On The Sidewalk Bleeding

Chapter 8

I apologize for taking so long. I just wanted to enjoy the last month of my student exchange and now that I'm back, you can expect there to be updates a bit more regularily.

Please know that this chapter is a filler. Nothing exciting happens. I didn't really have any inspiration,  but the next chapter will be better, and I am going to try to double update to apologize for taking so long.

Chapter 8

Payton

            The next time I open my eyes, the annoying beeping was there again, but there was a pressure on my chest. The time on the clock read 11:11 am, but the seconds hand was moving again, which hopefully meant that it wasn't another horrible dream. I could feel the wetness of tears on my face, and I brought my hands up to wipe them away. I've had that dream often, but I still don't like it, and I probably never will.

            I felt the normal emptiness that came along whenever I happened to have the dream. Imagine a big rock just lying there in your stomach, pulling and weighing you down. That's the emptiness that I felt every day.

            I wanted Kyle to show up. He seemed to consume my thoughts. Yesterday was really the first time we had really talked, but I still adored him. He was adorable, kind, and just a million other things that Luke wasn't. I had kind of wished that he would have been here when I woke up, but there was no sign of him.

            A nurse came into the room to check up on me and bring me some breakfast. It was oatmeal and some cut up fruit.

             The oatmeal just looked like a weird glob of crap, so I was a little wary of eating it, but I was starving, so I ate it anyways. It was difficult to swallow the first bite. I would have liked to blame it on my throat being dry, but the oatmeal was just extremely gooey and sticky. I don’t think that anything could find this stuff good, no matter how hungry it was. The following bites were still difficult, but it was easier to eat after the first bite.

            The fruit looked and tasted a lot better than the oatmeal, but then again, it still wasn't comparing it to something that was good. The fruits barely had any juice, and I had difficulty distinguishing what type of fruit was in the bowl.

            My stomach twisted and turned, and I struggled to keep the food down, but it was really difficult. With such a build-up of pressure, I couldn't help but let out a massive burp, and had anyone been in the room with me, they would have been grossed out and quite frankly, it was so unladylike that I had to laugh. Which of course, looked really weird to the nurse when she came back in to take the dirty dishes away. Yep, I was randomly laughing by myself and I was probably the spitting image of a lunatic.

            Well, whether I looked like a lunatic or not, she tried as fast as she could to get out of that room sooner rather than later, but I had to stop her first.

            "I'm sorry to disturb you, but has a boy named Kyle come yet?" I had to ask her. I was bored, and I really just wanted to see Kyle. He cheered me up. It was stupid, especially because I hadn't ever said more than 2 sentences at once to him before yesterday.

            She looked at me for a moment, probably having to think about who he was, but then she shook her head and no matter how much I tried to hide my disappointment, she shot me an apologetic smile.

            "He should be coming soon though hon. He was here until a doctor came in and then he went out in a rush. I say good riddance. That boy needed a good shower and a good night's sleep. Did you need anything else?"

            After I shake my head, she leaves the room, closing the door behind her quietly.

            It's around two hours later that there is a knock on my door. It's slow, agonizingly slow.

            "Come in." I say it quietly, scared of who could be behind the door.

            The door opens slowly as well, and I'm relieved to see that it's Kyle. Except I'm not relieved to see that he had large bruises all over his face, and arms, and he seems to limp as he walks forwards towards me.

            I can't help but stare at him, and he has the audacity to grin at me, even though he winces as he does it.

            "Hey," He manages to wince out, "Sorry I'm late. A few… problems popped up." He is silent for a moment, eyeing me, and then he speaks. "How do you feel?"

            It takes me a few moments to reply to him and he goes down to sit on the chair beside the bed.

            "Uh… I-I'm fine." I feel nervous around him for some reason. Maybe it was because he saw me vomit for some unknown reason. It was probably because I was scared out of my wits of Luke, despite the fact that Kyle was here yesterday. "How are you?"

            He laughs, grinning at me before answering. "I'm good, as you can see by my face. The other guy got it worse than me." He chuckled as if it was an inside joke. And because of the way he was chuckling darkly, I didn't really want to know who was on the receiving end.

            "I can't imagine what he's looking like right now." Even though I didn't want to know, I asked anyways. "Who was it?"

            He hesitates, probably debating on how to answer. "It doesn't matter anymore, he won't be a problem anymore." He pauses. "How did you sleep?"

            Not sure whether I should tell him the whole truth, or if I should tone it down a little bit. "It wasn't the greatest."

            We are both quiet for a moment. It's not an awkward silence, but it isn't comfortable either. It's kind of somewhere in between the two.

            Another knock on the door brings me out of my thoughts. I look up to see my parents standing in the doorway, with unhappy looks on their faces.