Colors Always Bleed Together [DUFN]

Chapter Ten: Risky and Dangerous

I take my time walking through the long white hallways, trying to remember where the stairs that Safire pulled me down where located in this large building. I never put my shoes back on, and that becomes increasingly clear as the hallways seem to get colder and colder.

I wonder aimlessly through the halls, taking my time finding the steps. If there was something terribly wrong with my side - I would have gotten the message to hurry. But I haven't, so I don't rush.

Eventually, they come into view. Going down the steps wasn't all that bad - but going up is like some strange form of torture. There's no pain when I climb them with my right foot, but it shoots through my side and into my back when I step with the left. I don't cringe, I try to keep a straight face through it. The first part of healing is the will to do so. And believe me - I want to just get better already. I'm getting sick of the pain and sympathy. I cannot wait to be back home and working on a new song; forgetting that any of these last two or three days ever happened.

Then I realize that I left the song I was working on in the hotel laying face up on the bed where any of them could just wonder by a read it.

"Fuck!" I whisper under my breath. Why didn't I put it back in the drawer or my suitcase instead of leaving it on the bed for the world to see? Oh, right. Zach was yanking me out of the room by my ear. That explains it.

I mentally sigh when I reach the top step. I have a new found hatred for stairs that I'm sure I'll never get over.

I expect the halls to be more crowded, considering it's midday and a hospital. But all I've seen were a couple of visitors bringing gifts to their family, some doctors walking calmly from door to door, and a patient wondering the halls like I am. I guess some logic is in the situation. Most people can see what they're doing in the daytime. And then there's the people like me who can't see a black car in the dark.

"Damn it, Ryan! You told Nicole you would stop! Now live the hell up to your promises!" I think to myself. But it doesn't matter. Even if it were life and death, I probably couldn't stop blaming myself for something that was my fault.

The door to my room is open when I lay eyes on it at the end of the hallway. Brent walks out the door and looks in my direction. He walks toward me and stops me before I can enter my room. "Where's Safire?" He asks.

"She told Nicki and I that she was going to school."

"In the middle of the day?"

"Apparently."

He chuckles a bit and shakes his head. "All right. The doctor is waiting for you in there." And with that, he's off - through the hall and down the stairs. I laugh slightly to myself. He's following her around like a lost little puppy.

The first thing I hear when I walk in is Zach snoring loudly. He has taken over the bed, mumbling something about spiders in his sleep. Eddie is texting someone and smirking. I can only imagine who the victim on the other side of the conversation is. Drew is still watching Supernatural. Doctor Yates is restocking a drawer with something from a box. She turns to face me. "Mister Tedder," she starts. "Give me just a second."

I stand at the doorway and watch as she gently closes the drawer and leaves the box sitting on the counter. "The results showed no broken ribs, but some severe bruising." She smiles. "That's the good news. The bad news, you will have to either stay here or come back every day for the next week so we can monitor your arm - to make sure it's healing right."

I internally sigh. A doctor prescribed reason to stay. Now I have two of them.

"All right." I answer. "Is there anything I can take for the pain?"