As I Fall Asleep- Joshua Bassett

Chapter 5

Joshua and I are bedridden due to our injuries so we literally can't escape each other. It doesn't bother me since Josh is a good roomie, but it is a little awkward.

After Doctor Jacobs and Olsen exit the room, my mom leaves to go pick up my family so they can come visit me.

Josh is sleeping and I'm reading when suddenly the door to our room bursts open and a bunch of girls run in, followed by 2 adults. The girls, 5 of them, appear to range in ages from about 14 to I'm guessing 25.

Josh smiles and goes, "Hey guys" and I know instantly that they're his sisters. His parents join the girls by Joshua's bed, and they speak in hushed voices. I don't want to intrude or make them feel uncomfortable, so I focus on my book.

While I'm trying to read, I hear one of the older girls ask, "Is that her?" and I don't hear a response, but I can picture Josh nodding.

His mother crosses the distance that separates Josh's and my bed and approaches me.

"Hi dear, I'm Josh's mother. I just wanted to thank you for helping save my little boy." She has tears in her eyes.

"Of course, Mrs. Bassett. And don't let me take all the credit, Josh helped me too." I glance past his mother to look at him and find that he is laughing with the rest of his family.

"Please, call me Laura, and don't be so modest! Diving back into the water... well, if I had been in your shoes, I don't think I could have done it. Risking my life to help a stranger." She shakes her head.

I blush and smile. When Laura doesn't say anything else, I lift my book and motion to it saying, "I should get bac to..."

"Of course. And we'll try to keep it down so we don't disturb you."

"Don't worry about the noise, I have 4 siblings, so I'm used to it."

Josh's mom returns back to Josh as I reread the same page I've been trying to concentrate on for the last 5 minutes.

***

Shortly after Josh's family arrives, my family enters the room. After a tearful reunion and my dad having to remind my little sister not to hug me too hard, I tell them I'm tired and should probably rest.

I honestly wasn't tired, but there were just too many people here. I had overheard Josh's dad telling Josh that they're leaving and will be back tomorrow, and so I decided to gently tell my family to you know... go away.

Once everyone is gone, I sigh.

"You ok?" Josh asks me.

"Yeah, just a little overwhelmed."

He nods his head in understanding and goes, "I know what you mean."

When I don't respond he continues, "I'll keep it down so you can rest. I heard you tell your parents you were tired."

I bite my lip and look at him guiltily. "I'm actually not tired. I just said that so they would leave."

Josh starts laughing.

"What?" I say defensively. "There was a lot going on and I just wanted some quiet!"

Once he finishes laughing, I glare at him and grab the remote that's on the nightstand between our beds. I point it at the TV that is on the opposite wall. There's only one TV in this room, so we must share. Good thing it is perfectly centered between us.

I open Netflix and start scrolling.

"Any suggestions?" I ask him.

"I thought you wanted quiet," he responds.

"In my world, quiet includes Netflix."

"Ok then. How about 'The Walking Dead'?'

I make a face at that suggestion.

He laughs again and goes, "Ok then how about 'All American'?"

"Seen it," I tell him.

"Criminal Minds?"

"Seen it."

"Antman?"

"Eh..."

Josh finally gives up. "Jeez! Fine what do you want to watch?"

"I don't know. I'm rewatching Vampire Diaries right now."

I look over at him and he shakes his head. "No freaking way."

"Downton Abbey?"

"No thank you" he says defiantly.

"What about 'Lucifer'"?

He paused. "Ok yeah, I've been wanting to watch that."

I queue the first episode and click play.

***

One week later...

I wake up in a cold sweat, panting.

'It was just a dream' I tell myself, waiting for my heartrate to go down.

But it didn't feel like a dream. The blood... the jaws of the shark... the screaming... it felt so real. 'It's in the past. I'm safe now'.

These reassurances help calm me down and as I'm about to close my eyes, I notice a pillow on the floor by my bed. I look up to Josh who's awake, most likely due to whatever I was saying in my sleep during the nightmare.

"Are you ok?" he asks me.

Instead of responding to the question I squint my eyes at him and ask my own question.

"Did you throw a pillow at me?"

Joshua shrugs. "Well, I mean you weren't waking up when I tried calling to you and it looked like a pretty bad dream so I... yeah I threw a pillow at you."

This causes me to bust out laughing, all previous feelings of unease form my dream disappearing. It felt good to laugh. This was the first time in a while I could laugh without my side hurting like crazy. There was still pain, but not nearly as much.

Josh joins in a we laugh together for a few minutes. This last week had been alright, if you don't count the dozens of tests that the doctors ran and my restlessness. Josh had been helping with the latter. We had our Netflix watching scheduled for every night. The cafeteria food was gross, just like the rumors say, so we had convinced our siblings to sneak us in food every once in a while. Plus, we occasionally get food delivered. Last night we got Chinese food and had Lauren bring us some popcorn for our 'Lucifer' watching.

We finish laughing and Josh turns serious.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I say a little too sharply.

Josh reels back a little, obviously hurt.

"Sorry," I tell him, "I just don't want to talk about it right now. It's too fresh, ya know? Maybe later?"

"Later" he agrees.