It was you (Completed)

Chapter 25

Sang's POV

I wake up slowly, taking stock of my body before opening my eyes. Everything hurts, my left shoulder worst of all. I have a headache and it's difficult to swallow with how dry my mouth is. Breathing in, the sharp scent of disinfectant almost overpowers a softer mix of ginger, cedar, and citrus. I hear a quiet creak off to my right and pry open my heavy eyelids.

I'm in a private hospital suite, the bed slightly inclined. My left arm is in a sling and my right has an IV tube snaking out of it. A small television hangs on the wall in front of me and a window is off to the right opposite of two doors on my left. There are a pair of orange vinyl chairs, one on either side of the bed, and the one to my right is occupied.

Dr. Green sits with his head leaned back, eyes closed. He has dark circles under his eyes and his curly blonde hair, while shorter than it had been when he was younger, looks unkempt. There's a tinge of stubble on his cheeks and chin. He has on a pair of tan khakis and a purple button down under an open white doctor's coat. It's been forever since I had last seen him. As I watch, he sits up, rubbing his hands over his face and through his hair. The metallic glint of his gold wedding band catches my eye.

He looks up at me and I'm able to spot the sadness and exhaustion on his face before he registers that I'm awake. He puts on a bright smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes. It's then that I realize that Mr. Blackbourne isn't the only one with a mask. I wonder how many times Dr. Green has hidden his true emotions behind his cheerful demeanor.

He stands up and props his right hip on the bed. "Good morning, Pookie. How's my favorite patient feeling?"

I try to answer but nothing can come out from the dry husk of my throat. He grabs a cup of ice water from the night stand beside me, holding it up so I can suck through the straw. After a couple of deep swallows, I pul back and he sets it down then looks at me expectantly.

"Hi, Dr. Green. It's good to see you," I rasp out, my voice feeling out of practice and I wonder how long I've been unconscious. "I'm ok, a little sore."

His eyebrow lift and I see that he's unhappy with the way I addressed him. "Really? Dr. Green? I know it's been a while but I think you know better," he says with his signature flirty smile.

"Sorry, Sean," I answer with a small smile of my own, then wince when it pulls at my split lip. The slight pang draws my attention back to the reason I'm in the hospital in the first place. "What happened?"

"How much do you remember?"

"I remember being taken by Bennett and sleeping in a storage closet overnight. I remember waking up again and being confronted by Bennett and Mitchell. The rest is sort of fuzzy. They injected me with something, a combination of drugs if I'm remembering that correctly at all."

"You're right. We found a stash of what they had giving you. A guard was questioned and apparently it's a mix they give to their captives to make them more agreeable to whatever the buyer is interested in." His face takes on a look of disgust and then sadness leaks through his eyes again. "It was hit or miss with you for a while. I was beginning to think if we didn't lose you from the bullet wound, then it would be from overdose. Any of the drugs they gave you could have been lethal in the amounts they administered, let alone a mix of three." He pulls a small penlight out of his coat pocket, shining it briefly into my eyes. "The effects should be worn off by now and hopefully you won't go through many withdrawal symptoms. Do you remember anything else?"

My arms feel heavy but I force my right hand up to touch my face. "I was beaten," I whisper, tracing my fingers over tender spots on my forehead and then down over my ribs. My eyes are drawn to my wrist and I can see light bruising there. "And I was cuffed, chained up to the ceiling. I made Bennett angry. He hit me in the stomach and then they gave me another injection." I squint my eyes in concentration, trying to remember what happened after that. "He started..." I pause as it comes back to me. "Oh god, he started to touch me. Mr. Blackbourne came in, he saw....he saw Bennett touching me." I sit straight up in bed, ignoring the pain and close to hyperventilating. "The stuff Mitchell was saying, it was so horrible. Oh Owen..." I stop, clutching my right arm across my stomach.