Saved

The sling was going to get annoying really quickly, but I was still grateful that I was right handed. I was walking down the hallway of the Intensive Care Unit. Even though I was of no relation to Vriska, and she had only been out of surgery for what they told me to be about five hours, she had saved my life and they were going to let me visit her.

It was hard to read Braille on the wall when you're only working hand was the one holding your cane, so one of the nurses was showing me the way to her room.

It was a quiet walk, except for when she asked me how I was feeling.

“I feel fine. My shoulder doesn’t hurt,” I said simply. My shoulder was numbed up with the pain medication they had been giving me every so often, so I felt fine there.

“I meant emotionally silly,” she said, sounding concerned. “That had to have been a lot to go through.”

I flinched as my emotions that I had been ignoring had come to the forefront of my attention. My posture sagged and I spoke softly, “Yeah, it was.”

“You talk to the officer later today right? To tell him everything?”

“Yeah.”

“Your mom told me that you’re a pre-law student right? Does it make you feel any better that you’re going to be bringing him to justice?”

“Yeah, but it’s not going to be easy. I’d rather be the one doing the questioning, not the one being questioned,” I swung my cane back and forth, occasionally whacking the wall. I was probably moving it too quickly, but I didn’t care.

“I can imagine, but think of it this way. When you’re a big prosecutor you’ll know what it’s like to be at the witness’ stand,” I could hear her smile in her voice.

I nodded slowly and she stopped me and turned me to face what I assumed was a doorway, “Here we are, she’s still out but you can sit with her for awhile if you want. Just hit the call nurse button if you want to go back to your room.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said to her as I walked into the room and found a chair by the bed.

I didn’t like the smell of hospitals. They smelt sterile and like chemicals. It was no different in Vriska’s room. I couldn’t barely smell her familiar scent. Yes, people have a scent to them, no that’s not weird.

The nurse had told me before we left my room that Gamzee had fractured her skull and broken her arm in two places. She had to have a lot of surgery just to put everything back together.

Gamzee, however, was down the hall handcuffed to a bed with a concussion and a stab wound to the leg. He was barely injured compared to her. He wasn’t even after her in the first place, she was only defending me.

Dread sat heavy in my stomach, if I hadn’t gone to her room then she wouldn’t be lying here unconscious all broken up.

It made my chest hurt, how she let herself be injured to protect me. She never seemed to be the type to care about anyone but herself and maybe the people she hurt. Based on what she’s told me over the last week, that has been a grand total of two people.

I leaned on the railing with my good arm and listened to her breathe. It was slow, but at least it was there. It was slower than someone who was, you know, asleep, but it was still breathing and that’s what was a relief.

My chest ached, I didn’t want this. I didn’t want her to get hurt in the process of my ex trying to get to me. Yeah he would have easily killed me, or worse, but I didn’t want her to get hurt in the process of me trying to get away.

I knew why I cared about her, but I didn’t want to think about it. I refused to think about it.

I ended up falling asleep leaning on the railing and dreamt of something that smelt like blood and fear. It wasn’t pleasant, and it was centered around Gamzee.

I could feel myself running, and I realized it wasn’t just a nightmare, it was a flashback of last night.

I dreamt through the motions of last night, every single moment magnified in slow motion and when I finally woke up I felt someone’s hand brushing my bangs aside.

I jumped and sat upright, which earned me a scoff from Vriska, “Well good morning to you too Pyrope.”

I relaxed immediately, “Fuck Serket, I didn’t realize it was you.”

“Who else would it have been?”

“Like hell if I know.”

She snorted and a nurse came in, “Miss Serket! It’s good to see you awake!”

“Yeah, yeah, I just woke up to see this bitch sleeping. How long was I out?”

“Eight hours.”

“Score! Eight on the dot.”

I rolled my eyes and Vriska laughed, “What? You know I love the number eight!”

I exaggerated myself rolling my eyes and she snorted, “In any case, how bad did he wreck me? My head hurts like a bitch.”

The nurse’s voice dropped a little in irritation, “Your attacker fractured your skull and almost completely broke your arm in two places.”

“Ouch, no wonder everything hurts,” she groaned. “This this IV a morphine drip?”

“Yes, it is.”

The nurse had barely spoken the words before Vriska had hit the button for the medication.

“Anyway,” the nurse continued. “Your prosthetic arm is fully functional, so that doesn’t need repairs, however you may need new prescription glasses because your vision in your functional eye may have been slightly more impaired.

“Okaaaaaaaaay, so where are my glasses?” Vriska drawled.

“On the table beside your bed.”

“Cool,” she snatched them up and put them on with her robotic arm.

Another nurse walked in and told the one that was already in here that Vriska’s family had arrived, and Serket just groaned in irritation, “Those are the last fuckers I wanted to see.”

The original nurse left to go get them and Vriska hastily explained, “Don’t be rude or anything to my mom, she’s a bigger bitch than I am and she’ll tear you a new one.”

I nodded slowly at her as the nurse returned with two other females with her.

“Hello Vriska, and you must be Terezi,” a woman with a lower voice said carefully. “A pleasure.”

“Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Serket,” I returned, hoping I wasn’t the only one who could feel the tension in the air thicker than humidity in a rainforest.

“Ms. if you could, my husband died years ago.”

I nodded, and a voice that still sounded older than Vriska but younger than her mother spoke up, “Hello! My name is Aranea, Vriska’s older sister.”

“Hello,” I nodded. The tension did not ease at all, and it was unnerving, but I wasn’t going to let that show. “I’m Terezi, as Ms. Serket said.”

I heard her nod, and Vriska groaned and hit the button for yet more morphine.

“You’re blind right?” Aranea perked up. “Let me see your eyes!”

“Um, why?”

“Because I want to see if I can fix them. Although I’d need a complete scan of your eyes, but I wonder as a preliminary check if I could fix them,” she said thoughtfully.

Vriska groaned again, “My sister is an eye surgeon. She wants to fix my left eye but I told her I wouldn’t let her anywhere near my head with a scalpel.”

I heard her neck crack as she spun her head toward her younger sister, “I would not hurt you on purpose and you know it!”

“You mean like my tarantulas? You dissected all of them!”

“ Enough ,” Ms. Serket yelled. Both of them fell silent immediately.

I didn’t really know if I wanted my vision back, I could live just fine without it. While it would make things a bit easier and I’d actually know what my friends looked like, I could live without it.

Despite this, I removed my red Pyrope glasses and turned my head toward where Aranea had last spoken, “Here, you can look.”

“Great!” she said pleasantly. She crouched in front of me and looked over my eyes, turning my head to one side and then the other, and I could almost hear the grin in her voice when she said, “I’ve seen eyes like these before. Provided the damage to your eyes doesn’t extend to your retinas, I could probably fix the rest. If it’s not your retinas, then it’s the scar tissue that won’t let you see right now. Are you completely blind or can you see shadows?”

“I’m completely blind. I used to be able to see shadows but not anymore. I had glasses before the accident, so they figure that my eyes just deteriorated from that.”

“Okay! Chances are I’ll be able to fix those for you,” she said cheerfully.

“Okay…” I trailed off before I could give her an answer on whether or not I actually wanted her to do it. I just met her today and based on Vriska’s reactions I wasn’t sure if I actually wanted her to go anywhere near my head with a scalpel either.

“You don’t have to decide right now, just have Vriska tell me when you decide,” she said simply before standing up from her crouch.

I nodded slowly and she cleared her throat, “Although I should probably go over with you the specifics of the operation….”

Before she got the chance, Ms. Serket walked over to Vriska’s bedside, too close to me for my own comfort, and growled, “Now, what the hell were you doing with a knife in your room?”

She flinched, her hospital gown and sheets shuffling in a sharp movement, “It was for self defense for when I left the room at night.”

“And you found it necessary to stab her attacker why?” she snarled.

“He was attacking my friend! What else did you expect me to do?” Vriska yelled indignantly.

“Use your damn fists! Or maybe call security like a sensible person!”

They argued back and forth right in front of me, and I sat there awkwardly. Aranea pulled me out of the chair and away from their familial argument saying, “They get like this a lot, don’t let it bother you. Mom just gets nervous around cops because of Dad, and she doesn’t want them digging around in Vriska’s business more than they already have.”

I nodded slowly, what on earth would their father do to cause their mother to be so nervous around police? Yeah there’s the whole police brutality thing, but that wasn’t it was it?

The arguing ended after a ridiculous amount of time with Ms. Serket storming out of the room, grabbing Aranea by the sleeve and pulling her out with her.

I walked back over to Vriska, who was seething. Her fury was practically tangible. She released her grip on the sheets and sighed, “I’m sorry about that, I told you she’s a bigger bitch than I am.”

“It’s fine, my mom’s going to yell at me too when she gets here,” I sighed.

“Why?”

“For not telling her about Gamzee.”

Vriska didn’t say anything for a moment before asking, “When does she get here?”

“Any moment now, she had to drive here from Prospit with my sister remember? What time is it?”

“A little after eight in the morning.”

“Yeah she should be here soon.”

“Do you want to go back to your room?” Vriska asked almost softly, like she didn’t want me to leave.

I must be imagining things.

I shook my head, “No, I’ll go back when they get here. The nurses know where I am.”

She laughed, “All this room is is drama and bullshit, why would you want to be in here?”

I shrugged and bit my tongue before I could say something that I would regret later. I couldn’t say it out loud, because saying it out loud would be admitting it was a real thing and I wasn’t ready for that. I refused to acknowledge it as a real feeling.

I wasn’t going to let feelings like this in again, I refused. I wasn’t going to put myself into a position where I could be taken advantage of again.

Never again.