We Don't Have Forever

I fucking hate hospitals, I’m so sick of them, honestly. When I finally came to in the hospital, I was already moved up to a regular room from the ER. The doctor came in and told me that they’re monitoring me and they were waiting for results on my blood tests and my MRI, X-Ray, and a few other tests they did. With my accident, they also wanted to test my spinal fluid levels to make sure nothing was damaged and just popping up now. Thankfully, they had done it when I was passed out. I hate needles and I’ve heard those ones are the big boys.

“So how long before you know?” I asked, my voice incredibly hoarse.

“About another hour, at the most. Right now, we have you on fever reducers so if you start feeling nausea, call in the nurse.” The doctor said, writing some things on his clipboard.

“Do you have any ideas as to what this is?” I asked, rubbing my eyes a little as I felt really loopy and sleepy. I hated feeling drugged up but that’s exactly what it was.

“Given what your friend said, it’s possible that it’s pneumonia. We should know soon and we’ll start treatment specifically for whatever it is. Until then, try not to fight off sleep. You really need to let your body rest. This flu you have isn’t helping you.” He said, giving me a quick smile and leaving the room, shutting the door.

I sighed a little bit and rang the nurse, asking for some water and then asking her if Kylee was there. She said she was and then I asked if she was allowed back. The nurse nodded and left, going to tell her it was okay. I sighed, resting my head against the pillows, feeling like shit no matter how many drugs they pumped into me. I heard the door open but I felt like I couldn’t open my eyes, they were incredibly heavy. But I wanted to at least vocalize that I was okay so I forced them open, my vision slightly blurry but my eyes widened when I saw who came in with Kylee.

“What the fuck are you doing here!? You have road games!” I said, shooting Jon a look. He was out of his god damn mind.

“Well, my girlfriend calls me and tells me my little sister is in the hospital and is having trouble breathing, I’m coming home. The Stars can wait.” He said, making me shake my head at him.

“You’re stupid, the team needs you. I’m not dying, I’m fine.” I said, trying to force the horrible cough in my throat back down. When I couldn’t hold it down anymore, I covered my mouth with my arm, my body shaking. I groaned a little and glanced at my arm to see spots of blood covering my skin.

“Yeah, not dying, okay.” Jon mumbled quickly, nearly storming out of the room. He was back in minutes, demanding the nurse tell him what’s going on. I shoot him a nasty glare as best as I could for him being so rude.

“She most likely has a pulmonary contusion, which has probably caused pneumonia. Has she recently been in any motor vehicle accidents or received an injury while playing a sport?” The nurse asked, looking at all of us. Jon twitched at the mention of car accident and didn’t answer.

“Um…I hit the boards pretty hard when I was playing hockey…could that have caused it?” I asked, looking at the nurse.

“Possibly, especially if your lungs have had prior injuries or intubation before, but we’ll know very soon when all of your lab results come back.” She said, giving me a cloth to wipe up the blood and some baby wipes before leaving again. I felt like shit still and now my idiot brother ditched his team over my dumb flu. I sighed again and lay back, falling asleep rather quickly. The doctor said I needed to sleep and I just didn’t feel like dealing with Jon right now. Drug induced slumber sounded pretty good right now.