WARNING: MENTIONING OF DRUGS/IMPLICATION OF DRUG USAGE
Who knew that yanking a thirty-something year old's arms would be surprisingly difficult?
Not Ellie.
As Eum (or Ethan? Ellie should probably ask what his name is...) high-tailed it out of there, Ellie grabbed Mark's forceps and jerked him towards the door. Mark, who didn't know what the hell was going on and seriously wanted to go back to bed, almost face planted on the floor if Ellie didn't catch him in time. Ellie was ignoring the fact that she could not carry him and proceeded to open the door. She put her hand on the doorknob and yanked it open, only to have it close back.
After a couple of minutes of trying and failing to get out the blasted door, Ellie had a terrific idea. What if she threw open the door so that it slammed the wall and gunned it out of there? Well, that's exactly what she did. And it worked!-- only if we ignored the fact that Mark came tumbling down directly onto Ellie once they were in the hallway.
Great.
Ellie patted Mark and asked, "You alright back there?"
There wasn't an answer.
Ellie hoped that Mark finally passed out (he looked a little worse for wear) and started to pick up her speed towards the nurse. Guilt filled her stomach as she continued to look back to make sure that Mark was still visibly breathing. All of the white brick hallways seemed to mesh together as Ellie continued making turns until at the end of a hallway she saw the door for the nurse's office.
The next couple of minutes were a miracle. The Nurse had opened her door and saw Ellie struggling to get over to the door with Mark on her back. The Nurse immediately ran over and helped Ellie bring the injured fool onto one of the many cots. After seeing if Mark was still breathing, she went over to the sink and washed her hands to get rid of the blood. "Grab those cotton balls over there," the nurse gestured over to the jar of cotton balls that were conveniently placed on her desk. Ellie did as she was told while the nurse went to go grab something in the back. She grabbed the cotton balls off of the Nurse's desk and went back over to Mark.
Then, the nurse entered through the door carrying some medical alcohol, wrappings, and a couple of other things in her hands. She set down the assortment of medical supplies and put on some gloves while ordering Ellie to wash her hands and then put on some gloves as well.
As Ellie was washing her hands, the nurse ripped off Mark's shirt to assess the multiple cuts. They weren't that deep, so there was no need to stitch them up however, he was bleeding a lot. The nurse's main concern was blood loss. He didn't lose enough to die from it, but he did need more. But first, she needed to clean the wounds. The nurse grabbed a cloth and the medical alcohol and sloshed some onto the rag.
At that point, Ellie was putting on her gloves when she heard Mark hiss in pain. Startled, she looked up and saw the nurse was gently pressing the rag onto Mark. Ellie immediately asked what she could do to help (in a twisted way, Ellie thought all of this was her fault). "Get me some of those bandages and wraps. They're in the second cabinet right next to the sink," The Nurse then went back to helping Mark.
Ellie walked over to the sink and started to wash her hands until she saw the cabinet door was opened just a smidge. Without thinking, she opened the door and hidden in the mass of soap and paper towels, was a ziplock bag with pills of all sorts of shapes and colors. Ellie quietly closed the cupboard and walked back to the Nurse's desk; a plan was beginning to formulate in her mind.
"...What's your name?" Ellie asked, fumbling with the random things that were on the Nurse's desk.
After a couple of minutes of silence, the Nurse finally responded, "Just call me Nurse." She was a little bit annoyed that Ellie was messing with her things, so she reminded herself that she had roughly twenty minutes until her break.
"Oh, what a cool... name?"
"No, my name isn't Nurse. I just prefer it if you called me that."
"Oh. What are some of your hobbies?" Elie walked over to the Nurse and peered over her shoulder to see what needed to be done.
"I work at a prison-- so, none."
Now, Ellie wasn't stupid. She knew that the Nurse wanted nothing to do with her.
The question is, did Ellie care?
No.
Not one bit.
After a couple more minutes passed by, the Nurse gave a quick pat on the back to Ellie and then said, "Look, I finished cleaning up..."
"His name is Mark."
"I finished cleaning up Mark and it's currently my break time, so I can't allow you to stay here by yourself."
Ellie got upset at that statement. "Look, I just want to stay by my friend's side to make sure he's okay. Can't you make an exception? And besides... it would be a shame if a certain someone would tell the Warden about the drugs above the sink, Nurse."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
The nurse started to take off her gloves when Ellie butted in with:
"Funny thing, the notes on your desk say otherwise."
The Nurse froze, the temperature in the room getting colder by the minute. Thoughts of fear and anger ran through the Nurse's head. She's stuck in between a rock and a hard place.
"...I guess I could make an exception," and without another word between the two, the Nurse left her room and made her way down to the staff lunchroom.
The hospital room was like a concrete pen with a window the size of a biscuit tin lid. It has a stagnant smell like it's cleaned with plain water instead of disinfectant. The bed sits low to the ground, the frame baring the signs of rust and the mattress worryingly thin. Ignoring the negatives in Mark's situation, she trailed over to a chair that was sitting near the bed. Her eyes sweeps Mark's body, worry seeping into her bones.
He looked terrible.
Bandages were all over his arms and midsection, blood dotting it. His hair was ruffled every single way imaginable, with sweat sticking to his forehead. And his face was paler than a ghost. Just for a second, she thought that Marked had died until his raspy voice mumbled out:
"She's such a bitch-- the nurse, I mean." Ellie let out a gasp. He was alright! Without thinking, she gave him a big hug.
"Ow, owie! G--get off!"
Ellie got off of him and whispered a sorry. After a second she then agreed with Mark, "Yeah, she is a bitch." Ellie looked towards the ground, her brows making an upside-down 'V' as she gradually stopped laughing. "... Look, I'm--" Ellie chased that thought away and led with a different question, "Are you okay?"
Mark, who looked half dead, deadpanned at her question. "Oh yeah, I'm peachy-- never felt better, actually." Seriously, Ellie? Did you want him to say, "Oh yeah, I'm feeling pretty good because I got beaten to a pulp by this fellow named Bam-Bam or something and all of this is essentially your fault?"
To say that Mark was pissed was an understatement of the year. He was like a gas oven that was left on for too long and someone had conveniently lit up a match.
So, yeah, he was a little upset.
Yes, he was appreciative for Ellie carrying him. However, this whole situation was Ellie's fault. If she had picked something else, then he wouldn't be bed-ridden!
"Ha ha," Ellie rolled her eyes and looked at him, "I'm being serious. Did I pull anything while trying to get your ass down here?"
Mark sat there in silence once more, his mind going through a mental checklist before speaking once more: "You saw me bleeding, didn't you?"
Ellie stood up and started waving her arms around. "Why do you have to be such an asshole? I'm trying to see if you need any help!"
"Help? So, like the time where you picked the helicopter? Because you were really helpful then."
The tension in the room went into an all-time high. Both of them were in each other's faces. Muscles in their bodies were tense, both ready for a fight to erupt.
That is, until the Nurse walked back into the room with a half eaten sandwich in her hand.
She didn't notice them at first. She was just enjoying a good sandwich that she packed herself last night. There were pickles and mayo and ham and all of the good stuff in it (why are sandwiches so good?) and don't even get started on the mustard! As she took one last bite, she saw Mark and Ellie about to throw hands... and that all eyes were on her.
Oh no.
"Uh--"
"Get out," Mark growled at her, his eyes narrowed into slits. And without any more convincing, the Nurse walked back out. Once the door's shut, they snapped their heads back and continued to argue.
"If you had picked the jeep, I WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS!" Mark waved his only good arm around.
"Excuse me?! You were the one who made it sound like you could fly a helicopter!"
"What are you talking about? I clearly said, and I quote, 'and I don't know how to fly a helicopter.'"
"That is not what you said at all!! Why do you have to be such a jerk?!"
"Says the person who got us into this mess."
"SaYs ThE pErSoN wHo GoT uS iNtO tHiS mEsS. Wow Mark, good comeback."
"Well you know what? Screw you."
The two simmered in silence until Ellie stood abruptly from her seat and started to walk out the door.
Mark gawked at her. How dare she walk away from him, The Mark Iplier.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Away."
Mark humorlessly chuckled, "So, just like you run away from all of your problems?"
Once Mark said that, Ellie stopped, her hand touching the door knob. "You know what, Mark? I get it. It's my fault because you can't take accountability for your own actions."
"But I heard you! You muttered under your breath that you'll do it for the meme. It's like you can't take anything seriously--"
"I NEVER SAID THAT," Ellie seethed. She ripped her hand away from the door and abruptly faced Mark. Ellie's hands began to shake as she stalked her way over to him. "I never said any of those things," Ellie began to gesture wildly, "I picked the helicopter because we would have the high ground. I wanted the helicopter because you made it sound like it was a better choice than riding away in the jeep! For all that I know, you could fly a damn helicopter because you're fucking loaded! So stop acting all high and mighty because you're not." After finishing her rant, Ellie stared at Mark, waiting for him to speak.
The bastard who was sitting in his bed stopped for a minute. You could see gears turning in his head as he thought of something, or anything to say. "...why don't we come to a compensation?"
"What?"
"You know, where two people agree on two standpoints so both can get what they want."
As Ellie began to open her mouth, Mark interrupted her. "Look, You want me to say, I was in the wrong and I want you to say you were in the wrong, right?"
Ellie nodded her head.
"Why don't we agree that we're both wrong and, I'll give you the box."
"Excuse me--" Ellie stopped for a second. That... that was actually a really good deal. If Ellie got her hands on the box, she could make tons of money. "Actually, yeah. That sounds like a good deal." Mark and Ellie stuck out their hands before Ellie retracted hers. "Just so you know, this does not mean that we are friends again."
"I know."
Then, they shook on it.
A/N: I'M BACK BABY! WHOOOOOO!! ...hopefully i won't get writer's block again. Also, it's sort of fluff?? I mean, what did you expect? People can't forgive and forget someone easily, especially in Ellie's and Mark's case.
P.s: does anyone read these?