Through The Years (Mike Wheeler x reader)

Seventy

~ (y/n)'s P.O.V. ~

I remembered bits and pieces. Billy, the Mind Flayer, Uncle G, Mike. His voice is the most insistent, begging me to wake up, to do something. There are other voices too, ones I don't know. Shouting about a fire, about people who need medical attention, something about Dr. Owens. The voices meld, and I know I open my eyes at some point, when I'm outside. I can feel how cold it is. Someone says something about possible blood loss, but I'm only caught up in how bright it is. White lights fly above us, and everything smells like smoke and burning flesh. 

For a moment, I hear my mother, but I can't decipher if it's reality or not. I hear her ask about Uncle G, then she's gone too and it's Mike again. I blink my eyes open to see him hovering for a brief moment over me, then someone else moves in front of him and I'm gone again. They talk about a dropping heart rate, unresponsiveness. I don't have a second longer to wonder who that was meant for, then it all fell quiet. 

~

I heard the heart monitor first. The steady beep every few seconds, a reminder of my beating body. I was still alive. Next, I acknowledged the breathing tube that went over my nose, then the tube in my mouth. I could feel the tube going down my throat, an uncomfortable feeling I quickly found I didn't like. But I couldn't do anything about it. Despite my new awareness, I still felt heavy. I tried to lift a hand, and I came to struggle with the new weight of the limb, and even my fingers. 

I heard a door open, then someone was walking across the room near me. My hope soared, praying for it to be Mike as I tried to push open my eyes. I wanted to look at him, show him I was okay. I wanted him to hold me, kiss my head and tell me how everything would be alright. 

I grunted as I scrunched my nose, working to shove my eyes open. The sound came out broken into pieces. Slowly, I blinked my eyes open, staring up at the white above me. The lights were dimmed down, and I was thankful for that as I blinked again. My eyes adjusted as I glanced around, seeing a nurse checking something on the board beside my bed. Her eyes flickered to me as I shifted, feeling the ache in my muscles as I moved my arm. 

"Mike." I managed to murmur. Understanding came to her eyes, but she shook her head as I reached to touch the tube in my mouth. 

"Not yet. You were out for a little over two weeks, and your condition was critical. You need to take baby steps. Starting with not touching this tube. The doctor is likely to request it to be taken out since you're awake, but again, baby steps." I blinked at her, trying to understand her words. 

"Two weeks?" I managed and she nodded. 

"You received a lot of head trauma and other major injuries in the accident at Starcourt Mall. There were moments we were afraid on if you'd pull through. But you did. Your little friend kept saying you would, the one with red hair. No one was allowed to visit in your room except family, but they'd come in and check through the little window. Sweet kids." I glanced to the window she was talking about. It faced out to the hall of the hospital. I could see other nurses bustling around between different rooms. 

"Family?" I murmured, feeling sadness take over me as my brain remained muddled, a mess. I still didn't know where my mom was, and Uncle G's condition was still unknown to me. 

"Yes. Your mother and your uncle." I paused, feeling the tears well up in my eyes. 

"My mom?" I choked out. A different kind of relief had taken over as I began to cry, my chest shaking. She had been gone for so long, I'd thought we wouldn't find her or she was dead. It'd been two years since I saw her, and now that was all I wanted. "Uncle G?" I had thought him to be dead too. But they were okay, and despite the things we'd have to discuss later, my past at the lab, everything my mom had missed, that was enough for me in the moment.