Out of Hand

A Chance and Twizzler Threats

Because we are all trapped by the Wuhan Flu, I'm updating whenever I can. Forget once a week, that's bogus. 

I was given the option of leaving the hospital that same day if I wanted to. The doctor had been mostly concerned about my mental health, as it had been pretty clear that I had been traumatized. He sent a counselor to do some talking with me, but I'm not sure what it did. Talk, get it out in the open, repeatedly say you're okay and all that, but it didn't change the fact that I still hadn't gotten to see if my friends were alive.

It was Chance, in his pained sort of wobble-walk, that finally pulled me out of the hospital room.

"Forget those nags," he said. "If you want to see them so badly, we're seeing them. Besides, I need a good look at my rival."

"I'm just impressed that you can say that with a straight face without an ounce of embarrassment."

"You kind of build a tolerance to humiliation when an ugly as fuck, grown-ass man keeps tearing down your pants or stuffing his dick into your mouth."

That shut me up. I had felt what that was like and was not eager to let those memories do a Rick Roll with my brain.

He found the room easily enough (nurses were surprisingly easy to sway). Takigawa and Professor Davis were in separate rooms, due to the difference in their injuries, but Chance all but marched to that of my professor the moment he saw the conflict in my eyes. When he had gotten a chance to read me so well, only God could tell.

To my immense relief, Naru was awake. He put down some sort of "Modern Physics" magazine as we entered.

"Why haven't you gone home yet?" he asked.

I could feel more than see Chance wince. But I knew how to handle my professor.

"Good to see you too," I said, sniffing with mock snobbery. "I wanted to make sure my only parapsychology professor hadn't died."

"No thanks to you and those stupid priests pressuring me into it," he growled, flicking open his magazine again. "Thanks for shooting the bad guy, you were right, of all surprises, thanks for keeping pressure on my shoulder and saving the day, yes yes. I still expect a decent report after this."

Chance gave a low whistle, which attracted Naru's grumpy glare.

"Here I thought I'd have it rough, but this is gonna be a piece a cake. You're a real asshole, aren't you?"

Naru narrowed his eyes. "And you're a baby clinging to Mai like a lost puppy. Your point?"

Chance shrugged. "Nothing. Keep at it. All the better for me." He turned to me. "To your other friend, then?"

I hesitated, the uneasiness in my heart still twinging. I drew closer to get a better look at him, to which Naru didn't comment. He allowed me to take in the hospital gown, the signs of bandages along his side, and still with scarlet eyes from being strangled. I checked the IVs (he had multiples), the machines, the color of his skin.

"When you are satisfied—" but he didn't finish as I put my forehead to his uninjured shoulder and hugged his arm.

"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. And that I sent us in so recklessly." I couldn't help the tightening of my throat.

He didn't answer that right away.  

But, finally, I felt his warm hand atop my head.

"You liked that white sweater, didn't you?"

I nodded and his hand began a gentle pat.

"You did fine," he said, gruff, but somehow gentle. "You did well. You saved lives when you could have just sat safely in the van when I told you to. That being said, please don't make a habit of this. I still need—"

"Your first-generation prodigy to be impressive and on top of everything, not half-dead or, even worse, incompetent." I nodded. "Will do, Professor."

"Then go away and see to Takigawa already." Naru's eyes slid to the boy watching all this very carefully. "You have something that you should tell him, and perhaps the kid following you too."

I slapped him lightly across his head. "My life, not yours."

To that, he just grunted, and Chance and I left.

"What do you see in that guy?" he asked. "Besides a pretty face, I suppose. I mean, he's a completely ungrateful grouch and—"

"There's more to it than that," I said dismissively.

"Not to mention bossy. He seems like the controlling, manipulative type."

"And perhaps he is."

"How can you say that so lightly?"

I shrugged. "Probably because I'm still very numb everywhere. Or probably because I stopped caring a while back. After all, it's not like I'm the most eligible bachelorette. I don't know if he even likes girls." I didn't want to mention the time he had more or less whispered to me of the girl he would never try for, due to his own faults and insecurities.

Takigawa was still out cold when we entered his room. His head had been wrapped to the point of almost a turban and an extra monitor stood beside his bed to measure his brainwaves.

I touched his hand, told him if he didn't wake up I'd stuff his nostrils with Chocolate Twizzlers, to which, happily he gave a low groan of protest to, but otherwise stayed as he was. When I left, I felt more emotionally worn than I had in my entire life.

"Chance?" I asked.

He stifled his giggles from my Twizzler threat. "Yeah Mai?"

"If you're parents are coming to get you...do you think they'd mind giving me a ride home too?"

"Of course they won't mind. You did find me."

And when they arrived, I found what Chance said to be an understatement. Many tears, many squeezes I could hardly breathe past, and then a homemade quilt to keep out any leftover cold since my sweater had been tossed and snow still fluttered around outside. I must have been more tired than I thought, for I soon tipped over onto Chance's shoulder and fell asleep.

Everything was okay. Everything would be okay. It was over. Takigawa would wake up and Naru would recover. And something about Chance put me more at ease than anyone I had ever known, probably because he was still a kid and therefore I didn't feel threatened by that.

Either way, I still needed to curl up in my mama's worn, Navajo blanket.