Taken In

Hospitals

The next time I awoke in the hospital, I didn't try and move.
The pain was more bearable this time around, but I still couldn't get my bearings. The light was off overhead, it must've been night. I didn't know if I was alone in the room, the beeping was loud and I still couldn't lift my head. I must've still been wearing the oxygen, but I couldn't feel it on my face.
I tried to sit up right, then he was at my side again.
"You're awake. It's important you don't move, Cheri. You're burnt."
He must've been in the room the whole time, and as he stepped closer the beeping hastened.
He stopped, held his hands up.
"I'm not going to touch you. Like I said, it's important you don't move. I'm going to give you a little morphine now, and it will most likely send you back to sleep. I can only give you a little so, I can do it now or later, if you feel good now I recommend leaving it a while between doses."
He spoke calmly and assuredly, not at all like the man I'd met in the club.
"Now, nod your head to the right if you want the morphine now."
I kept my eyes on him, didn't move my head.
"Okay well, in that case I'll give you more paracetamol. But we have to go steady on that, because I think your liver will be suffering by now,"
He bought a chair to the side of the bed and sat down. He was in doctors whites, was he a doctor?
I couldn't remember if he'd said that before, how did I get here?
"From the look of your blood tests, it looks like you've just ran your body through a heroin battlefield, and it's a miracle you survived that as well as the exposure,"
He was looking at me unflinching, his words sounded harsh, and cold. He ran his hand through his hair, sighed a tired sigh, looked down at the floor.
"We're working very hard to save all the damage, but you...you must've been out there for hours, kid. You didn't even have shoes on in a blizzard,"
He looked back to me, his gaze soft now.
"Are you okay? Kid, someone who's safe doesn't find themselves in the shape you're in."
I turned my head away from him.
Who does this guy think he is? What the fuck does he care?
"Do you want me to take the mask off?" He said quietly.
I thought for a moment, then nodded.
Closed my eyes as his hands snaked around the back of my head again, like so many man's hands had done. I wanted to be sick. I nearly was, but there was nothing in me, so it just came across as a clench in my stomach that made me spasm.
"You're alright, you've got a feeding tube in. It can take some getting used to." He soothed.
I bought my arm up, slowly, and wincing through the pain. Sure enough, a thin plastic tube running from my nose up to the rig of clear liquids they had set up for me.
I tried to speak, but my throat felt like sandpaper, and all that came out was a desperate croak.
Keanu got up and went to a nearby table, collected a glass of water. Then he buzzed something on the bed so that I could sit up right, and I tried to stop my head from spinning.
"Have some water."
He bought the glass almost to my lips, and I looked at it wearily. I didn't like him holding a glass that close to me, and I started to tremble when he pressed it to my mouth.
"Cheri, you have to trust me. I'm not here to hurt you, I promise. Just wet your lips... just like that."
He took the glass away, and I was able to at least lick my lips and swallow without tremendous pain for the first time since waking.
I closed my eyes and breathed in sweet relief.
"Wh...what day is it..?" I asked weakly, my voice hoarse and unrecognisable.
Keanu looked surprised that I spoke.
"It's...uh, it's Tuesday. You've been out of it since I found you in the middle of the night on Saturday. Do you remember how you got there?"
Shit, Gusto is going to be looking for my head. Gone for 3 days, he'll kill me.
"Shit...I can't...look, I can't be here...I need to get back..." I was still so confused, and so tired.
I didn't want to be here, I didn't want to be alone trapped on a bed with any man, especially one I didn't know, around. I had to get away from here, before Gusto found me. The beeping quickened again and I felt...were those tears falling down my face?
"Shh...it's okay, Cheri. I know it's complicated right now, but you don't have to think. Just rest and recover, you're not out of the woods yet and if you..."
"...you don't understand...I need to get...get away before he...comes," I wheezed out.
I mouthed "Water", and he pressed the glass to my mouth again.
I drank from it this time.
"Who's coming to get you?" He pressed, his voice low and serious.
I was crying, I could feel them running down my face, and there was nothing I could do to hide them. I couldn't bring myself to look at the man who had saved my life, despite being acutely aware of how intently he was staring at me.
"...he's a psycho...once I leave this hospital...he'll kill me,"
I met his eye then.
"...keanu...you should've left me to die...in the snow..."
A dry cough rattled my body, or maybe it was a sob, and I found myself curling up on the bed. Everything hurt, nothing was right. I shouldn't be here, and now Keanu would be in trouble. If they found him next to me they'd kill him too. If the police found me they might decide to lock me up again.
I couldn't be at a hospital.
While I writhed in pain, trying and failing to command my body, Keanu dashed up and away. He was back a second later with a syringe half filled with clear liquid.
"I'm going to give you the morphine, Cheri. Just relax okay,"
I thrashed out.
"...nmmo, I'm fine..you need to..."
He administered it into my arm tube, out of my reach. As I drifted away I was aware of his eyes on the mess of spotted scars that littered my arm. Some were from the needle, some were cigarette burns. My vision was tunneling and his hands felt soft as I felt him secure the mask back over my face. I thought I might've leaned into him, but I couldn't know for sure, as I rapidly slipped out of consciousness.

*Keanu POV*

I stood completely frozen, Cheri's face in my hand. Had she been awake when she'd done that? Her arm came up, but the morphine was too strong for her weakened state and it dropped back into her lap uselessly.
She was recovering well, all things considered. The issue with cases like these always came when a patients body started to reject one or more of the treatments. It was a delicate balance of giving her medication, and not forcing her body back into an overdose.
I'd expected her to slip into a coma while she had been unconscious, but it looked like she would wake up fully. Whether that was a positive or not remained to be seen.
Slowly, gently, I removed my hand and buzzed the bed back down.
Who was she talking about?
I vaguely remembered her mentioning a "Him" while we were at the club, something about a man saving her life? Or maybe she'd been talking about the club.
I needed her to calm down, so that I could talk to her properly. She was delirious, that wasn't unusual. With how low every vital and level was with her, I was surprised she hadn't snapped completely.
Still time, I thought grimly.
I couldn't help but look down at her, both arms were littered with marks and scars, one of them very new and infected. Her eyes were darting back and forth under her eyelids, and her chest was rising and falling erraticly.
I'd only seen one other body as decrepit as hers in this hospital, and Lauren's had not returned home.
I saw her there now, lying hooked up to machines that would do the living for her, nothing left of the human I knew and loved. And there had been nothing I could do about it.
What are you going to do about this?
I didn't sit back down. It was 2 am, my shift had finished at 11, and I had been sleeping in the hospital the last few days. Just in case.
I left the room, went to the lockers and changed out of my uniform, grabbed my wallet and phone.
Cheri had been right, I had no idea what was going on, but at least now I could help.
I marched out the hospital, heading towards the club.