Owen

A Pain In The...

They had warned me about nerve pain. They told me it could start as early as a week post injury to months. They told me it would hurt. They told coping mechanisms.  None of it did it justice.

All I had tried do was cover my bare legs with a fucking sheet. I'd struggled with it for longer than I should have. As soon as I'd managed to tug the thin white sheet over my legs, pain erupted in my leg where normally I felt nothing. I had my eyes pinched shut, trying my hardest to hold the cuss words in as I groped blindly for the call button.

"Son of a bitch." I muttered, finally locating it.

I yanked at the sheet hoping maybe if it wasn't laying across me the pain would lessen a little. The sheet stayed tucked into the corner of the bed, just as the nurse had originally tucked it.

I threw my head back against the pillow, pushing myself as much as I could with my left arm.  I wasn't sure what I was attempting but anything had to be better than being stuck there with the damn sheet causing a burning sensation to run up my useless leg.

"You called?" A nurse asked, his voice too chipper.

"Get the fucking blanket off me." I blurted, my eyes snapping to him.

Was this really going to be a staple in my life now? 

I watched as he crossed the room, giving the sheet one tug, relieving me of my tormentor.  I took a deep breath, the pain subsiding as my fucked up nerves settled down. 

"Nerve pain huh?" He asked.

I closed my eyes, nodding because if I opened my mouth I was just going to cuss at him. 

"Let's get you up then.  Maybe a change of position will do you some good."

I didn't have a chance to respond as he disappeared out of my room. I didn't so much mind being in the standing table.  Minus the fact that I had to be strapped to it because standing on my own wasn't in my repertoire anymore.

So far the most annoying part about the nerve pain was that anything triggered it. It'd happen because something touched me, like the blanket, it'd happen because I was in the same position for too long, it'd happen just to fucking happen. And now that it had started, it was frequent enough to damper my mood even more than it already was.

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Alec swung his arm around Jase, the two of them pounding each other on the back. I shifted my gaze back to the TV ignoring their conversation until one of them decided to include me. Jase had been watching some old movie, something I had no interest in. I stared at it anyway, trying to keep my mind as blank as possible.

I was moving tomorrow to some inpatient facility nearby. I heard my dad say the insurance would cover two weeks, anything after that he would be tapping into his savings for.

"Owen, you there."

I blinked, realizing my mind wasn't as blank as I had hoped.

"Yeah." I muttered looking around the room. At least Jase was gone.

"What's up man? Everyone at school misses you." Alec said.

I laughed, a dry humorless laugh. "I bet."

"For real man, we can't wait for you to be back."

I probably wasn't going back. I'd already missed a couple weeks and I couldn't see that changing just because I was getting discharged in the morning. I couldn't do anything. I sure as hell wasn't left handed. Even though I was beginning to get some movement back in my right it was a long way from being useful. There was no way I was going back any time soon, not like that.

"Where's Drew?" I asked, looking to changing the subject.

Alec shrugged, "probably with some girl. You know how he is."

I hadn't seen Drew since the first day him and Alec came. Alec on the other hand dropped in every couple days. And even though I knew I was being an asshole, he kept coming back, unfazed by it all.

"I think he just doesn't know what to say, you know?" Alec continued. "We all feel like assholes. We shoulda been lookin' out for you but ya know, I think, because it was Drew's place, I don't know. Seems like he's beating himself up over it a bit."

I let out a sigh, there were a thousand negative things constantly running through my mind. But I didn't blame my friends. I got drunk. I got stupid. And now I was left with the consequences. I would have settled for a wicked hangover but life isn't fair like that.

"Its not your guys fault. I was an idiot on my own." I told him.

"I know it doesn't do anything but if I could go back man, I'd change it, ya know."

He was right. It did nothing.

"But what's new man, any hot nurses around?"

He grabbed the chair he was sitting on between his legs, scraping it across the floor as he drug it to my bedside. He kicked his feet up on the corner of my bed, relaxing back like this was the world's most natural way for two 18 year olds to spend their afternoon.

I shook my head at him, the faintest of smiles trying to tug at my mouth.

"I haven't even been looking, they're all too happy as soon as they walk through the door I'm too pissed to do anything." I told him.

"Aw come on." He grabbed a pudding cup I hadn't attempted to eat at lunch off my bedside tray. He pulled the foil lid back, licking the chocolate off of it. "Just because you're pissed doesn't mean you can't at least enjoy the view."

I watched as he shuffled some things around on the tray in search of a spoon.

"Where the hell's the spoon?"

I laughed through my nose, I had sent the silverware back with the food I couldn't manage to get to my mouth. "Hang on, I'll call the nurse."

"Perfect, is she hot?" He asked.

The guy was still on, I still couldn't remember his name and his hand writing was for shit. I couldn't even come up with a halfway decent guess on it. But nonetheless, I smiled at Alec, the first thing I found funny in days.

"She's a dude."

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