romance. It was entertaining, and he needed to stick around them.
"The party wasn't all that interesting to me anyways." he said suppressing his laughter. "mainly bros, booze, and butts."
Dan and Phil both burst into uncontrollable laughter. They could see why Jack and the others were his friends.
Then Phil remembered the note Jack gave him. He took a deep breath, and reached into his pocket, grabbing the folded up piece of notebook paper out of it. He handed it to Mark.
"Jack told me to give you this."
Mark took the note with a smile and opened it carefully, not wanting to rip it accidentally. It had multiple messages on it in different inks. The first was in neon green.
(*=scribbled out)
'*Dear* Hey Mark,
If you're getting this it's because you probably woke up and I had to go to *class* an audition, or got bored waiting at the hospital for you to wake up. Forgot to mention, when I found you I was coming back from *a band* practicing for a metal band audition. I'll tell you later. Anyway, I hope you're doing *better* well. Text me when you get this so I know you aren't dead. Also, the guys are worried about you, so they put little messages of their own here too. I haven't seen them *cuz* because they said I should go first. I doubt it'll go well. Get better!!
-Jack
Mark braced himself for whatever Jack meant by 'I doubt it'll go well'. The next message was in sparkly blue pen.
'Hey bro! We told u not 2 go 2 that party, bet u would have listened by now??? Hope ur alright tho, rumours have been flying + it sounds like trust fund-bitch got u real bad D: I'm sure Jack will gladly nurse u back 2 health :3
-Felix <3
After that, it was regular black ink pens.
'Hey man. Heard you got *beat shitless* pummelled by Caspar. Kudos to you for at least making it out alive! Also for getting a *good whack* punch in, the kid deserved it. Jack's been crying a river over you being in the ER. Get better!
-Wade