Aria

29- Aria ( NEW )

Waking up to silence, along with the solid unpleasant aromatic scents of antiseptics, disinfectants, cleaners, and soaps invading my senses, made me realize I wasn't home. Instead, I was inside a hospital. In a room that's as quiet as could be, except for the loud, annoying beeping sounds one would hear inside a hospital room, alerting the person lying in bed, they're alive. My eyes slowly flickered open, and then I blinked a few times, trying to get my eyes to focus on my surroundings after seeing nothing but a big blur.

In an attempt to see if I was, in fact, inside a hospital room, I squinted my eyes, trying to sharpen the blurred vision I was having in the dimmed, lighted room. My eyes glanced around the somewhat quiet room; the TV was flickering away, playing music with the volume on low, a window with the shades drawn, and tan colored walls, with a whiteboard displaying my name and the nurse's name taking care of me.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember where I was and what had happened, to where it landed me in the hospital instead of being at home with my family. And then, while thinking about what brought me here, the fireworks started going off after memories of being outside the arena, signing autographs, and taking pictures with excited fans started filling my thoughts.

But they're not the reason I awoke in a hospital bed. I'm here because of a deranged psycho fan who felt the need to stab me. My hand traveled up my body to the large bandage attached to my chest. I pressed on the throbbing area and flinched in pain.

Yep, my memories are correct. A fan had stabbed me.

I removed the bed sheet from my body, swung my legs around the bed, then tried to stand, but as I stood on the cold flooring, I got light-headed and immediately dropped onto the bed. I lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling while listening to the machine's beep every few seconds. Once the confusion, grogginess, and dizziness subsided, instead of standing as I did before, I slowly stood, then at a turtle's pace, I headed to the bathroom to look at my chest.

I looked in the mirror, partially lowered my gown, then began peeling the bandage away from my chest, but the second I saw the swelling and redness and the black, blue, and yellow colorings surrounding the stitches, I immediately covered the wound back up, then headed back to the bed to ease the dizziness that had returned.

"You're awake," a nurse happily said as she entered the room. "how are you feeling?" she asked, heading toward me, looking happy I wasn't asleep.

My head turned to the nurse standing by my side, checking my fluid bag. "Light-headed, tired, and excessively sore, right here," I breathed, gently tapping my chest. Then my tongue wandered around my mouth after speaking, wondering where the moisture or saliva was. "And I've got the most incredible dry mouth ever."

She smiled and softly giggled. "That's from the medication inside your IV bag. I'll get you a glass of water. But first, I'd like to look at your wound to ensure the stitches are holding up and that your injury hasn't become infected."

My eyes shifted down to my chest as the nurse removed the bandage. "You were lucky. Had the knife punctured a hair over and in further, than it did, it would have pierced your heart." She reattached the bandage and smiled as she said, "So far, it's looking good. I'll inform your doctor how it's looking, and then I'll be back with some more water for you." She handed me a cup and a stick with a sponge at the end. "There's very little water left inside, but it should get you by until I come back."

I dipped the sponge into the paper cup and moved it around, soaking up all the water I could, then brought it to my mouth and sucked, humming in appreciation when the water hit my palate.

Moments later, the nurse returned with a water bottle, filled my cup, and handed it back to me. Instead of using the sponge to wet my mouth, I wanted to drink from the cup. But when I began bringing the cup closer to my mouth, I realized I was too weak even to do that, so I used the sponge anyway.