Match Your Weakness With A Name

Twenty-Three?

I was fully expecting to have to split up and take whatever seats were available, but there aren't actually that many people in here and I have no trouble finding four adjacent chairs.

Derek takes the first one. I sit next to him and put my head in my hands.

"Geoff?" asks Jenna. "You alright?"

"I dunno," I murmur. "It depends."

She doesn't say any more.

The clatter of the hospital is starting to get to my head. I breathe in, breathe out, trying my hardest to keep it as far away from my consciousness as possible. Screaming. Screaming. Beeps. Concrete wheels on linoleum. The screech of metal on metal. More screaming. It's not real, I think. Just focus on the ugly carpet in front of you and you won't hear it.

"I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me."

What am I even thinking about? I read the book that's from in eighth grade and hated it. Was it too close to home for me? Probably. I need to stop hardcore relating to fictional characters with messed-up lives and blunt inner dialogue. Then again, that's me.

The minutes slip away from me as I think about everything except Awsten. I don't know how much time has gone by, I just know what I'm thinking, and I know my neck hurts from staring at the ground. Regardless, even with that constraint, I know it's a fucking long time.

I shift around in my chair and keep thinking.

Ryan nudges my shoulder. "Dude, wake up."

"What?" I mutter.

"Bro, you fell asleep," he says.

"In this noise?" I ask.

"Somehow, yeah," cuts in Jenna.

"Well, it is three in the morning," says Derek.

"But anyway," says Ryan, "they're letting you see that dude you like."

I jolt to full alertness. "Where is he?"

Jenna points at a short, dead-eyed nurse. "She said just to follow her."

The nurse nods. "Yeah, come on, I don't have all night."

"Alright," I say, and stand up.

"Good luck, Geoff," calls Derek as the nurse speed-walks out of the room, leaving me to catch up.

She hurtles down the hallway. I can understand why; I mean, it is a trauma center on Friday night. Or is it Saturday morning? Whatever. Shit's gotta have gone down.

"You're here to see Awsten Knight, correct?" she asks as we turn a corner.

"Yeah, I am," I say.

"Good," she says. "I was worried I'd got the wrong guy."

I manage a chuckle. "Well, you didn't. Hey, what's your name?"

"Chloe."

"I'm Geoff, if that matters."

She smiles. "It matters. Now you're a real person. This is the room." Chloe gestures to the closest door. "One second." She opens it and pokes her head in. "Awsten, you've got a visitor."

Distantly, I hear a muffled "Okay, fine." My heart skips a beat, because it's him and he sounds like Awsten through a slab of wood.

"Go on in," says Chloe, drawing her head out of the doorframe.