A Rush of Blood to the Head

Chapter 29

"Yeah that's fine..."

The nurse went outside and brought a tray in. It had a plate of food on it. She didn't immediately set in front of Chris.

"You wanna go clean up a little first?", she said.

Chris frowned. But he obliged nonetheless and went to the bathroom. When he came out, the nurse had already left and his food was set on the table. He took the cover off to see that it was a very traditional breakfast of butter toast and an omelette. He sat down on his bed and began eating a piece of toast. His mind drifted back to last night again.

"What the fuck...", he whispered to himself.

He knew that he and Jonny had made up after that fight back in London. He felt that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders but something still didn't add up.

"The bloke's you..."

Was it real? Or did his mind make it up just like it did last time? He didn't get too comfortable in Jonny's supposed admission of love. It had happened once and was proved to be fake. It had a very real chance of happening twice. But this time he had his trick to tell the difference between delusion and reality. He took his phone in one hand and opened the calculator app.

234 x 234...

He typed the numbers in and clicked enter. The calculator showed the answer 54756.

Square root of 54756 is 234...

He had decided on his question and answer to check whether he was dreaming or not. Hopefully it would work. He felt his situation was slightly laughable. He was deciding on predetermined math questions to check whether he was hallucinating or not. He sighed and took another bite of the toast.

What a week...

Soon a doctor came in. It wasn't Rachel, it was a younger man in his late twenties. He looked a bit apprehensive at first but it was clear he knew what he was doing.

He took Chris' temperature. Checked his reflexes and drew a little bit of blood for testing. Chris tried making small talk but it was clear that he was pretty anxious so he didn't prod him further. He wondered what was happening to Jonny at the moment.

"When do you think I'll be allowed to go home?", Chris asked absentmindedly

"Oh... uh... I will be speeding up the tests so that it gets done today. If the results are good then you'd be able to go home in the evening..."

"Oh. Thanks. What about my friend in the other suite?"

"Oh... Mr. Buckland? He's already been released..."

Chris frowned.

"I didn't know that..."

The young doctor tried his best to smile.

"Yes he wanted to see you today. But you hadn't woken up yet..."

"Oh..."

"And your friends said they'll be back to see you today..."

"Of course"

The doctor nodded awkwardly and went over to monitor his charts. He was done in a moment and left the room leaving Chris all alone again. He sat back and looked upwards towards the ceiling light. He missed his kids, and his family. He missed his life before the unfortunate London incident.

He closed his eyes and zoned out again.

Ironically Jonny's face is the first thing that came to his mind. He smiled to himself and finished the rest of his breakfast.