Melt Your Headaches, Call It Home

Whispers. Hushed voices.

Soft sheets.

Bone weary exhaustion.

A strong scent of disinfectant.

A flickering, yet heartening thought scattered across my fuzzy mind; I'm alive. That’s good.

I opened my eyes a sliver. Through my eyelashes, I could see yellow walls with soft lighting. I was alone.

I tried to turn my head but it felt like someone was stabbing a knife into my skull. I caught a glimpse of an IV running into my arm.

I was in a hospital, safe.

The thought was reassuring enough to let myself surrender to the darkness once again.

--------------------

The voices were louder this time. Crying.

I heard the door shut and someone sink into a seat. It had to be Alice.

I tried to make a sound to let her know I was ok but my mouth wouldn't work. I tried to lift my hand, but it was too heavy. A cast held it down like an anvil and it didn’t help that my brain felt heavy from whatever drugs they were pumping into my bloodstream.

Helpless, I lay there for a long time. I was determined to really wake up and to tell her everything would be fine.

I struggled until I was too exhausted but I finally managed to make a coughing noise.

No response.

With a last bit of strength I opened my eyes and saw a figure hunched over in a chair in the corner of the shadowed room. The lights were off but I could see the sunlight behind the blinds.

Suddenly my breath caught and I started coughing and couldn't stop, sending a dull ache through my chest. The shape jumped up and ran out of the room.

Seconds later a nurse came skidding into the room with a glass of water, she came to the bed and tipped it up to my lips. I coughed up the first couple of sips but soon my breathing returned to its normal pace.

Exhausted, I closed my eyes, I heard a light click on and the door shut. I willed myself to stay awake.

When I opened them again, unsure if I fell asleep or not found myself alone in the room with a guy that I didn't know. He was watching me.

"Who are you?" I managed to croak.

"I'm Jon," he replied as he pulled up his chair to the side of the bed.

Jon looked to be in his early twenties, he had brown hair with a short beard that actually looked good on him and I don't usually like beards. His wasn't anywhere near the Moses realm, so it was fine.
Who the hell was he though?

"Do I know you?" I asked, utterly confused as to why he was here, but too tired to truly care.

"Um, not really?" he said, like it was a question, scratching his jaw and looking at his feet, "Well, I'm one of the guys who uh rescued you, I guess."

Taken aback, I studied his face; he did have a bruise on his temple and a fat lip. That guy must have hit him.

My vision started to blur, and I knew I was going cry, which made my eyes fill faster.

"Thank you," I sniffled, feeling like a complete idiot and not knowing what else to say, "I'm sorry."

Jon saw that I was about to cry so he gave a small smile and assured me, "Don't you worry about it."

When he saw the first stupid tear go down my cheek, he touched my hand softly and tried again, in a slightly cocky voice, "I could never leave a damsel in distress cause I’m a knight in shining armor."

I gave a small laugh to humor him and wiped my eyes. This guy didn't need to see me cry.

When I looked up at him again he was smiling, it was one of those contagious smiles that made me return a small one before really thinking about what he had said.

"Who was the other one? The one that fell next to me…" I asked curious and afraid of the answer.

"Ryan?"

"Is he ok?"

"He's in another room; the guy broke his arm in two places."

I winced, which hurt, "That bad?"

"He also got a concussion and cracked a rib." Jon said with a sympathetic expression, "But he's nowhere near as bad as you."

"How bad am I?" I asked nervously.

"Your wrist is fractured, you have a concussion, your ankle is broken, and you bruised a couple of ribs. Other than that you just have a whole lot of bad scrapes and bruises," he replied, and itched his arm. His knuckles were bruised and cut.

"I must look like shit," I cynically laughed, but stopped because it hurt.

"Nah, you're just a little scraped up," he tried to lighten the mood.

I grimaced, and when he didn't say anything else, I asked, "How did you two do it? He was enormous."

Jon's blushed slightly, "Well there were four of us."

"Please, tell me what happened."

"Ok," he said and shifted around on his seat so he was more comfortable, "So the four of us -"

"Names?" I inquired.

"Uh, Jon, Ryan, Spencer and Brendon and no more interrupting, OK?" he raised one eyebrow at me, drawing a small smile from me.

He began again, "So the four of us were walking back to our hotel, since we are on a uh work trip, from the restaurant we ate dinner at, just talking when Ryan took off running. For a second the rest of us were like what the hell because we had no idea what he was doing. Pretty soon we heard him yell and ran after him. When I got to the alley you were lying on the ground and Ryan was trying to pull him off of you. We sprinted towards him but by the time we got there, Ryan was looking pretty beat. He took a really nasty punch and collapsed next to you."

He paused to see how I was taking it, when I didn't say anything he continued, "Brendon, Spencer and I managed to pull that guy off of you guys and when he realized there were three of us he ran for it. But I don't think we hurt him at all… Brendon chased after him but lost him, Spencer called 911 and I checked on you guys since you were both out cold. The ambulance came and yeah…. it's been almost 24 hours since then."

Silence.

"Charlotte?"

No answer.

"Are you okay?"

I looked at him. "I can't believe you guys did that for me."

He was embarrassed, and wouldn't meet my eyes, "It was really thanks to Ryan."

"Yeah, I guess at first," I admitted, "but without you I'd probably be dead. All of you... I don't know how I'll ever pay you back."

"I know. You can hang out with us for awhile, you know, and oh yeah… never do that again."

I smiled, gave the biggest yawn ever and attempted to say "I don't plan to," at the same time.
Jon smiled, "I should probably let you get some rest, from how much I just saw of your tonsils, you need it."

I protested, "But I want to meet your friends and I haven't seen Alice yet and..."

"Tomorrow," he interrupted, "You need to sleep now. I'll see you when you wake up."

He pulled the covers up to my chin, fluffed my pillows and made for the door.

"Wait, will you stay until I fall asleep?" I asked softly, "I just don't want to be alone..."

He looked at me for a minute and nodded, "I will."

After clicking off the lights, he pulled his chair back up next to the bed. I felt warm and safe with him here. I closed my eyes, pretty soon I heard him sing a familiar song but I couldn't understand the words before I fell asleep.

"Sugarcane in the easy morning. Weathervanes my one and lonely."